The Twisted Path
by Xetarma
Summary: When Minerva McGonagall discovers that Harry Potter's relatives intend to keep him from attending Hogwarts, she takes matters into her own hands. But when Harry comes to Diagon Alley one day early, it sets events into motion that end with him and his friend, Hermione Granger, sorted into Slytherin. Now the two of them must somehow tame the House of the Snakes.
1. An Unintended Consequence

**The Twisted Path**

Rating: M (for violence/gore, language, and mild innuendos/sexual situations)

This story is based on characters and stories that are not owned by this author. I have no claim to any of it. There are minor quotations in this chapter from _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_.

Author's Note: This is my first story and I would appreciate feedback!

**Chapter 1: An Unintended Consequence**

**July 28th, 1991**

Minerva McGonagall was angry. Those who only had a passing familiarity with her might not be surprised at this, but it wasn't something that those who knew her well would expect. Despite her supposedly stern exterior, Minerva was in fact fairly even tempered. She even had a bit of a mischievous disposition at times. To get her truly angry actually took a great deal of work and provocation. But she was well past that line now.

Part of what was bothering her was this business with the Philosopher's Stone, which was, in her opinion, an exceptionally bad idea. This was not to say that she doubted the staff's ability to keep the stone safe, but some of the obstacles were far too dangerous to keep in a school for children. Beyond this, there was the risk of someone dangerous coming to get the stone, and the children getting caught in between.

But the stone was not the source of McGonagall's current distress. Her anger stemmed from this letter addressed to Harry Potter at THE CUPBOARD UNDER THE STAIRS. The stone was also not the Headmaster's current biggest problem. His current problem was her, Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, who, having stormed into his office at Hogwarts, was giving him a glare that seemed about to burn him to ash.

"Harry Potter has not replied to any of his Hogwarts letters! Do you know why?" roared the head of Gryffindor house, before she continued on without any real pause. "Well I do! IT IS BECAUSE HIS 'FAMILY' IS DESTROYING THEM!"

"Surely not," said Dumbledore, who was clearly uncomfortable with this conversation, "I would think that if they did not care for the boy they would want him to leave."

Minerva's eyes narrowed abruptly. "How do you know they don't care for the boy?" she asked coldly.

Albus hung his head. "I am... aware of his situation. I did not intervene because I felt it might give some unscrupulous people, like a certain member of the Board of Governors, a chance to gain custody of the boy. Also there are protections in place at 4 Privet Drive that cannot be replicated elsewhere. But you must believe that I did not have any knowledge of his family trying to actively prevent him from attending Hogwarts."

Minerva took a moment to calm herself. Minerva was one of Albus' most ardent supporters, but this was very unlike him. Clearly there was more to this than Minerva understood, but the Headmaster was notoriously secretive about a select list of things. Harry Potter was definitely on that list.

"Albus, I told you they were the worst sort of Muggles. I went to their home. I saw them destroying the letters myself. They were laughing as they destroyed them in front of him!" shouted Minerva, her temper boiling again.

Albus closed his eyes, "Perhaps I have erred. It would not be the first time. It seems we will need a more personal touch."

Minerva seemed to soften a bit, "I'm glad you agree."

Albus nodded. "I will send Hagrid in a few days..."

"Hagrid is not the deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts," said Minerva sharply, "I will handle this. Tomorrow, as early as I can."

"Very well," agreed Albus. Minerva scoffed. She was more than capable of handling a few angry muggles.

Minerva turned to leave, still angry enough she hadn't said good day, when she turned back suddenly. "I know you say that you trust me. So why didn't you trust me about the boy Albus?" she asked sadly.

Albus looked her straight in the eyes, "My greatest fault has always been that I trust myself too much, and my friends too little."

Minerva looked at him blankly. "Good day Albus." And she left.

XXXXX

**July 29th, 1991**

Harry Potter was not having a good summer. First he had accidentally set a (talking!) python on his cousin Dudley at the zoo, and now these letters kept arriving. More came every day. All of them for him. And all of them were destroyed by his aunt and uncle before he could read them. Harry had no idea who could possibly want to contact him. He was, after all, just Harry Potter, the unwanted boy from Little Whinging. The whole affair _had_ inspired his aunt and uncle to let him sleep in his cousin's spare bedroom. While it was an upgrade, the room had sort of become Dudley's junk heap. Sometimes he did miss the spiders in his old cupboard. They were better company than the Dursleys at least.

But at the same time it meant his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were noticing him more, which was never a good thing. He had tried to get some of the letters. He'd had several plans, which should have worked, considering how stupid his relatives were, but in the matter of denying Harry happiness the Dursley's had proven oddly industrious.

The truth was life at 4 Privet Drive was pretty boring, aside from the constant emotional abuse. It was a boring neighborhood, full of boring people. So Harry was glad something was happening, even if he was in the dark about what it was.

Right now he was preparing breakfast for his relatives, not his least favourite activity, but annoying considering how little he was given to eat. Vernon, while clearly exhausted, was beaming. "No Post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers "no damn letters today..."

A forceful knock was heard at the door. Vernon's face fell, as he seemed to realize he had been tempting fate. For a moment he seemed conflicted as to whether he should answer the door, or whether he should make Harry do it, but quickly sighed and got up. "Boy, stay here!" he said as he made his way to the door. Harry did as he was told, but positioned himself so he could hear as best as he could, earning him a scowl from his aunt.

"WHAT IS IT?" yelled Vernon as he jerked open the door.

"Mr. Dursley, I am Minerva McGonagall. I wish to speak with Harry Potter," said the voice of an older woman.

"HE IS NOT IN!" bellowed Vernon as he tried to slam the door shut. Harry did not hear it slam however.

"Mr. Dursley, I know you are lying. Let me in before I cause a scene _much_ larger than the one you are causing right now," said McGonagall calmly.

There was silence for a moment before Vernon growled, "Fine," and allowed McGonagall into the house. In a moment she was in the kitchen offering Harry a kindly smile.

"Mr. Potter, would you care to join me in the living room? We have much to discuss."

Harry led her into the living room where they both took seats in opposing chairs. Vernon watched from the kitchen clearly not wanting to get too close, but wanting to keep an eye on what was happening.

McGonagall was wearing a very old fashioned dress and a long coat that almost looked like it was a robe. She was very severe looking, but Harry hadn't survived the Dursleys without being able to read people. Harry thought that her severity, while not wholly a ruse, seemed to cover up a more emotional core, though what emotions were likely to emerge worried Harry. In Harry's world, emotions were usually bad.

McGonagall started, "I am Minerva McGonagall, deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School. Have you heard of Hogwarts?"

Harry shook his head, "No ma'am."

McGonagall nodded as if it was expected. "Your parents attended Hogwarts, and were quite good students there. Head Boy and Head Girl actually. Were you told that about them?"

A surge of… something went through Harry when McGonagall mentioned his parents. "The only thing I know is that they were drunks who were killed in a car crash," replied Harry.

McGonagall's nostrils flared as she shot Vernon a death glare. "Lily and James Potter did NOT die in a car crash. Neither of them could even drive. And they certainly weren't drunks. They were heroes."

"You see," she said turning back to Harry, "The school's full name is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Your parents were a witch and a wizard."

"No way!" exclaimed Harry as Vernon screamed "HE WILL NOT..."

Vernon got no further because at that instant McGonagall waved her wand and turned Vernon into a pig. Cries of horror came from Dudley and Petunia in the kitchen. "Don't worry, I'll change him back," McGonagall said, visibly calming herself. She waved her wand again, transforming Vernon back. Vernon cowered, trying to hide himself behind a couch, while simultaneously trying to keep an eye on the elderly witch.

"Mr. Dursley," McGonagall warned, "Your horrendous treatment of him has stripped you of any right or say in what happens to Mr. Potter here. You will remain silent, or you will spend the rest of this day as a pig."

Vernon's mouth clamped shut, and he nodded, terrified.

"So... I'm a wizard ?" asked Harry hesitantly. It had been funny seeing his uncle turned into a more appropriate form, but he didn't dare laugh.

"Yes Harry,'' McGonagall said kindly, "Your parents were both quite powerful. Once you have been properly trained I believe you will be too." She handed him a letter, identical to those Vernon had destroyed.

"Professor?" started Harry, to a nod form McGonagall, "Do we get turned into pigs as punishment at Hogwarts?"

McGonagall smiled. "No, that's against the rules. I only did that to your uncle because I suspected he was about to become violent. But I shouldn't have. Your Uncle is not capable of defending himself from me."

Harry nodded, with a distinct lack of confidence, "This sounds fantastic, and I'd love to go, but I'm not sure how. I have no money, and I am sure my aunt and uncle won't pay for it"

"Well, tomorrow I am showing two new muggleborns Diagon Alley and explaining the basics of getting to Hogwarts to them. I would be willing to pick you up so that you could join their orientation. I think everything will be explained to you there," replied McGonagall.

Harry gave her a quizzical look. "Muggleborns? Diagon Alley?"

McGonagall shook her head. "A muggle is a non-magical person, so a muggleborn is the magical child of two non-magical people. Diagon Alley is our magical shopping district. Despite our close connection with the non magical world, it is imperative that you not mention magic to anyone who does not know about it. If you expose our world the consequences could be drastic."

Harry nodded again. "I'd love to come."

McGonagall smiled again, "I'll pick you up at half past eight." She stood up, clearly preparing to leave, but giving Vernon a pointed stare. "If anything happens to Harry while he is staying here, you will regret it enormously."

Vernon nodded wordlessly.

And with that McGonagall swept from the room, out the front door. Harry tried to see her out the window, but she was gone. Harry turned to see his relatives staring at him angrily. "I think I'll be in my room for the rest of the day." He fled upstairs immediately. He was sceptical, but he'd also seen uncle Vernon turned into a pig. And then he remembered when he had teleported to the roof of his school, turned his teacher's hair blue, and set a snake on Dudley. Maybe he was a wizard.

Harry read his letter and book list a dozen times that day, fantasizing about what his next day would be like. He went to sleep early, half wondering if he would wake in the morning only to discover that this was a dream.

XXXXX

**July 30th, 1991**

As Hermione Granger looked around she decided that The Leaky Cauldron probably wasn't the most impressive place to introduce muggleborn witches and wizards into the magical world. It was dingy, dirty, and decidedly disreputable looking. Though that might come in handy for turning away curious muggles, now that she thought about it. The other new student, Justin Finch-Fletchley, seemed slightly offended by his surroundings. He and his mother were both very dressed up. Hermione figured they came from a well-to-do family. Not that her family wasn't relatively well off as well. Her parents were dentists, and they made more than enough to get by on.

They were not the only people in the common room of the pub, but most of the other people seemed to take little interest in them. The bartender, Tom, was polite enough. But everyone else had been decidedly close-mouthed. She supposed they were worried about the Statute of Secrecy. Still Hermione was practically dancing in her seat. She wanted to learn more about magic, and the anticipation was killing her!

Suddenly a woman entered with a boy a little younger than Hermione. Hermione recognized the woman as Professor McGonagall, who had hand delivered her Hogwarts letter. Hermione had been impressed by McGonagall's no nonsense demeanour, and her powerful transfigurations. The boy, who seemed a bit small and scrawny, and was wearing what were clearly oversized hand-me-downs, looked at her and Justin warily. Hermione noted that he had a lightning shaped scar on his forehead amd had unruly black hair. His eyes were a brilliant green.

"Allow me to make introductions," began McGonagall, "Harry, this Justin Finch-Fletchley and his mother Jillian, while this is Hermione Granger and her parents Robert and Helen. Justin, Hermione, this is Harry Potter. His parents were magical, but he has been raised in the non-magical world, so I thought he would benefit from today's presentation."

Hermione realised that all of a sudden all noise in the pub had stopped. Tom was staring at Harry. "It's Harry Potter," he said as if he was stunned. All of a sudden, every single witch and wizard in the place was on their feet rushing towards Harry. Harry looked at them with sheer panic in his eyes. Luckily McGonagall quickly placed herself between Harry and the crowd.

"Excuse me!" she said over the crush, "Do you mind? Mr. Potter is here for his Hogwarts orientation, and does not need to be disturbed, thank you very much!" Surprisingly the wizards all retreated, most of them a bit shamefaced. Or perhaps it was not so surprising. Hermione didn't think she was the only one to find this woman's admonishments intimidating.

McGonagall looked at Harry apologetically, "I'm afraid your scar is quite recognizable," she said as if she hadn't announced his identity to the entire room.

Hermione took the opportunity to wave Harry into the seat next to her. She didn't know what all this was about, but one of her biggest hopes was that she would make some new friends in the wizarding world. She'd had barely any in the muggle world. While she was friendly by nature, she did have a tendency to alienate people she talked to, and she had become used to keeping her head down in class. Harry seemed to be shy as well. Might he have had some of the same problems she had?

Harry looked at McGonagall for confirmation, and when she nodded he sat down next to Hermione, extending his hand to her. "Pleased to meet you," he said.

"Likewise," said Hermione taking his had while showing a beaming smile.

"If you are ready I will begin the presentation," said McGonagall. "Feel free to ask questions. There will also be another orientation on the third of next month for the rest of the muggleborn first years, so if you have any questions that you think of after you leave I will be here all day then. If you purchase an owl of course you will be able to owl me any questions. However, I will strive to be as complete as I can regarding your preparations to attend Hogwarts."

McGonagall quickly went over a brief History of Hogwarts school and its educational aims. "Our primary purpose is to prepare every young witch or wizard for a career in the magical world. This means, unfortunately, that many muggle subjects are not offered. Mathematics for example is only offered as part of our Arithmancy course, which is an elective you can begin taking in third year."

Hermione frowned at that. She wanted the broadest possible education. She noticed that Harry seemed thoughtful about this announcement, while Justin seemed ecstatic (though his mother looked less than thrilled).

McGonagall continued, telling the students how they would reach Hogwarts: via the Hogwarts Express. She also explained how to enter platform 9 the hidden platform between platforms 9 and 10. She then went over the list of school supplies and which shops would carry each in the local magical market.

"All of these shops can be found at Diagon Alley, which, if you will all follow me, is this way," she said moving towards a back room. The assembled parents and students scrambled to their feet to follow her. In the back room she pulled out her wand and tapped out a pattern on the brick wall at the back of the small room. All of a sudden the wall opened up to reveal a bustling market street.

There was so much going on, much of it clearly magical, that it took a good while for everyone to give Professor McGonagall their attention again. Eventually she did manage it. "In order to shop in Diagon Alley you will need magical currency. You may exchange currency at Gringotts, which is the primary wizarding banking establishment." McGonagall led the way down the street.

"Gringotts is run by goblins, who are sentient magical creatures, but are not wizards themselves. DO NOT treat them in a condescending manner. DO NOT stare at them. And DO NOT insult them. They find smiles that show teeth as a sign of aggression, so try not to show your teeth. Treat them with respect and they will do the same to you. Treat them with disrespect and things will become unpleasant" McGonagall paused, then looked at the adults "One more thing, they will be more lenient with a child than they will be with an adult. So just because one of the students doesn't provoke an angry reaction, it doesn't mean that you won't."

She led them to a big white building, with short creatures wearing scarlet and gold uniforms guarding the doors. The creatures were clearly not human, but were short, dark skinned, and had long nimble looking fingers. Hermione looked away quickly so as not to be appearing to stare. She saw Harry give one of the goblins a solemn nod, and was surprised to see the goblin give him a nod back.

Inside the opulent marble sheathed lobby McGonagall stopped them. "That desk over there handles money changing. Harry, your parents left you a fair amount of money, but you will have to visit your vault to get it," She handed him a key, "That will give you admittance. Just go to that desk over there. Only older wizarding families usually have these sorts of vaults."

Hermione perked up at the mention of vaults. "Harry would it be all right with you if I came to see your vault? I'd love to see some more of this place."

Harry shrugged, "I certainly don't mind if your parents don't." A slightly worried smile came across his face. "Company would be welcome to be honest."

Hermione looked at her parents hopefully. They each gave the other a significant look. "As long as Professor McGonagall says it is safe," said her mother.

McGonagall nodded. "They will be under the supervision of the Gringotts staff the entire time. So long as they follow instructions they won't get into any trouble."

The Grangers sent Harry and Hermione off with instructions to obey the Gringotts staff and then joined the queue for the money changing station, which was quite long. Harry and Hermione walked right up to the desk of one of the vault managers. "Hello sir, my name is Harry Potter, and I would like to visit my vault," said Harry as he extended his key.

The Goblin looked at him with what appeared to be surprised. "A wizard with manners! What will we see next, a troll with brains?" The Goblin shook his head as he examined Harry's key. "Very well, this seems to be in order. Griphook!"

Another goblin appeared who led them into a back corridor. This room was a dim stone corridor which led to a small cart on a track. _Like a minecart_, thought Hermione. Griphook opened the cart and Harry and Hermione climbed in. Once Griphook was inside he shut the door and the cart took off.

Hermione immediately started regretting coming with Harry as the cart shot forward as if it were a roller coaster. It shot through intersections and track splits at full speed and with seemingly no input from Griphook. Hermione looked at Harry, who initially seemed a bit uneasy, but quickly seemed to adapt to the ride. Well if he could get used to this, she could too!

"So Griphook, what is the relationship between Gringotts and the wizards?" said Hermione as she tried to take her mind off the ride.

"Gringotts is the face of the Goblin people to the wizarding world," Griphook paused, as if he was wondering what he should say, "I would classify the relationship between goblins and wizards as strained. Despite the fact that we handle almost the entirety of the wizarding world's financial matters, the wizards treat us disrespectfully and distrust us. The Ministry of Magic limits where we can settle. The bulk of Goblins in Britain live under Gringotts or in similar mines across the country."

"That sounds like they are putting you on reservations!" said Hermione angrily, having momentarily forgotten her discomfort.

Griphook nodded. "A somewhat apt comparison. Though Native Americans or Australian Aborigines don't get to live in gold and diamond mines, so it is not entirely apt."

"Still, it sounds shameful!" huffed Hermione.

"Sounds like the Ministry is pretty short sighted," agreed Harry quietly, "If there's a crisis one would think the goblins and their financial prowess would be useful. I doubt that, given wizarding attitudes, your help would come cheap if things get bad."

Griphook gave a big grin which exposed his teeth. "It does not."

The cart ground to a halt outside one of the vaults. Griphook leapt out of the cart while Harry had to help Hermione keep her balance as she tried to adapt to not moving at breakneck speed. As they reached the door, Griphook inserted the key, and the door to the vault opened. Inside were piles of money; huge piles of gold, silver and bronze coins. It was more money than Hermione had ever seen in one place before. "Harry, you're rich!"

The boy had a dazed look in his eyes. "T-t-this is mine?" he asked Griphook. The Goblin just grinned toothlessly.

There were bags in the corner. As Harry grabbed one, Griphook explained the wizarding money system. "29 bronze knuts to the silver sickle, 17 sickles to the gold galleon."

"What's the exchange rate with pounds?" asked Hermione as Harry carefully counted money into his bags.

"Five pounds to the galleon," replied Griphook.

Hermione stared, "The gold in the galleons must be worth ten times that!"

"Did I mention that almost all wizards have to buy many groceries from muggle markets? Most of our business trades from galleons to pounds."

Hermione laughed. "You're making a killing!"

Harry had finished with the coins, and turned to Hermione. "I hope this doesn't make you think of me differently. I had no idea I had this money."

"I don't care about that Harry," said Hermione kindly.

Harry grinned. "Good," he said as they climbed back into the cart.

XXXXX

When they reached the lobby Hermione's parents were waiting for them. They said that McGonagall had gone to an ice cream shop named Florean Fortescue's, and Justin and his mother had already left to buy other things. Harry was a bit worried that he'd have to find his way around alone, but the Grangers gestured him along with them without really discussing it. Harry supposed they must have done so while he and Hermione had been in the vaults.

The trip was largely uneventful. Harry and Hermione were fitted for robes without incident, then they went to the apothecary where they grabbed cauldrons and potions ingredients. However it was once they reached Flourish and Blotts that things got interesting.

"A bookstore!" squealed Hermione racing inside. Harry had to run to catch up. Hermione's enthusiasm for books turned out to be infectious. Harry had always liked books, but years of living with the Dursley's had suppressed that somewhat. Faced with Hermione's obvious passion for reading, he allowed himself to get carried away as well. There were so many interesting books. He'd secretly withdrawn quite a bit more money than the amount McGonagall had recommended, so he was able to afford a number of very interesting looking books which he promised to Hermione he would loan to her once he was finished with them. Hermione herself got a few extras, including _Hogwarts: A History, _which seemed particularly useful.

"Why don't we stop for ice cream?" suggested Helen Granger after they left the bookstore.

Everyone agreed to this so they made their way to Florean Fortescue's. There was a bit of an argument when Robert tried to pay for Harry's ice cream, however Hermione managed to step in. "Believe me Dad, Harry can afford it. His parents left him a fortune!" she said.

"In that case I better keep you on his good side," he said with a suggestive smirk, "Gotta lock that down."

"DAD!" said a now red Hermione.

Harry just laughed, "I know your dad is just kidding," Harry assured Hermione as he paid for his ice cream.

"Damn!" said Robert in an exaggerated stagger.

"Language dear," his wife said, not unkindly.

As they went outside to eat their ice cream, they saw Professor McGonagall talking to a family of redheads. There was a kindly looking woman who was clearly the mother, with an older teenage son who was paying attention to the discussion his mother was having with McGonagall, two bored looking twins, a younger boy about Harry and Hermione's age who also looked bored, and an even younger girl. McGonagall waved Harry and the Grangers over. They set down their ice creams and followed her lead.

"These are the Weasleys. This is Molly," said McGonagall indicating the mother, "This young man is their third son Percy," indicating the oldest boy, "and these two are Fred and George..." she said indicating each twin.

"Hey! I'm Fred..." said the one she had called George.

"...and I'm George!" finished the twin she had called Fred.

McGonagall gave them a measured stare. "Are you really?"

"Please Professor..."

"...we know our names."

"Well..." said McGonagall, clearly about to apologize.

"Don't bother Professor, they're lying," said the young girl.

McGonagall gave the twins a slightly darker glare, then turned back to Harry and the Grangers. "Where did I leave off there... oh yes Ronald here is starting Hogwarts this autumn with you two," she said to Harry and Hermione, indicating the youngest boy.

"And this young lady must be Ginevra," said McGonagall leading the girl to shout, "Ginny!"

"This is Robert and Helen Granger, and their daughter Hermione. They are here for muggleborn orientation. Tagging along with them today," McGonagall paused, "is Harry Potter."

The response from the Weasleys was astonishing. Molly clutched her hands together excitedly, Percy started, the twins did an overly elaborate double take, and Ron shouted "Blimey, Harry Potter!"

"Ronald keep you voice down," said Molly incredibly loudly.

Ginny on the other hand seemed to be paralysed. She couldn't seem to decide whether she wanted to stare at Harry or hide behind her family. She just stood there, trying, unsuccessfully, to speak.

"Why does everyone react that way when they hear my name?" asked a genuinely puzzled Harry.

"Seriously..." said Fred.

"...you're incredibly famous!" finished George.

"But why? No one has ever told me!" said Harry, getting a bit frustrated.

Ginny suddenly made a slight recovery from her paralysis. "It's because when the dark wizard who killed your parents tried to kill you he failed, and was killed himself instead."

Harry gasped as he turned to look at Ginny. Professor McGonagall half reached for him, but he stepped back. "My parents were murdered by a Dark Wizard?"

Ginny's face became a mask of abject horror as she realised what she had done. "GINNY!" yelled a very angry Molly. Ginny stepped back herself and looked like she was ready to run.

Despite Harry's shock, he managed to recover before Ginny had a chance to flee. "WAIT!" he yelled as he lunged forward and grabbed Ginny's hand. He looked her directly in the eyes, something he had never been comfortable with. Then he turned to her mother.

"Mrs. Weasley don't be angry," insisted Harry before turning back to Ginny. "No one has ever told me what happened to my parents, not honestly anyway. I was brought up believing they were drunks who died in a car crash. Thank you so much for telling me the truth Ginny. I really needed to know that "

Ginny blushed, and quickly broke eye contact with Harry. As he looked away Harry noticed out of the corner of his eye Hermione was trying hard to fight back tears.

"Well," said a soft voice Harry didn't recognize, "Minerva, the Weasleys and..."

Harry turned his head to see a man with a hooked nose and black greasy hair looking right into his eyes.

"Potter," the man said with a revulsion that made Harry shiver. Yet for one moment his eyes seemed to soften, before he turned his head to see holding Ginny's hand. His eyes went hard again. Now it was Harry's turn to blush dropping Ginny's hand.

"This," said McGonagall as she inserted herself partly between Harry and the man, "is Professor Severus Snape, the Hogwarts Potion Master, and Head of Slytherin House."

Harry offered his hand to the man, "I look forward to taking your class sir."

Snape looked at his hand for a moment then took it for exactly one downward shake. "I... will see you at Hogwarts," he said with uncertainty, "Minerva." With that he rushed away.

"That was odd, even for Severus," said McGonagall quietly.

"Eh, the slimy git..."

"...always has it out..."

"...for every non-Slytherin."

Molly and McGonagall glared at the twins, and were about to say something when Hermione broke in, "While I know you're about to give the twins a well deserved verbal thrashing, but I think Harry has some questions for you."

Harry gave Hermione weak smile as a way of thanking her. He'd been afraid the topic had been dropped, but wasn't able to muster up a lot of enthusiasm for it. The twins on the other hand were both nodding solemnly.

"I'm sorry," said Molly, "You're right Hermione, this is more important. We can deal with the twins later." The twins grimaced at that last bit.

"Who was this dark wizard who killed my parents? Why did he kill them? And how did I kill him?" asked Harry.

"Well, we don't like to say his name. Back during the war horrible things happened to people who said his name," explained Molly.

"You see, he placed a curse known as a Taboo on his name, which allowed him to hunt down those who dared use it," continued McGonagall, "Still that curse has long gone dormant. His name is Voldemort." She said the last name quietly as if she was afraid others would hear.

"Voldemort?" said Harry, not bothering to keep his voice down. The Weasley's and McGonagall all flinched.

"HEY!" said a witch at a nearby table, "Who do you think you are? Harry Potter?"

"Yes," said Harry frustratedly, looking right at the woman. The witch blanched as she looked at his forehead and quickly got up and left.

"Anyway," continued Molly, "You-Know-Who, was a pureblood supremacist, he believed only those descended from witches and wizards were worthy to wield magic."

McGonagall nodded, "Your mother was a muggleborn, so she would have always been a target to them, but in truth, James and Lily would have stood up to You-Know-Who regardless. They had a powerful sense of responsibility. They even fought with him several times. Eventually he decided to purposefully target them. On Halloween night of 1981 he came and murdered them. He tried to murder you too. His attempt left you that scar, but somehow he failed, and he hasn't been seen since. As for how you defeated him, no one knows. Even Albus Dumbledore, who is the greatest wizard of our age, has only guesses."

"Though Dumbledore's guesses are usually right," noted Molly.

"Everyone thinks that You-Know-Who has died, but Dumbledore is not so sure," said McGonagall, "Some fragment of him may have survived, though the fact that he has not re-appeared would indicate that he was very badly weakened."

"Since you survived, everyone assumes you did some powerful magic to stop him," said Ron, eager to get into the conversation.

"You've sort of become a national hero,"said Ginny shyly. At this Harry groaned, and rested his forehead on his hand.

"I'm just a normal kid. I was raised by muggles. I'm not a hero, off having adventures, unless you call sleeping in a cupboard an adventure!" snapped Harry.

Everyone stared at him. "I am going to..." started McGonagall before she managed to visibly calm herself again, "...make your aunt and uncle understand the depth of their mistakes."

"But let's talk about something more cheerful while you eat your ice cream," said Molly.

"How about Quidditch?" said Ron.

"Yes Quidditch!" agreed Ginny.

The twins nodded, "We're the Beaters..."

"...on the Gryffindor team."

The next 15 minutes were spent with the Weasley's explaining the rules of Quidditch to Harry and Hermione. Hermione seemed to get bored fairly quickly, but Harry thought a sport played on broomsticks sounded brilliant.

But then it was time for the Weasley's to go, and they made their goodbyes, with a "Glad to meet you Harry!" from Ginny, and a "See you at Hogwarts!" from Ron. The Grangers and Harry took their leave of McGonagall to finish their shopping. The rest of the trip was less eventful. The only other things of note were when Harry bought a large snowy owl at the owl shop and the reaction from Ollivander when Harry chose his wand.

"He told me my wand shared a core with Voldemort's!" he said to McGonagall when they returned to her.

McGonagall pursed her lips. "I will ask Albus about this, he may have something to say about it."

"It was great to meet you Harry!" said Hermione excitedly, as she and her parents prepared to leave.

"You take care of yourself," said Helen.

"If you have any problems with your relatives don't hesitate to call the police," advised Robert.

"It was great meeting all of you, I'll see you on the train Hermione," said Harry happily.

With that the Grangers left, though Hermione looked back at Harry and gave him a wave as he watched them go. He waved back, a little sadly.

"I'm sorry, but I will have to take you back to your relatives now," said McGonagall.

"I know."

"When we get back to their house go directly to your room," instructed McGonagall, "I will need to have words with them."

When Harry got back to #4 Privet Drive he did in fact go to his room. He wasn't able to hear exactly what was said, but from the sound of the din coming from downstairs he supposed that was just as well. He put the scuffle going on out of his mind and began to take a look at his new school books.

XXXXX

**September 1st, 1991**

Hermione was thrilled when she saw Harry again at King's Cross Station. The smile on his face seemed to be genuine, something she almost couldn't believe. Before, every time one of her supposed friends had seen her studious side they had rejected her. But Harry had seen her practically salivating in the bookstore and he still wanted to be her friend!

"Let's find a compartment," he shouted over the noise of the crowd.

They made their way onto the train and found a compartment in the middle of the train. After putting up their luggage (putting Harry's owl, which he had named Hedwig after someone out of _A History of Magic_, up carefully) they began to discuss how they had spent the rest of their summer break.

"Did your relatives treat you all right the rest of the summer?" asked Hermione.

Harry nodded, "After McGonagall was done talking to them they were afraid to look at me funny. Other than that I'd rather not talk about them."

Hermione nodded in reply. She really wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to that. Soon the two were talking about what they had read in their various books. They were soon lost in the differences between Charms and Transfigurations, and the way different potion ingredients interacted. All of a sudden the door opened, and Fred, George and Ron were peeking in.

"Are you two related?" asked Fred.

"Or are you just looking for a place to kiss?" asked George. Hermione felt her cheeks heating up, and she saw Harry's cheeks turn scarlet.

Ron scowled, "Lay off 'em, they haven't done anything that deserves being teased by the likes of you two." Hermione suddenly felt grateful to Ron, even if she suspected that his primary motivation was not scaring off Harry Potter as a friend.

"Wait till you have a younger sibling at school, you'll be teasing them and their friends too," said George.

"Well maybe not, since if you try it with Ginny she'll probably hex your nose off," laughed Fred.

With that the twins left, leaving Ron alone with Harry and Hermione. "Uh, mind if I sit here?" he asked, as the train lurched into motion.

"Please!" said both Harry and Hermione.

Harry and Hermione were soon back to talking about their textbooks, leaving Ron bewildered. "Wait, you guys have already read your textbooks? Are you mental?"

Harry shook his head a bit. "It doesn't hurt to make a good first impression Ron. That way if you screw up later you get a bit of leeway."

Ron nodded, but didn't seem to want to join the conversation. Hermione guessed it wasn't fair to him to discuss things he had no idea about, so she asked him what he knew about magic.

"Well mind you, you aren't allowed to do magic at home while you are underage, so I haven't actually performed any magic," said Ron, "But Fred and George taught me a spell." He pulled out his wand, and what appeared to be a pet rat.

_"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,_

_Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."_

Nothing happened.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" asked Hermione, "Well it's not very good, is it? I've only tried a few simple spells for practice and it's all worked for me."

Ron's face turned red. Harry shook his head at Hermione and she realised that she had done something wrong. "Oh no, what did I do?"

"It sounded like you were putting Ron down. And bragging how you could do what he couldn't," said Harry.

"I'm sorry Ron," Hermione apologized, "I didn't mean it like that. I guess I did come off like a bit of a prat there."

Ron looked at her questioningly for a moment, then nodded. "I guess I can let it slide this time. But try not to insult me when you are explaining things, it's bloody annoying."

"Language Ron!" said Hermione reflexively.

Harry let out a laugh, and Hermione felt the tension go out of the compartment.

About an hour into the trip they had a visitor, right after they had a visit from the trolley witch. They were opening up Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and Chocolate Frogs when a young wizard with slick blond hair and two hulking goons following him entered the compartment.

"I hear Harry Potter is on this train, have you seen him?" he asked.

Ron almost growled. Harry took his cue from that. "Who wants to know?"

The blonde wizard had a look of complete arrogance as he said, "Draco, Draco Malfoy. You must be Potter." He looked at Hermione and Ron. "What are you doing with these...people?"

"They're my friends. And I don't take kindly to them being insulted," said Harry as he stood up.

"Friends with a blood traitor? That's a laugh. I think the girl's a mudblood as well," said Draco

Ron shot to his feet. "WHAT DID YOU CALL HER?"

Hermione realised that this was getting out of hand. "Ron, hold it together! He isn't worth it, whatever he said!"

"I called you a mudblood, because your parents are filthy muggles!" said Draco as if nothing could touch him.

Ron looked like he was about to punch Malfoy, but Hermione held him back. "Thank you, that is quite the compliment," she said calmly.

Draco looked at her in shock. "Crazy mudblood doesn't even know it's an insult. Crabbe, Goyle, let's get out of here." And the three turned and left.

"Okay, that was brilliant," said Ron, "I don't know how you kept your head but thanks."

"It wasn't an insult to me," said Hermione, "I'm more concerned how he knew I was muggleborn."

"He knew I was on the train too, but we didn't talk to a lot of people on our way in," observed Harry, "I think he had a list of the new students to begin with."

Ron nodded. "His father is on the Board of Governors, he could get it for him."

"I hope I'm not in the same house as him," said Hermione resolutely.

"He'll almost certainly be in Slytherin," noted Ron, "The Slytherins are ambitious and always competing against each other for status. But the bulk of the pureblood bigots end up in that house. Not _all_ of them I guess, but enough. Pretty much all of the powerful dark wizards come from there anyway."

"What house will you be in?" asked Harry.

"Gryffindor probably. Everyone in my family has been in there for ages including all five of my older brothers. Hermione here will probably be in Ravenclaw, she's so smart."

Hermione shook her head. "I'd rather be in Gryffindor. It was Albus Dumbledore's house!"

"Even Hufflepuff would be better than Slytherin," said Harry, "at least you'd have good friends."

"So Ron, why don't you tell us about your older brothers?" asked Hermione.

The rest of the trip went smoothly. Hermione was a little bored when Ron started talking about Quidditch again, but she had to admit she had never really liked any sports that much to begin with. Ron did seem to know a lot about the sport, so she supposed it was possible he would be a really great player.

Before they knew it they were at Hogsmeade station getting off the train to the sound of a huge man shouting "Firs' years, Firs' years!" As Harry passed him he gave a surprisingly high pitched yelp. "Harry, good ter see yeh again! Name's Hagrid. I knew yer parents when they were in school. We'll have ter have a spot o' tea and talk sometime."

Harry smiled, "I'd love to!" Hermione gripped his shoulder briefly, and he gave an appreciative smile. It was clear Harry was still a little in the dark about his parents. Hermione wondered if there was something she could do to help.

They were brought down to a lake where there was a small flotilla of boats. Harry and Ron quickly chose a boat, but Hermione was a bit reticent to follow them. Harry offered his hand to steady her and soon she was in the boat, which soon was zooming across the lake, driven by some magic. And there they saw Hogwarts, lit up in its full glory. It was, well, the only word Hermione could think of was magical.

The first trip through the castle was a bit of a blur. While the talking portraits, and ghosts and various other magical displays were impressive, what really stuck in her mind were the faces of her two friends (was she really thinking of Ronald Weasley as a friend?) at seeing this wonder. That she must have been mirroring their expressions made it even more memorable. For the very first time, she felt like she belonged.

The Great Hall was the most impressive place of all, with its enchanted ceiling. Stunned, Hermione tried to explain what the charm was doing, but Harry shook his head. "Only you'd try to analyse something like this Hermione. Never change." That caused her to blush a bit.

The sorting was apparently done by a battered old hat that would be placed upon their heads and yell out the name of the house they would go to. It seemed to take a varying amount of time with different people. Hermione did feel a little nervous when "Granger, Hermione" was called, but she tried to project confidence as she marched up to the stool at the front of the hall and sat down. As soon as the hat was set upon her head it began to talk to her. IN HER HEAD.

_"Now that is a mind! You'd do very well in Ravenclaw. You have plenty of courage too, you'd do anything to help a friend, a natural Gryffindor. Hmmm, not used to lots of friends though, and your tendency to show off would probably put off the Hufflepuffs. Though your willingness to help others would offset that a bit. You do have ambitions, but you're a muggleborn. The Slytherins would eat you alive before you could learn to defend yourself."_

_"Gryffindor sounds fantastic. I heard Dumbledore was in Gryffindor, and he's the greatest wizard of the age."_ thought Hermion_e._

_"Are you sure you wouldn't like Ravenclaw? With your mind there is no limit to the bounds of your ability. They would let you discover things beyond your wildest imagination."_

Hermione considered_. "There's no way Harry and Ron would get sorted into Ravenclaw. I guess I could do with or without Ron, but Harry is a natural Gryffindor. I really want to be sorted into the same House as Harry!"_

The hat paused for a long moment. _"I see that this _**_is_ **_what you truly want. There is nothing wrong with this desire, and it may yet lead you on to better things. But I doubt you will thank me for this."_

"SLYTHERIN"

XXXXX

Harry was stunned, along with everyone else when the Sorting Hat shouted out the word Slytherin. Hermione's eyes had grown wide, and her mouth was open just a tiny bit. As McGonagall usher her towards the Slytherin table she had a blank expression on her face. She looked lost. Harry immediately knew something had gone very wrong. He looked at Ron and saw outrage clear on his face. But Harry didn't think he was mad about the injustice.

Hermione was trying to find someone to sit next to, but no one in Slytherin seemed to want her sitting next to them. Finally she just picked an empty seat, only for the people next to her to get up and move. Oh, it was bad, thought Harry. He had to do something, but he couldn't figure out what.

He'd stopped paying attention, and Ron had to poke him when "Potter, Harry" was called. This caused a small scene as everyone began to talk about him at once. But they all quieted when the hat was placed upon his head.

_"What did you do to Hermione?" _Harry immediately demanded.

_"Unfortunately I cannot discuss another students sorting," _replied the hat in his head, _"I'll get right to the point. You could do well in any of these houses, but because someone has tampered with me I will have to put you in Slytherin."_

_"So all I have to do is tell them what you just said? Then Hermione and I will get resorted!"_

_"I can't discuss your sorting with the staff, my magic won't allow it." _Harry rolled his eyes exasperatedly. Without the hat, would anyone believe him?

_"Hermione asked to be in the same house as me, didn't she?"_ asked Harry as he looked at the clearly anxious girl. The Hat's silence was telling.

_"No, she didn't just ask. It's what she really truly wanted wasn't it? Otherwise you could have sorted her elsewhere and just told her it was for her own good."_

Harry felt the hat sigh. _"Mr. Potter, in some ways you are her first friend ever. That can cause a great deal of loyalty between two people. But you already know that don't you?"_

Harry nodded, _"I don't care where you are being forced to sort me. Now that Hermione is in Slytherin I want to go there. She'll need my help, and I won't let her down."_

_"You have the bravery of a Gryffindor, and the loyalty of a Hufflepuff. Too bad I have to put you in _SLYTHERIN!" The last word was spoken aloud.

Harry stepped down and headed to the Slytherin table as every single person in the hall stared at him in absolute shock. The old man at the centre of the head table whom Harry recognized from a Chocolate Frog card as Albus Dumbledore had a serious look on his face. Snape, the head of Slytherin, his house, looked murderous. Harry just walked down to the table and sat down next to Hermione.

"You didn't come to this house because of me, did you?" asked an uncertain Hermione.

"No, but you wanted to be sorted into the house I was in, didn't you?" asked Harry very softly. Hermione nodded with a slight blush.

"Well the Sorting Hat told me it had been bewitched. It had to put me into Slytherin. Didn't matter to me though. I'm not about to abandon a friend to a pit of snakes."

Harry reached under the table and took her hand discreetly. "Everything will be fine as long as we stick together." Hermione nodded as if his confidence gave her strength. Now if only he could believe it.

**Author's Note: **Edited for grammar.


	2. The First Week

**Author's Note: **Wow, I did not expect the sort of reaction I am getting to this story. I really am very grateful to everyone who has favorited and followed this story, and especially those who have left reviews. Also, one word on spelling and grammar. I am trying to use British spelling for this story, but I am an American. So sometimes I may slip up, and the Google Docs spellcheck, at least on the app, is very unhelpful. I wanted to do this in open office, but the online capabilities of Google have made it possible to work on this story whenever I have had downtime. So please forgive any inconsistencies, I will try to fix them if they are pointed out to me.

**Chapter 2: The First Week**

**September 1st, 1991**

"Die a very painful death, what sort of warning is that?" demanded Hermione.

Harry shook his head. The truth was, the Welcome Feast was spectacular. The sheer amount and variety of food had temporarily driven all thoughts of their situation from his mind. For a moment, he and Hermione were able to be friends again, without the pressures of whatever waited for them in Slytherin house.

"Don't know. But I know I'm staying away from it! I have enough problems without dying," said Harry.

Hermione laughed humorlessly, "Don't I know it. Still have you seen the way Ron is looking at us?"

Harry looked over at the Gryffindor table. The look Ron was sending them could only be described as disgust. "Looks like he isn't exactly thrilled with where we got sorted."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "I know the feeling."

All of a sudden a sharp pain struck his forehead, right in his scar. He just happened to be looking at the staff table, and he saw Snape looking at him. A small flicker of _something _flickered in his eyes. Was it concern? Surprise? Then Harry saw the professor in a turban next to Snape barely looking at him out of the corner of his eye. Maybe he was being made paranoid by the Sorting Hat's pronouncement that the sorting had been rigged, but it looked as if that man was somehow staring at him without staring. He didn't know how that was possible, but somehow he knew he was right. That man had caused his scar to hurt just now.

"You all right Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah," he said as the pain subsided, "Fine."

XXXXX

The Slytherin common room was in the dungeons. "Appropriate setting," Harry said quietly to Hermione as they walked with the rest of the first years deeper into Hogwarts' underbelly.

They stopped at a featureless stone wall. The prefect leading them, a fifth year named Gertrude Selwyn, gave a haughty glare. "This is the entrance to our common room. You will not give the password to anyone not in Slytherin House. You will not tell anyone where it is. If you see any non-Slytherins hanging around here, get a prefect, or if you think you can intimidate them, chase them off yourself. The password is 'Blood Status.'"

"How adorable," muttered Hermione.

The wall opened up as if it was a door, and the first years entered the Slytherin common room. It was, in Harry's opinion, kind of spectacular. There was a massive window that gave an underwater view of the lake, which gave the whole room a greenish tinge. The room was furnished ornately, with large comfortable couches and armchairs.

Suddenly Severus Snape swept into the room. He gave all of his students a penetrating stare, his eyes hardening when they went past Harry, but clearly puzzled when they fell on Hermione.

"For those of you who are unaware, which should be NONE of you, I am Severus Snape, the Head of Slytherin House. I am also the school's potions master. I welcome all of you to the illustrious house of the great Salazar Slytherin. He was one of the most misunderstood wizards in history, and we share that misfortune. How you behave and perform in your schoolwork will gain or lose you house points. I would… suggest that you not lose too many house points, otherwise you will be answering to me, as well as your well motivated housemates. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the House Cup. It is a meaningless accolade, but we will be winning it because we ARE the best."

Everyone was nodding along, including Harry himself. So far nothing seemed too bad in this speech.

"In addition to the school rules," continued Snape, "Slytherin house has a number of special rules just for it. Rule number 1: Never bring shame or disparagement onto Slytherin house. Rule number 2 is similar: If you have a conflict with another member of this house, do not air it publicly. Either deal with it privately or come to me if that isn't feasible. But remember, the master rule."

Harry wasn't sure if he should ask what the master rule was, when one of Malfoy's goons (Crabbe maybe?) did it for him. "It's don't get caught breaking the rules you moron!" yelled Malfoy irritably. Snape just smiled.

Snape pointed to one of seven Hallways leading off from the common room. "This is the first year dormitory. There are two people to each room. You must have a roommate, unless there is no one of your own sex to room with, then you may have your own room. The bathrooms are at the end of the hall, boys on the left, girls on the right. This setup is unique to Slytherin, so I wouldn't go blabbing it to all the other houses unless you want to lose what little privacy this arrangement provides. There are protections on the rooms to prevent theft or entry of someone who is not residing in that room. You may switch rooms until Saturday if you run into some sort of personality conflict, there is no need to inform me of this as the list will automatically update. Saturday morning at 6am, the list will set for the year, and you will not be able to change rooms without permission."

Snape gave the group of first years a long stare, his eyes lingering for a moment on Harry, then lingering for another moment on Hermione. "That is all. You will find your rooms now."

The students all seemed to be making beelines for each other. Malfoy had waved over another boy who had a sneer on his face (Harry thought his name was Nott). Malfoy's goons also quickly joined each other in conversation. A dark skinned boy came up to Harry. "Blaise Zabini," he said, extending his hand, "Looks like we're roommates. And trust me, that's for the best, considering the other options."

Harry took his hand, "Harry Potter, though I'm fairly sure you know that."

Blaise grinned, "Yeah, you're hard to miss."

Hermione came up to them. "It looks like I get my own room," she said happily. Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Malfoy sneer.

Blaise had seen that too, "Watch out for yourself Granger. Your room should protect you, but I've heard stories about muggleborns sorted into Slytherin. Try not to get yourself ambushed."

Hermione nodded. "I didn't know any of you cared."

Blaise nodded grimly, "Really I don't, but I fucking hate Malfoy."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, "Watch your language..."

"Aw piss off," he said and made his way towards the first year dormitories.

"I don't think he likes being ordered around," Harry said, his voice resigned.

Hermione shook her head. "You're probably right. Well, you better catch him."

"Good night Hermione, see you tomorrow," said Harry with a small nod.

"Good night," replied Hermione warmly.

Harry ran to catch up with Blaise. He found Blaise outside one of the rooms on the left hand side. "This one?"

"Sure."

The room had two curtained beds, and two desks each with a chair. As they entered they saw their luggage just appear right in front of them. "Talk about service, the house elves here are on their game," said Blaise approvingly.

"House Elves?" Harry asked.

"Magical servants, they take care of the castle," Blaise explained.

Both boys began unpacking their things. After a moment Blaise stopped and gave Harry a thoughtful look. "So you really weren't expecting to get sorted into Slytherin were you?"

Harry shook his head, causing Blaise to snort derisively, "I figured. Listen, let me give you the rundown on Slytherin House, the unofficial version. Basically, there is a portrait of one of the early heads of Slytherin house, one Burvin Gaunt. It's enchanted to collect all sorts of information about the students in Slytherin, who is doing the best in classes, who has the most influence in their year, who has the most influence in the years below them, things like that. At the end of our fourth year, it chooses the prefects. So establishing your influence within the house is very important."

Harry nodded, "Seems straight forward."

"Right. Now Malfoy has the lead among us boys 'cause his dad is rich and influential, and he's a pureblood. He's as close to nobility as wizards get, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. That means he is from one of the 28 most exclusive pureblood houses. If someone doesn't dethrone him he _will _be prefect, and he will make all our lives miserable, the tosser. Crabbe and Goyle are absolutely loyal to him, their families have been connected for generations, and it looks like Pansy Parkinson is sparing no time in trying to get on his good side."

"I'm not really that fond of Malfoy myself," admitted Harry.

"Daphne Greengrass, the blonde girl, and Nott, the dark haired guy who is rooming with Malfoy, have almost the same pedigree and wealth as Malfoy. Together, with our support, they could probably unseat him," Blaise explained, "Of course you might be able to do that by yourself. You are the Boy-Who-Lived."

"Great," Harry said sarcastically.

"Anyway, Tracey Davis is a friend of Daphne's, she'll follow Daphne pretty much anywhere. The last girl is Millicent Bulstrode, who is following Pansy, mostly because no one else asked her."

Harry gave Blaise a pointed look. "And you?"

Blaise shot Harry a vicious smile. "I just don't want Malfoy taking charge. As I said, I fucking hate him. His dad was a Death Eater, one of the Dark Lord's followers. I... think that established magical families should be in charge, but why kill muggleborns? It's pointless, and harmful. Nott's granddad was a Death Eater too, but Nott himself seems less inclined that way. He and Daphne would push Slytherin house towards the moderate purebloods, and away from the Death Eaters."

Harry nodded again. "As long as you don't support Death Eaters."

Blaise smirked, "Yeah, I can see where that would be a problem for you."

Both had finished unpacking. "Listen," said Blaise, "I have to survive in Slytherin as well. I'm not going to put myself out in order to help you, and certainly not to help Granger. But I'm not going to stab you in the back."

"Got it," said Harry as he reached for his pajamas. Suddenly he felt as if this conversation was over. He quickly changed, and climbed into bed. "Goodnight Zabini."

"Good night Potter."

XXXXX

Hermione had changed into her pajamas and was reading a bit from her charms book before bed. So many of these spells were so fascinating, and she couldn't help trying them out. _Lumos_ was very easy of course, and locking and unlocking spells proved fairly simple as well. Other spells seemed to be useful, like the body bind curse from her Defense textbook. Her own room would be fantastic for studying. She wondered if the magic would allow Harry to enter her room. _Hogwarts: A History _had said boys couldn't enter the girl's dorms, but maybe that didn't apply to Slytherin?

The answer to her question came in the worst possible way, as her door swung open violently and three figures charged into the dimly lit room. One moment she was sitting in bed calmly, the next two large boys had her pinned against the wall, one with his hand pressing into her throat. The two boys were Crabbe and Goyle. The third figure...

"Malfoy," she croaked through her constricted throat, "_HOW?_"

"The protections don't work on mudbloods. The man who cast them was a proper pureblood and made sure of that. With a half-blood or pureblood in this room you'd have been safe. But alone, you're mine!" Malfoy sneered.

"Why?" whispered Hermione.

"To put you in your place. And to tell you to stay away from Potter. I'll deal with him when the time comes. But I know you won't just listen," Malfoy grabbed one of Hermione's socks and shoved it into her mouth, then snapped his fingers, "Bring her!" he shouted at his goons as they dragged her from the room.

XXXXX

**September 2nd, 1991**

Harry was surprised to find that Hermione had not waited for him before going to breakfast. He shrugged it off though. It wasn't like they had made plans to meet. When he reached the Great Hall he saw her, sitting alone again. With a wave he sat down across from her. But when she looked him in the eye a strange look of both relief and fear went across her face. Finally she shook her head and said, "I'm sorry." and moved several feet down the table.

Harry sat stunned. What had he done? Of course this friend would desert him, like all the others. The part of him that said his relatives were right began whispering to him, calling him a freak, asking him what should he expect? Yet somehow, this was different. It hurt worse than the other betrayals before. It took every ounce of his self control not to break down in tears. He looked up.

And saw Malfoy sneering at Hermione.

His eyes narrowed. "What did he do?" he asked quietly.

"I'm not sure exactly," said a girl's voice next to him, "But I think he paid your friend a visit last night, Potter."

Harry turned to his left to see a blonde-haired girl. "Daphne Greengrass, right?" he asked.

She nodded. "Malfoy has never been subtle, so of course he'd try to cause trouble the first night."

Harry shook his head confused. "How? The wards..."

"Are based off of the list which tells the Headmaster who is eligible to come to Hogwarts," said Daphne, "That list has to single out the muggleborns, because they have to be contacted in person. The caster of those wards decided to single out the muggleborns too."

Fire burned in Harry's mind, a raging torrent that blocked everything out. How dare they? HOW BLOODY DARE THEY?

Daphne seemed taken aback by his reaction. It must have been a lot more obvious than Harry had expected. "I don't think it is fair either. Maybe Tracey could move in with her."

Harry looked at her intently, "She'd do that?"

Daphne nodded, "If I ask her. Of course I'd expect something in return."

Harry narrowed his eyes, "So that's how it is," he said flatly, "You'll have to ask Hermione."

Daphne gave Harry a sharp look, "It's you I'd want something from."

"I'll consider it," said Harry, pretty sure he knew what she wanted.

Daphne seemed to want to say more, but she seemed to think better of it. She turned back to her breakfast and Tracey.

Harry ate quickly, then went and got his schedule from Professor Snape at the head table. Snape's expression was almost unreadable, but was there pity in it? Regret? Anger? He couldn't tell. As he stormed out of the Great Hall he collided with Ron Weasley.

"Watch where you're going Potter!" said Ron angrily.

"You know," said Harry quietly, but forcefully, "I'm the same person you were friends with yesterday. I haven't changed. Neither has Hermione."

"Well apparently you were both bloody snakes. Shows that I'm no judge of character," hissed Ron.

"Maybe if you paid attention, you'd see how absolutely _thrilled _we were to get sorted there," whispered Harry sarcastically, "Do you _know_ what they are doing to Hermione, just because she is muggleborn? Bugger off Weasley!" Harry shouted the last sentence and began to storm out of the hall.

As he did, he passed the Weasley twins, who took one look at him and made straight for Ron. "What are you doing to piss off your friends now likkle Ronnie-kins," said Fred.

George winked at Harry, "We'll straighten him out Harry!"

Harry laughed. At least the twins seemed to still be friendly. He started to head back to the Slytherin common room to get his things for Charms.

XXXXX

Hermione had managed to escape to the library after class without Harry seeing her. It had been difficult. By which she felt that it had been hard to shake him off, and that the action had truly caused her pain. She had a friend, her first real friend, and now she had to avoid him. However she had homework to do in both Charms and Herbology, so she got to work on it, hoping to get her mind off of what had happened. Malfoy had only taunted her a little in class today. She just had to keep her head down.

She saw a shadow as someone sat down across from her. Looking across, she saw Blaise Zabini, Harry's roommate. She shook her head. "Did Harry send you here?"

Blaise shook his head. "He should have. But he's still too angry."

Hermione hung her head. "He has every right to be angry with me."

"With you?" Blaise asked incredulously, "No, he's ready to kill Malfoy. Only reason he hasn't is because he doesn't know exactly what Malfoy did to you. Not that I care what Malfoy did exactly, but the truth is I'd be the same way if it was a friend of mine."

Hermione shook her head. Of course this wasn't an offer of help, or friendship. Still, Hermione suspected that Blaise's statement wasn't entirely theoretical. He definitely had someone in mind that he was thinking of who he considered a very close friend.

"But as I said yesterday, I fucking hate Malfoy," repeated Blaise.

"So do I," whispered Hermione.

"Then you can't give into him. Do you think someone like Malfoy will just leave you alone because you roll over for him?" Blaise shook his head, "Sorry, bad choice of words there. He is the ultimate user, he will demand more and more of you until you have done whatever he wants you too. Your only hope to escape with any of your self-respect and dignity is to stand up to him, no matter the cost."

Blaise reached over and lifted Hermione's chin with his hand, and looked her straight in the eyes. "And there is one person who clearly will stand by you, no matter what. He's a bloody moron for doing it, but for some reason he's decided you're worth it."

Hermione shook her head. "I barely know him."

"I guess he's decided he doesn't have enough friends that he can afford to lose one then," said Blaise.

Again, Hermione suspected that this statement came from Blaise's experience. He apparently didn't have many friends. And that was true for Hermione as well, she realized. She couldn't afford to lose Harry, and he couldn't afford to lose her. Grabbing her books she made to leave the library, but turned back to Blaise, "Thanks," she said.

Blaise waved her off, "I don't even know why the hell I did it."

Hermione nodded, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes, and she left.

XXXXX

Harry was reading his Herbology book on a couch in the Slytherin common room when suddenly someone sat down next to him. Turning, he saw it was Hermione.

"Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle broke into my room last night," she said without any preface, "They pinned me to the wall by my throat, threatened me, then dragged me to the showers where they stripped me to my underwear and held me under the water until I agreed not to speak to you, or get out of 'my place.'"

Harry leapt to his feet, his eyes burning with rage. He was going to make Malfoy suffer. Make him feel pain. He was going to send the blond ponce back to his daddy in pieces. But then Hermione grabbed his arm.

"Please don't do anything rash. I really need your help right now," said Hermione, "They were just trying to humiliate me. I don't think they meant anything else. But I am going to need help to keep this from getting worse."

Harry immediately felt ashamed. He sat down next to Hermione, "Of course, I'm here." The whole thing suddenly felt awkward. Not knowing what to do, he put his arm around her shoulders. She smiled at him.

"Thanks, I... never really had a friend before. I really don't know how to do this," she admitted.

"Same here," said Harry shocked to hear that she too had been friendless, "But I know one thing. I won't let Malfoy hurt you again."

"Once I learn, I'll be able to look after myself," Hermione insisted.

"I'm sure you will be, while you're awake at least. What if he gets you when you are sleeping?" asked Harry.

"For now I'll use the _Colloportus_ on my door. I doubt Malfoy has been reading ahead yet. He'll figure out the counterspell soon enough, but maybe we can find another solution by then."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "You should also learn the body bind. It could really keep the numbers a little more even."

Hermione nodded, "Good idea."

Harry realized his arm was still around Hermione. He decided to keep it there for a bit. No reason to draw attention to it. "I have an idea actually, well several ideas actually, about how to help you out. I'll get back to you tomorrow about them."

Hermione gave Harry a brief grateful smile. "It will be all right, everything will be fine," Harry said as his hand gripped her shoulder tightly. Her hand came up to grip the hand on her shoulder.

"I believe you," said Hermione.

XXXXX

**September 3rd, 1991**

Harry knocked on the door to Professor Snape's office the next day, hoping the surly Potions Master was feeling less belligerent than he had previously. The scowl that covered Snape's face as he opened the door stole that hope from him.

"Mr. Potter," Snape said deliberately, as if the words left a bad taste in his mouth, "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if I could have copies of the house and school rules. I need to consult them, sir," said Harry.

Snape ushered Harry into his office. It was dark and dank, full of potions ingredients and papers scattered everywhere, and off to one side was a cupboard full of many potions. He pointed at a seat in front of the desk, which was surprisingly clear of clutter. "Sit. I am reorganizing my office after a... prank, no doubt set by the Weasley twins."

"Sounds like something they'd do," admitted Harry.

Snape glared at Harry. "Is that a joke? Are you looking to break the school rules as well?"

Harry regretted having spoken. Snape seemed determined not to like him. "N-n-no, the opposite in fact!" said Harry defensively, "I want to be absolutely sure I break no school rules."

Snape looked at him for a moment, then began to rummage through a drawer in one of his desks. He pulled out a small booklet, and a leaflet. "This book is the school rules, the leaflet is the Slytherin house rules. Do NOT leave the house rules lying about outside our common room," Snape looked at Harry again, clearly deciding something, "It is standard procedure in our house to give the first of the first years who asks for the rules 5 points for initiative, so 5 points to Slytherin."

"Thank you, sir," said Harry.

Snape looked at him again, "Well you're more polite than I expected. If that is all." He motioned for the door.

"Of course, sir. And thanks again for the help." Harry quickly made his way out of the office. Thus he missed the slight smile that snuck across Snape's face as he left.

XXXXX

"What are you reading?" asked Hermione in the library that night.

"School rules," said Harry briefly, "I'm looking for... aha! Found it!" Harry quickly pulled out the leaflet of Slytherin house rules. He shook his head as he put it down after he found what he was looking for.

"You find what you were looking for?" asked Hermione.

"Yes," said Harry, "The way I see it we have three ways to deal with your problem."

"Well, we could tell the Headmaster what has been happening," suggested Hermione.

Harry shook his head. "I'd say start with McGonagall. Get both of them involved. I think I trust McGonagall a little. For all we know the headmaster is the one who bewitched the sorting hat. That being said, we can't rule McGonagall out as a suspect. She was the person from the wizarding world that had the most access to _us_ after all."

"Do you really think Albus Dumbledore wanted to put you in Slytherin? He one of the most pro-muggleborn voices in modern wizarding society! I think Professor Snape is far more likely," insisted Hermione.

"I think Snape hates me, why would he put me in his house?" Harry replied, "No it's not that I particularly suspect Dumbledore, but if we go to him and he did do it our chance of getting out of Slytherin would be dead. And if we stay stuck in Slytherin after blabbing what is going on we'll be right buggered."

Hermione nodded. If they blabbed this, the protections which didn't protect muggleborns, the separate rooms, the single hallway dorms, all of it would be put under the microscope. Very likely Slytherin would be forced to conform to the main school policy. That would make everyone in Slytherin house their enemy, though Malfoy would probably take some of the blame as well for forcing their hand.

"I feel," started Harry, "that McGonagall would make sure that if there were any way to re-sort us that it would get done. But this option is a real roll of the dice, because we don't know that it is possible at all."

"Very risky," agreed Hermione.

"The second plan is that Daphne offered to allow Tracey Davis to stay with you," said Harry carefully.

"Really, that would solve all our problems!" said Hermione happily.

Harry shook his head. "She wants us to support her against Malfoy. Her and Nott. I think I would prefer them in charge, but..."

"They are both pureblood supremacists, so we'd be supporting their ideology by doing so," finished Hermione.

"Well, Nott's a supremacist for sure," began Harry, carefully, "I don't have any clue what Daphne believes. But yeah we'd have to compromise ourselves to do it."

Hermione grimaced. Compromising on moral issues was not something she ever liked to do. "So what's the third choice?"

"We get someone else to share your room," said Harry cagily.

"Who?"

Harry winced. "You aren't going to like this. Please don't hit me."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "I won't hit you, now answer me."

"Well," started Harry, "Me."

Hermione very nearly forgot her promise and almost slapped Harry. She stopped herself just as her hand started to move. "They aren't going to let a boy room with a girl."

"I looked at the school rulebook and you'd be right!" admitted Harry, "Boys aren't allowed in the girl's dormitories at all, and girls aren't allowed to stay in the boy's dormitories. But Slytherin house doesn't have separate girl's and boy's dormitories. That only applies to the other three houses. The fact that Malfoy could enter your room proves it."

"But Snape said we could only room alone if there was no one of your own gender to room with," said Hermione.

"Exactly," said Harry with a clever grin, "That's all the Slytherin house rulebook says too. But we wouldn't be rooming alone. And if I were rooming with you, there would be no one else of his gender for Blaise to room with. My guess is that they figured that the school rule book covers this stuff, which it does, but only by the dormitory, not by the room. Since Slytherin has mixed dormitories..."

"It's a loophole," said Hermione.

"Exactly," smiled Harry.

"But wouldn't they move us once they saw what we've done?" objected Hermione.

"The way I figure," mused Harry, "I could move in on Friday night. This gets my name assigned to that dorm for the rest of the year, and no one has a chance to object. Whether I'm there or not, you get the protection. If they take me out it might be for the best really, but even having to room with you is better than letting Malfoy get at you whenever he wants. And Snape might consider leaving it a punishment of sorts. Especially since he might have to go to the headmaster to fix things."

"And that brings us back to blowing up Slytherin again," agreed Hermione.

Harry nodded.

Hermione thought about it for a moment. The entire thing was really just inappropriate. Yet, she couldn't quite put it out of her mind. She shook her head. "I need time to think about it."'

"Of course, I don't want to put any pressure on you. This is your choice," said Harry kindly.

Hermione sat back to think some more. Why was that last option not leaving her head?

XXXXX

**September 6, 1991**

The week's classes went by quickly. Looking back, Harry realized that he'd actually enjoyed most of his classes. Harry had done a lot of gardening at the Dursleys, so Herbology had been relatively easy. Flitwick was probably the best overall teacher, and his charms class was incredibly fun. Transfiguration was less fun, but McGonagall was a patient and effective teacher. Astronomy had been interesting, but having to do it at midnight made for a rough next day. History of Magic was the most boring class he'd ever had, unfortunately.

Defense against the Dark Arts had been bad too. Professor Quirrel was the instructor, and he was the very same man who had glanced at him right after his scar had hurt during the welcome feast. Harry had quickly realized that the pain in his scar did return a little bit, though not as strongly, every time Quirrel's turban faced him. Something about that struck Harry as very wrong. Even worse, Quirrel was a terrible instructor who was easily scared by the smallest surprise. Harry considered defense to be an incredibly important subject, so why was it taught so poorly?

The only class Harry hadn't had yet was Potions, and it was making him quite nervous. In one sense, Harry had been an excellent chef for the Dursley's and he thought that skill would transfer. Yet Severus Snape's behavior had been baffling. In the Great Hall at meals Snape spent half his time glaring at Harry, and the other half staring at him with a worried frown on his face.

Potions was also a double class, held jointly with the Gryffindors. This would be the first time he'd be in class with Ron, who had yet to talk to Harry since their confrontation in the Great Hall.

The night before, Snape dropped off a study guide for all the Slytherin first years. Blaise had smirked. "What do you want to bet the Gryffindors don't get these?"

"No bet, though I'd wager if the Gryffindors were smart enough to ask he'd give them one," Harry had said.

Blaise had nodded, "Oh yeah, definitely. It's not his fault they never ask him for help."

"Well," Harry had replied, "I wouldn't go that far."

And now he was here, in class, sitting next to Hermione. Ron hadn't so much as looked at him since he'd arrived, though.

Malfoy on the other hand seemed pissed. Hermione hadn't had any trouble from him since she'd started using the locking charm, but it was clear to Harry it wasn't from lack of trying. Before Snape arrived he walked up to her desk with his goons behind her, trying to loom over her. "You're going to pay for your insolence Granger," he said haughtily.

All of a sudden Harry was by her side, his hand on her shoulder. "Malfoy, this is not the place for this. Stand down."

Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "You aren't in charge Potter."

Suddenly the voice of Ron Weasley came from across the classroom, "Oi, look, Malfoy's picking on a girl! Guess it makes sense, since she'd only be likely to kick his arse instead of certain to."

Malfoy snarled, but didn't take his eyes off Hermione.

"Five points from Gryffindor for that vulgar display," said Snape as he swept into the classroom. Ron simply nodded, and the rest of the Gryffindors seemed to think it was a worthwhile trade from the approving smiles they gave Ron. Ron's eyes hit Harry as he silently accepted their quiet adulation. Harry shot Ron a one-sided grin, to which Ron nodded slightly in response.

Snape however had walked right up to Draco. "What are you doing?" he asked incredibly softly, anyone further away than Harry and Hermione would not have been able to hear him.

"Harry started it!" said Malfoy hurriedly, so much so that he wasn't very quiet at all.

Snape shook his head wearily. "I was standing outside listening Draco," Snape said in his quiet voice, "Harry told you, correctly, not to bring this up in front of the Gryffindors."

Draco paled as he realized he'd just gotten caught breaking the second rule of Slytherin house.

"Find your seat, Mr. Malfoy," said Snape in a normal volume, but chilly, tone. Draco and his goons quickly complied.

The rest of the lesson consisted of Snape quizzing the Gryffindors on the study guide none of them had, and the brewing of a fairly simple potion. Between Harry and Hermione, they managed to get it almost exactly right, and were not surprised when Snape nodded at their potion. "Outstanding work," said Snape honestly, "If only some of the Gryffindors had your focus." Harry was pretty sure Ron was glaring at him, but Harry was just happy to get out of the lesson without Snape glaring at him.

On his way out of the room, Harry saw Daphne wave at him. He walked over to her. "Time is running short, has Hermione considered my offer?" she asked.

"I was planning on asking as soon as I got back to the common room. You should know soon." said Harry as he made his way out of Snape's classroom.

XXXXX

Blaise watched Harry leave. He shook his head at Daphne. "They won't bite," he said. Daphne was his friend, but she'd managed to screw this up rather badly.

Daphne looked at him smugly. "They don't have a choice."

Blaise laughed. "Of course they do, they could turn us in to the Headmaster and try to get resorted. After what Malfoy tried to do to Hermione, McGonagall will probably insist on it."

Daphne turned pale.

Blaise shook his head, "You realize that if you had offered to help Hermione free of strings they would have supported you against Malfoy anyway. The moment you made it part of a power play you made them doubt you."

Daphne closed her eyes as if stricken, "What do we do?"

"What we do," began Blaise, "is when the shit hits the fan, we blame everything on Malfoy."

Daphne nodded, but after all what choice did she really have? Blaise supposed he _could_ try to stop Harry, but he wouldn't. No this was for the best. If this blew up it would at least take down Malfoy.

XXXXX

After not finding Hermione in the common room, Harry walked into Hermione's room. She was sitting on her bed, looking at a picture. It was a picture of her alone, reading at a school desk intently. Hermione looked up at Harry. "My parents always thought this was a cute picture. I never had the heart to tell them that every other person in my class was standing, making jokes, having fun, while I just sat here reading," She paused, then put down the picture. "I was trying not to hear, because I wasn't part of it. I didn't have friends. I couldn't trust anyone. I was lonely." Tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

"I won't go back to that. I have to trust someone. I trust you. And I am not going to give in to the people who torment me. In any way," Hermione looked directly into Harry's eyes. "Move in with me."

Harry looked at her seriously. "You sure?"

She nodded. "Though I haven't worked out the mechanics of how we get dressed yet."

Harry looked pensive for a moment. Then he said, "Could a house elf come here please?"

And a small creature wearing what appeared to be a towel appeared, "Is the young master needing something?"

Hermione looked at the small creature curiously, "Who is this?"

"I'se be Penny, one of the Hogwarts house elves. We'se takes care of the castle," said the creature as it bowed.

"Well I'm Hermione and I'm pleased to meet you," said the girl politely.

"Penny," said Harry with a wave, "Hermione here needs a privacy screen of some sort for dressing behind, would there happen to be something like that in the castle?"

Penny nodded. "I'm sure there is something in the Come-and-Go Room." And she vanished. She appeared moments later with a large folding screen more than sufficient to block off a decent sized corner of the room.

"Thank you Penny," said Harry.

"It is a house elves' pleasure to serve!" she said and disappeared.

"Do you think the house elves would move your things?" asked Hermione, staring at where the elf had disappeared.

Harry shook his head. "Too risky, they might not help, and they might report us. Blaise will notice I'm gone anyway. We just have to get him on board."

Hermione nodded in agreement as Harry went back to his room. Blaise wasn't there so he waited for a few minutes until he walked in. "Potter," he said seriously, "I'm surprised to see you still here."

"Well, I'm going to need your help you see," said Harry with an enigmatic grin plastered on his face, "I need you to cover for me."

"What do you need me for?" asked Blaise warily.

Harry leaned forward with a conspiratorial glint in his eyes. "I'm moving in with Hermione."

Blaise stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Brilliant! But is it allowed?"

Harry laughed a bit himself, "There was only a loophole a mile wide in the rules."

Blaise gave Harry an appraising look, "So what do I get for helping you?"

"Your own room."

Blaise threw up his hands in surrender. "Can't argue with that."

Harry quickly packed all of his things in his trunk then moved it towards the door. "If you could make sure the coast is clear?"

Blaise opened the door and looked both ways, then he motioned Harry on. Harry picked up the trunk and slipped it into Hermione's room. Putting it down he gave her a thumbs up. Blaise followed him in.

"Well," said Blaise, "It's been good rooming with you."

"Same," said Harry, "See you around."

Blaise nodded, "I'll keep quiet till tomorrow morning. Though I bet Malfoy tries to pay you a visit tonight. If he does try to break in, the door will deploy a silencing charm so he doesn't wake you, but if you do hear something don't come out! It could ruin everything if a prefect sees you two." Harry nodded in agreement.

And then Blaise was gone. "So this is my new room," said Harry. Immediately light engulfed the door for a moment, but then quickly vanished.

"Looks like it worked!" said Hermione happily as she engulfed Harry in a hug. Harry stood still in shock. He hadn't expected this. Hermione almost let him go as she noticed he wasn't returning the hug.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No!" he said suddenly as he wrapped his arms around her. "I just... it felt so good I was surprised. I've never been hugged before."

Hermione went quiet for a moment. Harry thought he'd said something wrong, but if anything her arms were gripping him tighter. "Your aunt and uncle never hugged you?" she said in a soft voice.

"No," said Harry, "They were too busy calling me a freak, or making me cook dinner or do the gardening, or throwing me in my cupboard to show me any affection."

Harry didn't expect her to understand, so it stunned him when he heard Hermione making sniffling sounds. She was crying. "Hermione?" he said.

Her arms were now gripping him like a vice. "Those MONSTERS," said Hermione with such vehemence that Harry would have let go if she'd been talking about anyone but the Dursley's. "They never hugged you, never showed you affection." She buried her head in his shoulder. He brought one of his arms up to pat the back of her head. They stood like that for several minutes.

"Umm, are hugs supposed to last this long?" asked Harry. Strangely, he was still enjoying this, but he didn't want it to get awkward.

Hermione sniffed a bit as she laughed through her tears. "Not usually, or at least not between friends, but I guess I'm trying to make up for 10 years of neglect with one hug."

"Well, you're doing a great job of it then..." Harry admitted.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Hermione.

And Harry suddenly realised that he did want to talk about it. The two of them sat long into the night holding hands as Harry told Hermione the full extent of the Dursley's torment. Hermione's face got stonier and stonier as Harry kept on talking. Finally he was done, and she hugged him again. Both of them took turns behind the folding screen to change into pajamas, and then both climbed into their own beds. Saying goodnight, they extinguished the lights, and both fell asleep immediately. They slept through the night.

XXXXX

Blaise wasn't even trying to sleep. He was waiting for Draco. There was no way the little monster would let tonight go without terrorizing Hermione again. He had not breached her room since the first night, but he'd probably learned the unlocking spell by now. Sure enough, near midnight Blaise heard someone creeping by Hermione's door.

"_Alohomora,_" Blaise heard one of the intruders say. Suddenly the lights in the hallway came up and the sound of a bell ringing could be heard throughout Slytherin house. Peering out his door Blaise saw Draco Malfoy, along with Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe and Goyle were looking around wondering what had gone wrong. Draco was frozen in his stance, his wand pointed at the door handle. The door itself was covered in glowing wards and a glowing silencing charm.

Soon all the other doors in the hall began to open, as all the first years investigated the noise. They all saw Malfoy trapped in the body-bind curse, right outside Granger's door. Soon they were joined by a surly Gertrude Selwyn.

"What in the bloody hell are you doing Malfoy?" she said grumpily, "Yes, I know you can't answer, I'm just letting you understand what an idiot you've been right now. _Finite Incantatum_."

Malfoy was able to move even as she moved her wand. "HOW?" he sputtered.

Gertrude rolled her eyes. He didn't even try to come up with an excuse. "Okay Malfoy, 10 points from Slytherin for trying to break into another students room, and I will be telling Professor Snape about this. He will want to see you in the morning. Now go back to bed."

"But..."

"BED, NOW!" shouted Gertrude. Malfoy raced back to his room past Nott, who was laughing, along with Daphne, Tracey and Millicent, though Millicent was trying to hide the fact that she was laughing from her roommate Pansy.

Gertrude shook her head as Crabbe and Goyle quickly made their way back to their room. "Wanker, making me get up on a weekend night. And for the mudblood at that. Ugh," she said in disgust as she left to look for Snape.

Blaise closed the door to his room. That had absolutely been worth it.

XXXXX

**September 7th, 1991**

Daphne was looking forward to the fireworks the next morning. She had no idea how Hermione had outsmarted Draco, but she was grateful that things had worked out without her going to the Headmaster. She wasn't particularly interested in taking any of the fall for that. What she did want to see was Draco's confrontation with Professor Snape, which promised to be epic. She sat in one of the chairs with a good view of the common room, pretending to read.

She was not disappointed. Draco tried sneaking through the common room on his way to breakfast, but Snape had apparently been lying in wait in an alcove near the entrance. "Going somewhere so soon Draco?" he said coldly.

"I was heading to breakfast," said the blond Slytherin confidently.

"I was hoping we might have a private conversation about your punishment for last night," said Snape.

"Please, we both know my father won't let you give me any punishment." said Draco with a wicked smile, "Don't make me go to him."

Snape's eyes narrowed, but Daphne noticed that one of his eyebrows was twitching. Daphne herself couldn't help herself as she gasped, "Bloody hell, what a moron," she said aloud. Oops.

Snape looked at her, but the look he gave her was one of grim mirth. "Well put Miss Greengrass," he said as he twirled to face Malfoy again, "Since you have chosen to make this public... your father will not protect you from MY wrath in MY house. Not when I tell him you broke Slytherin house rules."

Draco shook his head. "I didn't do anything in front of the other houses."

Snape seemed to get even more livid if such a thing was possible. "You attempted to break into the room of another member of Slytherin house, for which there is no excuse. Worse, you were caught doing it."

Draco growled, "I still don't know how she did it."

"Did you check the rooming list?" said Snape pointing to the list outside the first year hallway. Taking a look at it he said, "As I thoug..." and stopped, his mouth dropping in shock.

Snape immediately took off down the first year corridor.

Daphne leapt to her feet. And read the list.

Room #5

H. Granger

H. Potter

Daphne began to laugh. She had no idea what those two were in for, but they'd earned her respect for this. Anyone who thumbed their noses at_ everyone_ like this deserved it.

XXXXX

Harry was awakened by the door opening swiftly. He pulled out his wand only to be faced with a somewhat relieved looking Professor Snape. He quickly put his wand away. Hermione was also awakened, though her reflexes were less good. She hadn't thought to go for her wand.

Snape looked at him curiously. "I take it you were expecting Malfoy?"

Harry nodded, "I'm a little surprised this worked to be honest. Did he try to get in here last night?"

Snape smiled grimly, "Oh yes, and he is in trouble. Almost as much trouble as you are. Though at least you aren't taking advantage of the situation, Potter. How I would explain a pregnant twelve year old I have no idea." Hermoine blushed, but Harry forced himself to not react. Snape was just trying to knock him off guard.

Harry shrugged innocently, "How am I in trouble? I've broken no rules."

"Harry moved in with me so there would be a half-blood staying in this room,"said Hermione, "thus allowing the wards to be powered. While there is a school rule against boys entering girl's dormitories..."

"There are no girl's dormitories for Slytherin," finished Snape.

"So he broke no rules," concluded Hermione.

"He got caught," said Snape, knowing what the response would be.

"Not before it was too late to do anything about it," said Harry, "My name's on this room for the year."

Snape looked at him strangely. "You want to protect her this badly?"

Harry nodded. "She's my best friend."

For one moment Harry thought he saw a gentle expression cross Snapes face, but it was gone as soon as he saw it. "Very well," said Snape, "Seeing as you have technically broken no rules, I will allow this. But be warned, I cannot reassign you to a room until next year without modifying the school wards. That would require..."

"The headmaster. I see sir," said Harry.

Snape nodded. "Please make sure that you do not take advantage of the situation, if you understand my inference. And remember not to discuss this outside Slytherin. Now I'm going to go give Malfoy detention for three weeks." And with that he left.

"I'm surprised he made me stay, the risks to him if we were to get in trouble are crazy," noted Harry.

"I guess he was weighing the chance that an eleven and a soon-to-be twelve year old would get ummm... frisky," said Hermione with a blush.

Harry shook his head. "I don't even want to think about that."

Hermione nodded. "I _should_ take offense at that, but I get what you're saying."

"So now that you are protected, what do we do?" asked Harry.

"School stuff I guess." replied Hermione.

"And for Slytherin?"

Hermione gave Harry a shrewd look. "Since we decided to do this on our own, there's only one thing for it. We have to take over Slytherin house."

All of a sudden Harry realized she was right. It was time to straighten out the House of the Snakes.

**Author's Note: **So I think that after this chapter you have a pretty good idea of the direction this story is going to go. Still, a lot of this story is going to be a slow burn. I'm trying to go subtle with my characterizations, especially Blaise and Daphne. Not so much with Ron, but even there I think people are going to be surprised by the direction he takes. But more on that topic after the next chapter.


	3. Harry and Hermione vs the World

**Author's Note: **So a lot of the reviews have mentioned seeing if the story finishes. I put this in my profile, but I want to make it clear to everyone who hasn't seen that, this story is written. I have 59 chapters written and the first two years are more or less completely ready for publishing. My plan is to release the first year at a pace of one chapter a day, then slow to one chapter a week for second year onwards or until I finish revising years 4-6. I honestly started writing this story a over a year ago, but held off on publishing it until I knew I would be able to dump the whole thing in a day if necessary. Now I want to provide a more polished experience than that, but if for some reason I can't continue I can just upload the whole thing in a day. Oh, and I have gone back and fixed a few mistakes from previous chapters.

**Chapter 3: Harry and Hermione vs. the World**

**September 7th, 1991**

Minerva McGonagall was getting quite worried about the goings-on in Slytherin house. That this occurred to her during the weekend head of house meeting was not a coincidence. The rumours she was hearing about Slytherins abusing Miss Granger, along with Mr. Potter's extreme protective streak led her to believe that something was amiss. But now Snape was late, and he was never late to a meeting unless he was dealing with a significant problem. Albus of course seemed undisturbed, though McGonagall could never be sure that it wasn't an act on his part.

In all fairness, the beginning of the meeting was not dispensing particularly vital information. Pomona Sprout was going on about how the new Hufflepuffs were fitting into their house. Of course Minerva had once compared the first couple weeks of being in Hufflepuff house to getting a long bear hug (which Pomona had nodded at approvingly). Minerva couldn't remember the last time there had been any discipline problems from the first year badgers in the first week.

As Pomona was wrapping up, Snape swept into the staff room with what looked like a particularly annoyed (for Snape) expression on his face.

"So glad you could join us Severus," said Minerva a bit teasingly.

"My apologies, I had a discipline problem that could not wait," said Snape caustically.

"Mr. Malfoy?" asked Albus in a tone that really didn't seem to have many doubts about the matter. Minerva never did know how Albus kept informed of things so easily. She suspected the portraits in the school, but that clearly wasn't all there was to it.

"Yes," said Severus with what might have been the barest nod towards Albus, "His attempts to harass Miss Granger backfired rather spectacularly. He will be enjoying three weeks detention, I would appreciate it..."

Filius Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw, nodded quickly, "We can split the detentions between teachers."

Minerva couldn't resist poking Severus once more. "Three whole weeks? What did he do that _you_ would give a member of your house three weeks detention?"

Severus smiled grimly, "It would have been two, but he informed me that his father wouldn't let me punish him."

All the other teachers winced, even Albus. That was about the most foolish thing he could have said to Severus.

"Anyway, I had to Floo call Lucius so that Draco's pleas will fall on deaf ears. He was not happy about his son's lack of propriety."

Minerva knew that Lucius Malfoy took appearances very seriously. His son constantly going about and throwing his father's name at every perceived injustice was likely to get a very extreme reaction from the former Death Eater.

"How are your first years settling in Severus, other than Mr. Malfoy?" asked Albus with an apparent disinterest that Minerva knew from experience meant he was very interested in the topic at hand.

"Quite well for the most part. There was some unpleasantness with Miss Granger, but Mr. Potter has taken to helping her out," answered Snape.

That was an understatement. From what Minerva had seen of those two they were practically inseparable.

"And Mr. Potter himself?" asked Albus, his true interest revealed, at least somewhat.

"He's taken to Slytherin much better than I expected," said Snape with apparent honesty, "Oh he has a Gryffindor streak a mile wide, and the loyalty of a Hufflepuff. But he's used them in a clever way to get what he wants."

"And what does he want Severus?" asked Minerva curiously.

"So far?" asked Snape, "To keep Miss Granger safe. The two of them are quite close. He doesn't seem to have any anti-muggleborn bias, which is actually refreshing. Though I daresay that Mr. Malfoy will be pulling back his attacks on Miss Granger for the time being. Harry's help was quite... embarrassing for Draco. Though Harry will eventually have to deal with the consequences of this decision."

"Oh?" asked Albus curiously.

"It is... a personal matter," said Snape grudgingly, "If I wasn't already in the know it wouldn't even be my business."

Albus nodded and turned to Minerva, "And Gryffindor?"

Minerva didn't believe for one moment that Albus thought he had heard enough, but she recognized his unwillingness to continue the conversation at this point. But as she began to break down the new members of Gryffindor she made note that Albus didn't want to talk about Harry in front of others.

XXXXX

"We really need to set some ground rules," said Hermione as she and Harry returned from breakfast.

"Probably," agreed Harry with a little embarrassment, "Like no running around our room naked."

"That's probably a good rule," admitted Hermione, "No changing underwear except behind the screen. I mean it would just be embarrassing now, but in a few years..."

"Oh I agree," said Harry as he looked for a way to change the subject, "I will admit these flannel pajamas were a bit warm for this time of year." Plus, Harry didn't say, his hand-me-downs definitely didn't fit.

Hermione gave it a bit of thought, then shook her head. "We aren't going to get through this without getting a little bit more familiar than we want to. If you want to sleep in a long shirt and pants I won't stop you."

"Umm," said a somewhat uncomfortable Harry, who really hadn't realized what direction this was going to take, "Same for you, well I mean, you aren't wearing pants but... I mean..."

Hermione raised a hand. "Harry I get your meaning." Harry nodded gratefully. Hermione had another thoughtful look on her face, "Guess I'll have to get my parents to send me more bras, I don't have enough for everyday. I haven't needed them before now," she said to herself.

"That's your business," said Harry, his face red.

Hermione narrowed her eyes, "Honestly, Harry you have to get over every little thing embarrassing you if you are going to live with me. You are going to have to get used to some things."

Harry nodded, "I know, but this is still... It's a lot of stuff I've never had to deal with before all right? Just give me a few days. I'll get over it."

Hermione smiled, "You're right, we have time to get used to this. I just want to past the uncomfortable stuff quickly I guess."

She pulled out some paper and a fountain pen from her desk. Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "No way I'm writing to my parents on sheepskin!" she said defensively. Harry shrugged, but now that he thought about it parchment was pretty gross.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt the magical world to join the fifteenth century and start using paper," said Harry. He was actually surprised how many times he had been saying that in the last few days.

XXXXX

**September 10th, 1991**

Harry had loaned Hedwig to Hermione, so she received a reply from her parents only a couple of days later. It arrived with breakfast on Tuesday. Hermione took the parcel Hedwig was carrying and fed her some bacon. Malfoy, seeing her get a package swept by and pulled it out of her hands.

"I think I might get better use for this!" he said haughtily. Hermione turned red, and Harry noticed that both McGonagall and Snape were looking their way. Actually a lot of the Slytherins were looking their way. Harry grinned as he stood up.

"I bet you could, though I must admit I'm surprised you're admitting it," said Harry happily, to Draco's apparent shock, "How big are your boobs going to get Draco?" Draco just gave a confused look, while Pansy's eyes went wide as she realized Draco's mistake. Daphne and Tracey broke out laughing, Blaise choked on his food, and Nott just covered his face with his hand.

Just then Snape arrived. "What are you doing with that package Mr. Malfoy?"

Hermione, emboldened by Harry's joke hopped into the conversation. As loudly as she could without shouting she said, "Draco seems to think that he needs my bras more than I do. I think I might agree."

This got the attention of most of the school, who all started laughing at the now scarlet Draco. Throwing the package back at Hermione he stormed out of the Great Hall, Crabbe and Goyle leaping up to follow their leader out. Snape sent a reproving glance at Hermione, but even he had a smile forming at the edge of his mouth. Across the room, Harry saw Ron, laughing as hard as everyone else. When Ron saw Harry looking he gave Harry a curt nod.

Harry sat down next to Hermione again. "I think Ron might be coming around," he said quietly.

Hermione shook her head. "It's taking him long enough," she said equally quietly.

"Well, from what we've seen, can we say he is entirely wrong about Slytherins?"

Hermione opened her mouth, but then shut it. Finally, after a moment's thought she said, "Good point."

Her smile returned, "You weren't so at a loss for words just a minute ago when talking to Malfoy about my special delivery,"

Harry laughed, "Nothing like taunting Malfoy to get you over a little awkwardness."

XXXXX

**September 12th, 1991**

Thursday the Slytherins were scheduled to have flying practice with the Gryffindors. Hermione had described it as "the second stupidest scheduling decision they could make, right after putting the Slytherins and Gryffindors together for Potions." And Harry had to agree. Tensions had exploded as early as that morning, when Draco had forced some sort of confrontation with Neville Longbottom at breakfast.

"Tried to steal his Remembrall," said Blaise, who had been one of the few Slytherin first years in the Great Hall at the time.

"What is Malfoy's obsession with making us all look like bullying thieving bigots?" asked Daphne. She and Tracey had taken to eating their meals with Harry, Hermione and Blaise.

"Fear is the only weapon that Malfoy knows how to use, fear of his bullying," said Harry, thinking comparisons to his cousin Dudley, "It didn't work on Hermione, so he's trying for a more vulnerable target."

"Neville is about as vulnerable as they come, poor boy," said Tracey, "I have yet to see him do any seriously powerful magic."

Daphne shook her head, "He's completely dominated by his overbearing grandmother. The Longbottoms run in the same social circles as my family. Augusta Longbottom has never gotten over what happened to her son, so she compensates by trying to turn Neville into him."

"What happened to Neville's father?" asked Hermione.

Daphne pursed her lips uncomfortably, "Don't spread it around, but Neville's parents were tortured into insanity by Death Eaters days after You-Know-Who's downfall. Apparently Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband and brother-in-law got it into their heads that the Longbottoms knew what had happened to You-Know-Who. They used the Cruciatus_._"

"How awful!" said Hermione, though Harry was pretty sure she didn't know what the Cruciatus was any more than he did.

XXXXX

The rest of the day went quickly for Harry, and at three thirty he found himself, along with Hermione, out on the grounds near a line of brooms. He made sure that they were as far away from Malfoy as they could physically get. Hermione was nervous enough without worrying about getting knocked off her broom. Harry himself didn't feel nervous at all. Part of him was thrilled at the idea of soaring on a broom. The other part told him there was no way he'd be good at this on his first try.

The lesson itself went slowly. Madam Hooch was not one to take risks while teaching first years, so everything was taken one step at a time. Commanding the broom to come to their hand was easy for Harry, but Hermione struggled with it. "Hermione, the magic resists uncertainty. Be decisive!" he told her. Sure enough, she was able to summon the broom with her next command.

And then the entire thing fell apart when Neville Longbottom accidently took off early and fell off his broom. Giving a strict warning to the class not to leave the ground, Madam Hooch took Neville to the hospital wing. Harry took this opportunity to help out Hermione some more. "Brooms respond to your mental state, I've been reading up on the magic they use to create them. As long as you are confident the broom will do what you want it to do. And you won't fall off unless you get knocked off as long as you are _confident_ you won't fall off. That's part of the magic."

Hermione looked a bit embarrassed. "I'm just a little afraid of heights, that makes confidence hard for me."

Harry nodded. "A little bit of practice..."

Suddenly Harry was interrupted by Draco Malfoy taking to the air on his broom.

"What the hell?" he said as he ran over to an incensed Ronald Weasley.

"Language, Harry!" said Hermione as she ran up behind him.

"He stole Neville's Remembrall!" said Ron, grabbing his broom.

"Wait, you getting in trouble too isn't going to help!" said Hermione as she grabbed his arm.

"You have a better idea?"

"I do," said Harry. He pointed his wand at the sky. "Hermione, I need a really, really loud noise."

"_Sonorus,_" said Hermione casually.

A massive ear-splitting boom came out of her wand. Malfoy nearly panicked on his broom, but turning and seeing it was just a noise sneered and went on his way. Harry wasn't looking at Malfoy however. He was looking at the school. On one of the upper levels he saw a window open. "McGonagall's watching. Everyone point at Malfoy!" said Harry excitedly. All the Gryffindors, (as well as about half the Slytherins) all waved and pointed fingers at the oblivious Malfoy. McGonagall seemed to look where they were pointing and vanished inside instantly.

"Poor Malfoy," said Harry with exaggerated sympathy.

Ron laughed, "Okay, this was a better idea. What was that spell Hermione?"

"A Sonorus Charm, it's really hard to master, actually," said Hermione proudly, "It is used to amplify your voice. I certainly have no idea how to use it properly. But the interesting thing about it is that it's easy enough to just shoot it off in a random direction uncontrolled. That creates what is called a sonic boom."

Ron nodded, "A good name for it."

By this point McGonagall had reached their group. She was hustling. "What seems to be the trouble?"

Ron stepped up, "Neville hurt himself, and Madam Hooch took him inside, telling all of us to stay on the ground. But Neville dropped his Remembrall, and Malfoy took it and is flying to hide it somewhere."

McGonagall sighed, "I trust the rest of you agree with this sequence of events?"

"Yes ma'am," said Harry stepping up. Hermione and Blaise moved to back him up. Since Malfoy had already been caught, this didn't break the house rules on bringing disparagement on Slytherin. McGonagall smiled, which Harry returned. With several Slytherins testifying against him, Malfoy couldn't use the house rivalry to plead ignorance.

Soon Malfoy flew back, a smirk on his face. The smirk promptly disappeared when he saw McGonagall.

"That was an excellent bit of flying Mr. Malfoy," said McGonagall evenly, "But could you please retrieve Mr. Longbottom's Remembrall?"

"I didn't take Longbottom's Remembrall!" said Draco vehemently.

"That will be a week's extra detentions for lying to a teacher, as well as 15 points from Slytherin. You have been turned in, not just by the Gryffindors, but by members of your own house. If that Remembrall is not in my hand in five minutes you will receive another weeks detention and a loss of 50 points," McGonagall was trying not to gloat, and was almost succeeding to Harry's eye.

Malfoy leapt back on his broom and made for the sky again. By the time he had returned he faced not only McGonagall but an irate Madam Hooch.

"And another week's detention and 10 more points from Slytherin for disobeying me!" shouted Hooch, "And you are sitting out the rest of this lesson, as you are incapable of following instructions."

The rest of the lesson went by smoothly. Harry quickly realized he was a natural on a broom, and was soon zooming in low wide circles all around the training area. After that he helped Hermione, who was having trouble getting the broom to respond to her commands again. With Harry by her side, her confidence soon peaked, and she was able to get the broom through some basic maneuvers.

"5 points to Slytherin for your patient explanations," said Hooch as she observed this.

McGonagall (who had stayed to make sure the members of her house didn't get any ideas about revenge) shook her head, "Too bad you aren't in Gryffindor Potter, I could use a natural flier like you on the House team."

Harry gave Hermione a significant look. "I think she means it." he said. She just nodded. McGonagall could probably come off their list of suspects.

As the lesson broke up Harry sought out Ron. "Hey Ron, can we talk some time this weekend?"

Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas seemed to fall in behind Ron. "About what?" asked Ron, uncertainly.

"What more do I have to do to prove I'm not like Malfoy and the other pureblood bigots that run Slytherin?" demanded Harry, "We were friends on the train, why can't you accept that I'm that same person you liked?"

"Saturday, outside the Great Hall, right after breakfast. I'll bring Fred and George," said Ron after a moment.

"Fine with me. I'll be bringing Hermione. Not for backup, but because she definitely didn't deserve being sorted into Slytherin," said Harry.

Ron started to say something, then shook his head. "You're probably right about that. See you in Potions tomorrow."

"See you Ron," Harry said as the redhead walked away.

XXXXX

**September 13th, 1991**

After Potions the next day Harry approached Daphne. "Can I have a word with you? In private?"

Daphne nodded, and gestured towards the Slytherin common room. Making their way in, they went down the first year hall and into the room Daphne shared with Tracey. Shutting the door, Daphne turned to Harry. "What's on your mind?" she asked.

"I can't help but notice that you have been being more, well, friendly towards me and Hermione than most of the rest of the house. I'd like to thank you for that," started Harry.

"You're welcome," said Daphne evenly.

Harry smiled a bittersweet smile and shook his head. "And that's the thing. You always seem to rebuff any real attempts at friendship. You're willing to be cordial, even informative, but any real engagement and you get distant really fast."

Daphne gave Harry a long look. Finally she said, "You realize this victory of yours won't last, right? Malfoy may be incompetent, but the rest of the house isn't. The older students don't like getting involved with first years, but for the honor of all purebloods they will. You can deal with Malfoy, but what about a group of fourth or fifth year students? I'd like to help, but I don't want to get caught in the crossfire."

"With Daphne Greengrass, daughter of a member of the Wizengamot as a friend and ally, those people might hesitate. And I have some plans that I'm starting to put into action soon, for when they do act," insisted Harry.

Daphne hesitated. "There is some truth to what you say about my father. I will consider it. But no promises."

"That's all I can ask." said Harry.

Daphne smiled as she opened the door, "Now get out before people start talking."

Harry made his way to his room. Hermione was waiting there. "How did it go?"

"About how we expected it to. If we can get Ron onside we can start things moving. With Gryffindors and Slytherins working this together it'll be easier to get the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Without Ron we'll be in trouble."

And that was the rub. Ron was the only person in Gryffindor who knew them well enough to vouch for them. None of the other Gryffindors would probably even listen to them. Maybe in a couple of months they could convince someone to listen, but right now Harry and Hermione were just two Slytherins. They really did need Ron.

"Oh joy, our continued well-being relies on overcoming the stubbornness of one Ronald Weasley." said Hermione unhappily.

XXXXX

**September 14th, 1991**

Saturday came and Harry and Hermione ate a subdued breakfast as they quietly reviewed their plans. It was clearly going to be a difficult conversation, at least until they convinced Ron of their intentions.

Harry wasn't completely ignoring breakfast however. On Hermione's advice he was eating a little bit more than he felt he needed to. The result was that slowly but surely his appetite was growing. The near starvation of the Dursley's would take some time to go completely away.

"Any special events next week?" asked Harry.

"My birthday is Thursday," said Hermione absently, as she stared off into space.

"Really? I wish I'd gotten you something," said Harry with a hint of apology in his voice.

"I didn't expect you to, there was no way you could have known," said Hermione lightly.

Harry shook his head. Despite her words, he was a bit upset. He wanted to get her something, just to say he'd bought a gift for a friend. Giving being its own reward hadn't been a big emphasis in the Dursley household, but Harry was realizing on his own that giving gifts to a friend made one feel good. It was something he'd heard people say before. That the Dursley's didn't even understand that...

Harry shook his head as Hermione pulled his arm. Ron and his brothers had gotten up and were headed for the entrance to the Great Hall. Harry and Hermione followed suit, and met them right outside the door.

Ron and the Twins were standing there, Ron with his arms crossed. "So what do you have to say?"

Harry looked around cautiously. "Could we go someplace a bit more private actually? I don't want any of the other Slytherins to hear what we have to say."

Ron looked like he was about to say no, but Fred cuffed him before he could. "Do you think that they are going to hex all three of us, with their immense two weeks of spell knowledge?"

"He took down You-Know-Who as an infant!" protested Ron.

"Well then lucky you aren't You-Know-Who!" said George.

Fred and George led them into an empty classroom. Then they turned around. "Okay, now you should be able to talk," said George

"Unless this is some hideous trap in which case, Ron made us do it!" said Fred.

Harry grinned for a moment then turned to Ron seriously. Harry suspected that Ron's dislike of Slytherin was rooted in something a bit more complex. He had caught some serious family feud vibes from their confrontation with Malfoy. He needed to make this conversation about taking down Slytherin, and about taking down Malfoy in particular.

"Ron," Harry began, "didn't you think we were good friends back on the Hogwarts Express?"

Ron thought for a moment, "I did, you guys were pretty fun to talk to. But then you got sorted into Slytherin."

Hermione sighed, "Listen, I know that Slytherin has a bad reputation. I also know it is mostly earned. But we didn't change as people. I think we've shown that we try to be better than most other Slytherins."

"There's always a few who try to be better," said Fred.

"In the end they all end up toeing the Slytherin line," finished George.

"It's the Slytherin Machine," said Ron, "You might go into Slytherin as a good person, but it spits you out as a bigot or worse."

"We know," said Harry, "the older students make sure of it if the yearmates don't. And we don't want that to happen. To avoid it we need help from outside Slytherin, because everyone else inside is too scared to help us."

"How do we know you'll actually resist?" asked Ron warily.

"Two reasons. One Hermione's a muggleborn. Giving in won't keep the other Slytherins from harassing her," said Harry.

"And the second?" demanded Ron, but not entirely in an unfriendly way.

"We weren't supposed to be sorted into Slytherin. The hat directly told me it had been bewitched to put me in," said Harry defiantly.

"What?!" said the twins simultaneously.

"It said I could have gone in any house, but it had to put me in Slytherin because it had been enchanted to," reiterated Harry calmly.

"Why was Hermione sorted into Slytherin then?" asked George.

Hermione blushed a bit. "I said I wanted to be in the same house as Harry."

Fred and George snickered, but Ron looked troubled. "You were sorted before Harry though. It couldn't have done that unless... oh bloody hell the sorting _was _rigged!" Ron shouted a bit tactlessly.

Fred and George looked at him a bit oddly, "How does that figure?" asked Fred.

"Since Hermione was sorted first, the hat would only sort her into Slytherin to be with Harry if it already knew Harry was going to Slytherin. Which it should not have been able to do before going on his head," Ron explained.

"So the hat must have been rigged," said Fred in understanding.

"Why didn't you tell someone?" asked Ron.

"Who can we trust?" asked Harry, "Snape? We were sent to his house. Dumbledore? He has the most access to the hat."

"What about McGonagall?" suggested George, "She'd help you out. She's pretty fair-minded, all things considered."

"In retrospect, it's clear that if she were going to rig the sorting we'd be Gryffindors," said Hermione, "But at the time she was the person who Harry had the most contact with. The same went for me as well. She had to be on our list of suspects!"

Hermione looked a bit pensive. "Still it might not hurt to get her help now that we are pretty sure she isn't the culprit."

Harry nodded, "Probably a good idea. But this brings us back to our main goal here: keeping an eye on Slytherin bullying."

"We want everyone from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and as many Slytherins as we can convince to keep an eye out for bullying of other students, no matter what house they are from," said Hermione.

"Is that it?" asked Ron incredulously.

"Tell me, Fred, George, have you ever turned in a Slytherin student to a teacher if they were bullying another Slytherin student?" asked Harry pointedly.

Both twins grimaced and managed to look a bit shamefaced.

"That's how it happens. You don't do anything if a Slytherin bullies a Slytherin, or maybe even if a Ravenclaw bullies a Ravenclaw. You'd take on a Slytherin bullying a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, but that's only because of the Gryffindor rivalry with Slytherin. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs would let Slytherins bully anyone not in their own house," explained Harry.

Fred nodded grimly, "You're right. And we've essentially handed the school to the Slytherins in the process."

"If all the houses band together, we can make this school safer for all of us. Including those of us trying to reform the Slytherins," said Hermione.

"Wait, you want to unite the houses AGAINST your own house?" asked Ron incredulously.

"We want bullies, not innocent pranksters, or people defending themselves, but real bullies reported to teachers, no matter what house the perpetrators OR victims are in," clarified Harry.

"That... sounds reasonable," said Ron clearly impressed.

"Could you also get me an introduction to Parvati Patil? I need to get her to vouch for me to her sister," said Hermione hopefully.

"The Ravenclaws?" asked a now curious Ron.

"Let's just say we have information that will improve all of their Potions grades," said Harry.

"As well as everyone else's grades really," said Hermione.

"Anything else?" asked Fred.

"Could you prank Malfoy a bit for us?" Harry asked suddenly, "Nothing too mean, just burst his bubble a bit. But we can't have people seeing him as someone to respect now can we?"

"Absolutely not," said the twins in unison.

Ron gave Harry a troubled look, "I never dreamed... Look Harry I admit I was suspicious of you when you said you wanted to talk but I can't believe... What I mean to say is that I'm sorry I doubted you, and I'm sorry about the way I treated you."

Ron grinned, "If I knew we could be pranking Malfoy together, I'd have apologized sooner."

Harry returned the grin. "It does bring people together."

Ron turned to Hermione, "Sorry to you too Granger. I should have realized how difficult it would be for you in Slytherin."

Hermione nodded, "Apology accepted Weasley. Though my friends call me Hermione."

Ron nodded back, "All right, Hermione."

"Well we had better get going before people start looking for us," said Hermione as she moved towards the door. Harry didn't move to follow her however.

"You go on ahead Hermione, I have a personal question to ask the twins," he said.

"All right," Hermione said, her voice betraying her curiosity. She left the room, taking time to look and see if anyone was waiting outside.

"Is little Harry growing up?" asked George with a snigger.

"Needing us to explain his maturing body?" asked Fred, equally amused.

Harry rolled his eyes. "No," he said firmly, "Hermione's birthday is Thursday, and I didn't know. I heard you were the people to approach about getting things."

"Getting a gift for your sweetheart?" said George suggestively.

Harry sighed, "I just want to get my best friend a gift. I've never really had a friend before and..." Harry trailed off.

Fred and George looked at each other knowingly. "What do you want to get her?"asked George.

"There are a couple books," said Harry pulling out a piece of paper that he had previously written the name of the books on.

"Of course," said Fred as he took the paper from Harry. Both twins looked at it and immediately started laughing.

"Brilliant!" they said together.

"I have some money." Harry pulled out a few galleons from his pocket as well.

"We'll have it gift wrapped and delivered as soon as possible." said George.

"Thanks!" said Harry excitedly, "See you later!" and he shot out of the classroom after Hermione.

XXXXX

Minerva McGonagall was grading papers from her fourth year class when a knock came at the door. It was still fairly early, not even ten o'clock and it was unusual for students to come to her office on Saturday mornings. She opened the door to find Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.

"Good morning, may I help you?" she said kindly. She couldn't help but notice these two had been somewhat isolated from their classmates. Perhaps she was about to get an answer to why that was.

"Yes Professor," said Hermione, "we need to talk to you in your capacity as Deputy Headmistress. We have a problem."

Minerva nodded solemnly. "Come in," she said preparing herself for a tale she was beginning to suspect would make her angry.

Five minutes later she wasn't angry. She was livid. Not at Harry and Hermione, but at Snape and the Slytherins.

"Why didn't you tell anyone you had been sorted improperly?" she asked once she regained control of herself.

"Who could we trust?" asked Harry, "Headmaster Dumbledore had the most access to the hat. Professor Snape had an obvious motive. We wanted to trust you, but you had the most contact with us outside of school. We had to be sure."

Minerva had to admit the point. Before going to the Dursley's last summer, McGonagall would never have questioned Dumbledore. But now she was suspicious about the way he had taken to deciding Harry's life by fiat. Was this another case of Dumbledore meddling in Harry's life? And she remembered Severus's bizarre reaction to seeing Harry in Diagon Alley. Was he plotting something for Harry? Was it someone else? Minerva scowled, but remained unconvinced. And she wasn't ready to start throwing Albus under the bus yet.

"Do you wish to be resorted? I could see that it is arranged," Minerva offered.

Hermione shook her head. "We have plans, but we are expecting to face a little opposition to them."

"If you could tell the teachers to keep a watch out for older students trying to harass us that would be quite helpful though. As long as you don't tell S... Professor Snape," said Harry.

Minerva slowly nodded again. The rule that Slytherins were supposed to keep Slytherin problems in house was infuriating. It was clearly designed to prevent the house from losing house points, as well as prevent dissidents in the house from seeking help outside of it.

"The teachers can't be everywhere..." Minerva began.

"We plan to make alliances with other houses, whatever rules Slytherin house has. We've already managed to mend our fences with Ron Weasley, and the twins," said Hermione.

Minerva smirked. The Weasley twins would be useful allies if they were about to take on Slytherin. Ron himself might be too for that matter, if he could be bothered to pay attention to what was going on. McGonagall was pretty good at evaluating her lions. Ron wasn't the quickest on the uptake, but given enough time he could reason his way to some surprisingly insightful conclusions. As long as he didn't get stubbornly committed to his first knee-jerk reaction.

"We have a plan to at least make the rest of the Gryffindors tolerate us. And we have ideas about how to approach the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs," said Harry confidently, "Before long most of the school will be on Slytherin bully lookout. And who knows? Maybe some other bullies will get caught along the way."

Minerva sighed. It wasn't a foolproof plan, but anything more concrete would require her to confront Severus in a way that could prove detrimental to Harry and Hermione.

"Very well, I will examine the sorting hat, and I will confront Snape about rumors of abuse," recapped Minerva, "Hopefully I will be able to get you some answers. I could also ask Professor Flitwick to help out, he has a degree of expertise in this area that I do not, and he knows how to keep his mouth shut."

Harry seemed to think about it, and nodded.

"Thank you Professor, you don't know how much this means to us," said Hermione.

"It is my duty as Deputy Headmistress, no thanks are needed. Though, it occurs to me you could tell me what exactly you did to young Draco Malfoy to get him in so much trouble in his first week."

Hermione tried hard, but failed, to hide her grin. Harry just smiled viciously. "If it's all the same, in this case I'd prefer for Draco to keep what little dignity he has left," Harry said a bit too innocently.

They definitely didn't want Minerva poking into that then. She considered pressing, but decided against it. Severus seemed to be aware of what was going on, and he had punished the Malfoy boy for it. He wouldn't do that unless he had some reason, even if she was getting suspicious of those reasons.

"Very well then, if that is all?" asked Minerva. And as she watched them leave her office, she groaned. There was more going on here than they had admitted, but it wasn't going to be easy to figure out.

XXXXX

**September 16th, 1991**

Monday afternoon Hermione walked up to Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil outside the Great Hall. "Hello there, I'm Hermione Granger. I believe Ron told you to expect me?" she said hesitantly.

Both girls looked at her skeptically. "What does a Slytherin want with us?" asked Parvati suspiciously.

"I'm trying to pull a prank on Snape, I was hoping you could help me Parvati," admitted Hermione.

"Why would you want to do that? You're a Slytherin," demanded Parvati.

"Because he has done almost nothing to stop the other Slytherins from tormenting me just because I'm a muggleborn!" said Hermione vehemently. And it was somewhat true as well. He'd punished Draco, true, but only after he got caught. He had certainly not been watching out for her.

"Ron mentioned that we should keep an eye on the other Slytherins bullying her and Harry," noted Lavender.

Parvati's face softened. "What do you need?"

"I need you to introduce me to your sister," started Hermione, but she noticed Parvati's face got a bit tighter when she mentioned Padma, "It's because she's a Ravenclaw. I intend to sic the Ravenclaws on Snape, all of them, but I need to get one of them to trust me."

Parvati relaxed again, "You need a reference? I don't know."

"Think of what all the other Gryffindors will say when we can tell them we helped a Slytherin prank Snape," urged Lavender.

"All right," said Parvati cheerfully. "This time of day, my sister will be in the library."

Minutes later they had made their way to the library. Padma was reading a book but looked up when her sister softly spoke her name. Parvati quickly introduced Hermione. Padma looked at Hermione with an inquisitive look.

"So what do want from me, Hermione Granger," Padma asked once Parvati had completed introductions."

Hermione sat down across from Padma. "I have a proposal. I will provide you with a piece of information. If you think that information is valuable, you will tell it to the rest of your house. In exchange I would have you ask everyone in Ravenclaw to keep an eye out in case bullies from Slytherin house go after first years."

"Why would you want us watching your own house?" asked Padma curiously.

"Because my friend Harry and I are likely to be those bullied first years," admitted Hermione.

"What is the information?" asked Padma.

"This," said Hermione, as she pulled a sheet of parchment from her bag, "is a study guide for Potions that Snape only gives to the Slytherins. I think you and the rest of the Ravenclaws need to go pay Snape a visit and remind him of the school rules, don't you think?"

Padma took the sheet from Hermione, and scanned it quickly. Her eyes narrowed. She handed the paper back to Hermione. "You have a deal, Granger," she said as she got to her feet and began to gather her things. Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati barely made it out of the library before Lavender began laughing. "Oh Merlin, I want to see the look on Snape's face when every Ravenclaw comes demanding his secret study guide!"

XXXXX

Daphne sat down in the chair across the desk from Snape in his office. "I think Marcus Flint, Gertrude Selwyn, and Barnabus Parkinson are going to try to ambush Harry and Hermione." The decision to go to Snape hadn't been easy for Daphne, but she had come to realize she couldn't live with herself if she didn't do something. Part of her wished she could openly support Harry. Doing so would kill her chances of becoming prefect, unfortunately. Harry and Hermione were clearly setting up their own faction, and if Daphne openly supported it, Hermione would be perfect instead of her.

Snape blinked. "You _are_ quite observant. Unfortunately, there is little I can do until they make some move."

Daphne wasn't budging though, "You could warn them off."

Snape gave Daphne a thoughtful look, "Forgive my curiosity, but why are you getting involved in this? It isn't your fight."

"Maybe not," said Daphne smartly, "But I believe Harry has earned his chance to take on Malfoy. Harry might not be a Pureblood himself, but he comes from an old Pureblood family on his father's side. And the fact remains, that Draco Malfoy is a moron, and having older students put him back on track for a leadership position here at school makes me... _furious_."

"And you came to me because..." teased Snape.

"Because my father taught me how backroom deals can often be more powerful than direct intervention," said Daphne, "And because it's your job."

"Well..." started Snape just as a pounding sounded at the door. Snape scowled and went to the door. He opened the door, clearly planning some cutting remark. But then he saw the crowd.

The entirety of Ravenclaw house was standing outside his office. Every one of them was there in a mob that stretched down the hall as far as the eye could see. "We want your potions study guides Professor. The ones you've been giving the Slytherins. We want them now," said one of the Ravenclaw prefects. The rest of the group shouted their approval of this.

Daphne tried hard to keep herself from laughing. Someone had screwed up badly. Unless of course this was Harry and Hermione reaching out to the Ravenclaws. Which Daphne immediately realized it must be. Looking at Snape, who was on the verge of a meltdown, she hoped _he_ didn't realize what had just happened. One thing she did know was that beating Hermione to becoming prefect had just become a lot harder.

XXXXX

**September 19th, 1991**

Harry had made extra sure to be up early on Thursday morning. He had been ecstatic on Tuesday when the Twins had brought him the books he had asked for. He had somehow managed to smuggle them into his room and hide them from Hermione. And now the payoff...if Hermione woke up on time.

Finally, Hermione began to stir. As her eyes opened he waved at her from his bed. "Happy Birthday Hermione," he said simply.

She smiled. "Thanks Harry. It means a lot that you remembered."

"Oh I didn't just remember!" he said excitedly, as he pulled two books from under his blankets. One was called _Curses and Countercurses _(with a ridiculously long subtitle). The other was called _Defensive Spells for the Beginner._

Hermione looked at both books with pure joy. "Thank you so much! You didn't have to go through all this trouble. How did you get them?"

Harry laughed. "It's no trouble. I wanted to get something for you. I've never had the chance to get anyone a gift before. And I got the twins to buy it for me. They have 'ways' of getting things, or so I've heard."

Hermione frowned at what obviously must be rulebreaking, but the expression couldn't stay on her face for long. She jumped out of bed and gave Harry a hug, which he returned with almost as much enthusiasm.

Hermione began looking through the books. "Some of these spells are dangerous," she said, uncertain.

"Those are the spells we'll need," predicted Harry, "We have to show the older Slytherins that we can hurt them if they come after us. Make them think twice."

Hermione nodded unhappily. "Do you have an idea about talking to the Hufflepuffs?"

Harry nodded. "It's probably best to get a group of them at once. I'll try later today."

Hermione seemed to accept that, though she was still clearly unsure. Harry understood her unease. Until all the other houses were looking out for bullying, certain classes might be targets for them to get ambushed. Even this would only be a temporary measure.

"We'll get through this, one step at a time," Harry said comfortingly.

XXXXX

After his last class of the day Harry went hunting for Hufflepuffs. And he found Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones, and Hannah Abbott outside the greenhouses.

"Potter," said Ernie with a degree of hostility that surprised Harry. Justin gave Ernie an annoyed look, while Susan rolled her eyes. Hannah's eyes narrowed however.

Harry had a feeling that something was wrong, but there was nothing for it but to continue. "Hello, Justin," he said to the only one of these people he had ever really spoken with before, "I was hoping for a word with you, and your friends, if you have a moment."

"You going to pretend to be Justin's friend too?" asked Hannah.

Harry stepped back, "Uhh, I've met Justin once. I'd be happy to be his friend, of course, but I'm not going to pretend that I know him that well."

"Like you do with Granger?" demanded Ernie.

"WHAT?!" said Harry completely taken aback.

"You'd barely met her before you were all best friends all the time. Justin told us about when you met," said Hannah accusingly.

"I also said they'd both clearly hit it off well. They definitely liked each other. Why's it so hard to believe they became friends?" demanded Justin.

"Potter just happens to become best friends with the smartest girl in school, and then they get sorted into Slytherin?" replied Ernie, "It's obvious he convinced her to join Slytherin even though she's a muggleborn, just to give him an edge." Harry began to sputter as he tried to speak.

"Allying with a muggleborn is NOT an advantage in Slytherin, how many times do I have to tell you?" asked an exasperated Susan Bones.

Ernie looked about to retort when Harry held up his hand. "Stop," he said quietly, but the anger in his voice cut through the quiet like a knife.

Harry looked at Ernie and Hannah with a cold rage in his eyes, "I was raised alone. My aunt, my uncle, my cousin, they all hated me. Any friends I might have had they chased away. I HAD NO ONE," Harry's voice had crescendoed to a shout and he had to us all his self-control to quiet himself again. "Until I met Hermione, I had no friends. She was the first, the first to be happy to see me again, the first to hug me, the first to give a damn about my life."

"Do you understand?" Harry continued, "You have no idea what she has done for me, what I have done for her, what I would..." he trailed off.

And it was then that it hit him. It was a moment of clarity so profound that it shook Harry to his core. Harry was no prophet, but for one moment he could see the consequences of the choices he had made. And in that moment a fear gripped him that he had never known. Hannah was right. He did barely know Hermione. His decisions had placed him in a commitment far beyond his ability to understand. Were they really friends, or was this just his way of trying to create the family he'd never known?

However shaken Harry was, his words had clearly reached Ernie and Hannah. Hannah hung her head. "I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't realize."

Harry nodded, struggling to compose himself.

"I apologize as well," said Ernie, "I... well was there something you wanted to ask us?"

Harry nodded. "Some of the older Slytherins are planning on putting Hermione in her place because she's a muggleborn, and me in mine because I defended a muggleborn. I've been talking with people in Ravenclaw and Gryffindor and we're trying to watch out for each other. Like an anti-bully watch for the whole school."

"That's... a good idea," said Ernie.

"I'm sure we can get the rest of the Hufflepuffs onboard with it." said Susan.

"I'd greatly appreciate it," said Harry before pausing for a moment, "And Justin?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for believing in me," Harry said.

_Even if I no longer believe in myself._

XXXXX

Harry finally got the courage to speak to Hermione just before bedtime, as she was studying at her desk.

"Hermione, I have something I have to say."

"What is it Harry?" she asked as she looked up from her Charms book.

"I'm concerned that our... arrangement isn't going to work out. Specifically I am concerned about the fact that we barely know each other," he said cautiously.

Hermione stared for a moment, then pursed her lips, "I have to admit I've had similar concerns."

"I never had a friend or a family. And then you were there, a friend, and I'm afraid I'm trying to turn you into my family as well. Not just part of my family, but the entirety of it. And I know that isn't fair to you. There's no way you can live up to that sort of expectation, you're only a twelve year old girl. A smart twelve year old, but still twelve," Harry said as he shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid that we are friends only because we both have been lonely for so long."

Hermione shook her head. "I was lonely too, but I did have a family. But you're also right. I can't be your entire family."

"I keep fearing that this isn't real, that if things go badly our feelings, our friendship will vanish. We got into this situation not realizing how committed it would make us." Harry closed his eyes.

"Do you regret it?" asked Hermione.

"No," said Harry immediately.

They stared at each other for a moment. Then Harry spoke up, "I _want_ to be your friend, Hermione. I know we're getting close quickly, and maybe we should try to make other friends. But I am not going to pretend that my friendship with you isn't important to me."

"Same," replied Hermione. And she got up and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"You don't have to..." Harry started.

"I want to," she said, "I can't replace your parents, but I can try to show you what friendship is. Even if that is all I can do right now."

And so he wrapped his arms around her. He tried not to think about what "right now" meant. But still something solid had begun to grow between then, a mutual respect and affection based on their struggles together. And remembering that moment of clarity earlier in the day, he realized that this was the first step on that road he had seen. It was still terrifying.

But as he hugged his friend he knew it would be worth it.

**Author's Note: **Ronald Weasley. Ron, Ron, Ron. How do you deal with a character as poorly written as Ron Weasley? It isn't easy. A lot of people just give up and make him a villain. And I've read a lot of fun stories like that. In fact, originally I intended for Ron to be an antagonist for the first couple of years. But I changed my mind for two reasons. The first is simple, it's been done so many times. And the second is also simple, Ron isn't really an antagonist in the original books. He is a huge screw up yes, and he probably isn't worthy of the massive amount of trust Harry puts in him, but at the end of the day he is fighting on Harry's side.

A huge part of Ron's problem is how he feels that he is second fiddle at everything he does. So if you move Harry out of Gryffindor, the main point of conflict between them from the books actually vanishes. If Ron isn't comparing himself to Harry, he doesn't get jealous of Harry. Moving him to Slytherin created a new problem, but because Ron rejected him, Harry now realizes that Ron is fragile and is dealing with him carefully, rather than simply trusting him. Ron is now firmly on his way to secondary character status. A journey he won't complete until Ginny shows up, but that's just because I need someone to be the primary Weasley until she comes back on the scene.

Anyway, the next chapter is one of my favorites, so I honestly can't wait to post it.


	4. The Ambush

**Chapter 4: The Ambush**

**September 20th, 1991**

"Professor Flitwick was able to examine and question the Sorting Hat," said Minerva as she looked at the two Slytherin students who were causing so much commotion. Filius Flitwick usually was relatively neutral towards the Slytherins, who, after all, tended to denigrate his goblin heritage, but he liked Harry Potter and Hermione Granger fairly well. And now he knew why: they had never been supposed to be sorted into the house in the first place.

"Indeed, and my investigation was most unsettling," said Filius seriously, "Using some difficult charms I managed to get the hat to confirm your story, and there were traces of various modified compulsion charms. They were most crude, but undeniably effective."

"Does that narrow our list of suspects?" asked Granger.

"Not really. This would require a very specific set of charms skills. I could have done it easily of course, though I would have been more artful. I would expect Professors Dumbledore, Vector and Minerva here to be more skilled as well, but if one of us had rushed to develop the spell it _might_ explain why it was so inelegant. Professor Snape could probably do it easily as well. Quirrell and Babbling are both at a level of charms skill that would have some difficulty creating such a spell, but they should be capable of brute forcing through it, or so I should think. I doubt Professors Sprout or Sinestra could do it at all. None of the other Professors have anything like the skill to try this."

Potter nodded and gave Granger a significant look that few would have noticed except Filius. "I guess I should have expected that," he said morosely.

"I find it difficult to believe that Dumbledore had anything to do with this," said Filius straightforwardly, "But the hat didn't notice anyone else approaching it in the weeks before school opened. Of course it has a number of compulsions on it still, so it may not be able to tell me differently."

Flitwick found it more than a little unlikely that Dumbledore was behind this. The only thing that had changed recently, as far as Flotwick could tell, was that Minerva had been asserting herself in regards to Harry more. Had Dumbledore decided that was a threat and sorted Harry elsewhere? Flitwick thought the idea patently absurd, but it was all he could come up with.

Potter sighed. "I really don't like that Dumbledore is looking to be our primary suspect. He has far too much power over me."

Minerva shook her head. "If Dumbledore is behind this, and that is still a big if, it is worse than you think Mr. Potter. Professor Dumbledore is your magical guardian."

"My what?" asked a confused Potter.

"All magical children who do not have magical parents are assigned a magical guardian, to make magical decisions that muggle parents do not always understand. Also some magical agreements require magic to make them functional," explained Minerva, "For most muggleborns, the guardian is me in my capacity as Deputy Headmistress. I, of course, almost always defer to the judgement of their muggle parents. Your parents left a will detailing your guardianship after their deaths, but the person detailed in the will was... unable to serve as guardian. This caused your guardianship to revert to the school. Dumbledore has insisted on managing your guardianship directly."

"So Dumbledore acts as my parent for all magical, legal and financial matters?" asked Harry.

"That would be correct," said Filius, "though the Goblins would severely limit his access to your accounts without your signed consent."

Granger was fuming, "That law is totally discriminatory!" she said angrily.

"I agree," said Minerva, "Which is why I take the measures I do. Mind you, there are situations which do call for intervention. The consequences of withdrawing a magical person from the magical world without achieving basic magical control can be severe. But there are surely less... prejudiced ways to deal with that."

Potter shook his head angrily.

"I see you have been having luck recruiting other houses into your anti-bullying campaign," noted Minerva.

"The look on Professor Snape's face as he described all of my house descending on him was priceless," snickered Filius.

"I also had a word with him about dealing with bullies," said Minerva. "I would encourage you to be vigilant however, especially in your dormitories."

Filius had honed his powers of observation to a razor's edge, having grown up in a society which saw him as an outcast, and Potter and Granger had just given each other another significant look. This one they tried to hide as soon as they gave it though. As both of them stammered assurances, Filius realized that they were hiding something. He also noticed that their interactions were significantly different than they had been just earlier in the week. Both were being a lot more cautious in the way that they addressed the other, each look seemed to be guarded in some way. Yet at the same time they seemed more in tune, more able to communicate without words.

_They're getting to know each other very closely, _thought Filius. It was always awkward to get to know new people when one wasn't used to it.

"Very well," said Minerva, "We will keep looking into this. I trust you have plans for today?"

"Well Hagrid invited us to tea. Since he knew my parents..." Potter trailed off.

"Hagrid is a fine man," said Filius, sticking up for his fellow demi-human, "Just remember that he is absolutely loyal to Headmaster Dumbledore. Anything you tell him, he will tell the headmaster, if asked. Even if you ask him not to. He won't even see it as wrong, because he can't conceive of Albus Dumbledore having any sort of ill intent."

"I'll take that under advisement," said Potter.

After the children had left Filius turned to Minerva, "You didn't tell him about Black."

"The last thing Harry Potter needs to hear right now is that his rightful magical guardian is the man who betrayed his parents," said Minerva.

Something about that rubbed Filius the wrong way. He had always felt that something seemed wrong regarding Sirius Black's guilt. Why shouldn't the boy know in any case? He shook his head. That at least was not his responsibility.

XXXXX

Blaise Zabini was not a fan of studying in groups. That being said, sitting in his room studying all the time often had him going stir crazy. So he had quickly set out to find a quiet place to study in the common room. He had found an alcove, which had probably once held a bookshelf set into the wall. The bookshelf was gone, and there was now a couch in front of it. All in all, it reminded him of the tunnel under the stairs at his mother's house. His one refuge. The time would come when he got too big to fit in that tiny space, but for the time being he could hide in that space and not be found. Just as he could hide here and study; listening to the low muffled murmurs in the common room.

Soon he heard voices that weren't muffled however. Given that there were enchantments all throughout the common room to prevent eavesdropping, they had to be right above him! "Professor Snape seemed adamant that we should stop," said a voice Blaise recognized as Gertrude Selwyn.

"Can you be that dense?" replied a rough male voice, probably Barnabas Parkinson, a sixth year prefect, "We just can't get caught."

"Gertrude is correct in that we can't just continue as we are," retorted the unmistakable voice of Marcus Flint, the Quidditch captain,"We have to come up with a new plan. There are too many people watching out for Potter and Granger."

"I say we lure 'em out during the Halloween Feast. No one will catch us then!" said probably Parkinson.

"Until they_ tell_," said Gertrude angrily, "Or until they notice we are the only other people gone."

"Wait," said Marcus, "There's always a few Ravenclaws who miss the feast because they are studying. That gives us deniability. And you know how to Obliviate, don't you Gertrude? We'd just have to erase their memories."

"What's the point of teaching them a lesson if they don't remember it?" demanded Gertrude.

"We just make sure the lesson is good enough to stick with them for a while," said probably Parkinson, "You aren't having second thoughts are you Gertrude? With your blood status that wouldn't look good."

There was an edge to her voice when she replied, "I am trying to not get expelled or thrown in Azkaban. You come up with a plan that accomplishes that and I'll be happy to help."

"With a few refinements this plan will work," said Marcus with evil mirth in his voice. Blaise suddenly felt sick. He began to crawl out of his alcove. But when he stood up, he was face to face (well as close as he could come to face to fave given the size disparity) with Barnabas Parkinson.

"Looks like we got a little firstie where he doesn't belong. Maybe you need to be taught a lesson too," sneered Parkinson.

Rage blared in Blaise's head. "If you do, remember, I only know one spell to defend myself with."

He pointed his wand at a small flower pot holding some sort of vine and took a deep breath. "_Reducto,_" he said calmly. The pot shattered into tiny pieces.

"If you miss with your first shot, that's your kneecap," said Blaise, his eyes blaring with rage. Parkinson took a step back, and Blaise stormed past him.

Fuck it, Blaise thought, I'm telling Potter.

XXXXX

Late in the afternoon, Harry and Hermione were finally getting back to the common room after having tea with Hagrid in his hut. Ron and Justin had come along, Ron because Fred and George had told him Hagrid served delicious soft cakes (he was still complaining of a toothache from that lie) and Justin because Professor Sprout always spoke well of Hagrid. Then they had escorted Harry and Hermione back to the Slytherin common room (turning their backs as the two of them accessed the 'secret' entrance). The trip was uneventful except for a run-in with the school custodian, Argus Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris. He seemed to view any student coming in from outside as a potential war criminal, with dirt their probable crime.

"How did you like Hagrid?" asked Harry as he and Hermione entered the common room.

"He was a sweet fellow," answered Hermione, "It was nice of him to tell you so much about your parents. Still I wouldn't want him to be keeping my secrets."

Harry shook his head. At one point Hagrid had actually said something was hidden on the third floor that needed protecting. He'd just blurted it out. "I agree. Still, I think he'll be a good friend to have."

The two of them made their way into the first year corridor. As they passed Blaise's room they saw his door was open. Upon seeing them he gestured at them to enter. "Come in quick," Blaise almost whispered.

Harry shrugged. Blaise had proven himself relatively trustworthy. Both he and Hermione entered his room, only to have him quickly shut his door behind them.

"The students who are planning to attack you are Marcus Flint, Barnabas Parkinson, and Gertrude Selwyn," said Blaise urgently, "They have decided that it is too risky to do it now, and are putting it off till Halloween."

"Why Halloween?"asked Hermione.

"They want to lure you out during the Halloween Feast. No witnesses. They plan to Obliviate you after." answered Blaise.

"But if they Obliviate us we won't remember being attacked," said Hermione.

Harry guessed he'd had more experience with bullies who used violence. "That just means they'll have to hurt us _bad._"

Blaise nodded.

"What do you know about these three?" asked Harry.

"Flint's from a minor pureblood family, but it isn't about blood status for him. He just likes hurting people. Flint is really, really cunning though, there is a reason he's Quidditch captain," noted Blaise.

"Parkinson is Pansy's older brother, right?" asked Hermione.

"Right," replied Blaise, "She probably asked him to get involved. The Parkinsons supported You-Know-Who during the last war, but none of them were actually members of the Death Eaters, they just sent financial contributions. They aren't a fantastically rich family, but they have a long lineage and are prestigious."

"Gertrude on the other hand is just trying to survive," said Blaise, "Her paternal grandfather was a Selwyn who married a muggleborn, and her father also married a muggleborn. She's only a half blood, and not the good kind of half-blood, and the purebloods never let her forget that. She isn't necessarily a bad person, but the pressure they can bring to bear on her is immense."

"The good kind of half-blood?" asked Hermione with an edge to her voice.

"Hey, I'm a half-blood," protested Blaise, "though I guess I'm what they _would_ consider a 'good' half-blood. My dad had a witch for a mother and a muggle father, but my mother is a pureblood. Harry here has a muggleborn mother, but his dad was as pure a pureblood as there is. The Potter lineage is so good it should be part of the Sacred twenty-eight. The other purebloods might not want to marry Harry, but they aren't likely to give him any grief over his blood status." Harry noticed an edge to Blaise's voice when he mentioned his mother.

"So why are you helping us?" asked Harry, "You said you weren't going to."

Blaise sat still for a moment. "My mother and father got a divorce when I was very little," he finally said, "My mother supported the Death Eaters like the Parkinsons did. My dad opposed them. After the war, my mother was sent to Azkaban for her crimes, largely because she did a piss-poor job at covering her tracks. Most purebloods with money got off with little more than fines. For most of my life I lived with my dad. Two years ago my mother got out of prison. She sued for custody. Because she was a pureblood, she won."

A hatred entered Blaise's voice that he couldn't hide. "She has spent the last two years trying to indoctrinate me with pureblood supremacism. What she doesn't understand is that _she took me from my father, _and I will never,_ EVER, _forgive that."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment, trying to get a feel for the boy's rage. Finally he said, "Thanks Blaise, we'll teach those purebloods not to underestimate us."

"Be sure that you do Potter. They won't give you an inch," said Blaise seriously, "Let me be clear, you have been organizing the other houses to fight bullies. But these three kids are not mere bullies. They are pureblood supremacists, and they intend to hurt you until you submit to them. If this was back during the war, they might even be willing to kill you. As it is, you will be very lucky if you aren't sent to St. Mungo's. Do not underestimate them!"

Harry gave Hermione a grim look. This was far worse than they had thought. "So you're saying they mean to…" Harry trailed off.

"They will use the Cruciatus curse on you," interrupted Blaise, "The torture curse. It is the worst pain you can imagine."

Blaise opened the door, "Now get out before someone sees you. This doesn't change that I can't help you publicly."

Harry and Hermione headed back to their room. After shutting the door, Hermione slumped on her bed. "So he's not going to help us fight," she said sounding defeated.

Harry looked her dead in the eyes and shook his head with a smile. "That's not what I got from that. That rage..." he trailed off.

"When the time comes," said Harry, "He'll be with us. Count on it."

XXXXX

As September ended and October began, time seemed to speed up. Part of it, Harry realized, was that their lessons were slowly getting harder. The course load at Hogwarts seemed to have a sharp difficulty curve to it. Sharing a room with Hermione had an advantage in this respect, in that Harry was forced to do a lot more studying than he otherwise would have. He was doing well in Charms, Transfiguration and, surprisingly, Potions. He was doing well in Defense as well, but even Hermione admitted that class was a joke. If only he could do something about the pain in his scar every time Quirrell turned around. Harry did passably well in Herbology and Astronomy, but his History of Magic grade needed work. That had more to do with Professor Binns' general uselessness as a teacher than anything else. Harry had suggested to Hermione that they should treat History of Magic as an independent study class, and she had, again surprisingly, agreed with him.

In the middle of all this Harry and Hermione had been studying spells to defend themselves with. The disarming spell had been the easiest to learn, and Harry had discovered that he had a genuine talent for it. The body bind was a useful, if overly verbose spell. Blaise had also offered to teach them the _Reducto_. They had made progress with it, but both Harry and Hermione felt that it was too deadly a curse for a simple school spat, though Blaise insisted that the threat of Obliviation justified the use of it. The shield charm looked useful, but Harry thought it might be a bit advanced for first years as it required some advanced techniques to hold it in place.

About halfway through October Harry suddenly had an idea one night as was reading his charms book.

"We need to teach ourselves first aid spells. We know they mean to rough us up, it's really unlikely we'll get out of this without a few cuts and bruises, even if we do escape," he said ruefully.

"That's a good idea, though most medical spells are really tricky," noted Hermione.

"The blood slowing spell looks pretty simple, and we should probably learn the levitation spell just in case one of us breaks a leg or something. Besides, we'll be ahead for charms if we learn that one," pointed out Harry.

Hermione didn't need much convincing after that argument.

XXXXX

**October 24th, 1991**

Daphne was getting worried about Blaise. He had been getting more and more tense as October had gone on. The two of them had been friends for years, but after his mother had taken custody of Blaise suddenly Daphne was one of the few people he was friends with whom Blaise's mother considered good enough for Blaise to associate with. And then his mother had made everything awkward by attempting to set up a betrothal between them. Even if it was an informal betrothal which wasn't enforceable, it was still impressively out of touch. Nobody used betrothals anymore, and they hadn't been common at all for over a century.

Daphne's father had been diplomatic about refusing, though he had asked her what she thought of the whole thing. Her father did care about her and what she thought, whatever his other faults were. He was part of the pureblood supremacist faction, but he really was only interested in maintaining the Greengrass family's political and economic clout. He had not supported the Death Eaters during the war, though he hadn't quite opposed them either. Daphne had her concerns regarding his stances on many issues, but she wasn't quite able to put all of them into words.

Blaise of course had been mortified by the whole ordeal. It had taken over a month before he was able to talk to Daphne normally again. And now he was growing distant again, though this time he didn't seem embarrassed.

Finally, about a week before Halloween, she cornered him, with Tracey's help of course. They managed to hem him in outside Snape's classroom after Potions.

"Much as I like the company of two beautiful ladies, I do have places to be," said Blaise in what Daphne recognized as a classic Blaise deflection.

"Tough," said Tracey.

"Blaise, something has been bothering you for weeks," said Daphne worriedly, "I know you don't like to talk about things, but you've been avoiding everyone. What's wrong?"

Blaise hesitated, then looked around to see if anyone else was there. Finally he said, "Marcus Flint, Barnabas Parkinson, and Gertrude Selwyn are going to ambush Harry and Hermione on Halloween."

Daphne nodded, "I didn't know the date, but I knew they were going to do it at some point. Did you tell Potter and Granger?"

"Yeah, I did," said Blaise.

"Then that is all you can do," said Daphne comfortingly.

Blaise looked at her intently for a moment. "No it isn't. I could help them."

Daphne stepped back. Blaise couldn't be saying what she thought he was saying. "The consequences..."

"To hell with the consequences!" said Blaise fervently, "I'm tired of kowtowing to people who think less of me because of who _one_ of my grandparents was."

Blaise looked Daphne straight in the eyes. "I know you agree with me. I know you want to help. Let's help them. Let's show the bigots we won't let them control us. Let's smash the Slytherin Machine."

Daphne shook her head. "I don't know..." she said weakly.

"Think about it," said Blaise as he gently pushed Daphne out of the way and walked away.

Daphne looked after him as left. This really put her in a bind. She did think Harry and Hermione were worth helping. But the fact was that she had grown up wanting to be a Hogwarts prefect. The perfect career for the daughter of a Wizengamot member.

But the truth was that dream had died years ago. Because the system was rigged. Rigged in favour of the wealthy purebloods. Because becoming a prefect in Slytherin wasn't about individual achievement. It was about being part of the largest faction. If you led the largest faction, you became prefect. The other prefect would be the most influential person of the opposite sex from that same faction. And factions in Slytherin were built around wealth and influence.

And Draco Malfoy had more of both of those than anyone else. There was no way that Daphne would willingly ally herself with him, not unless she had no other option. So she could pretend she was going to be prefect all she wanted, but unless she was willing to suck up to Draco it wouldn't happen.

Except Harry Potter had already halted the growth of Malfoy's influence. There was one thing that could bring Slytherins over to you side faster than anything else. Power. Could Harry take control of Slytherin based solely on respect for his power?

"What do you think Tracey?" she asked.

"I think Blaise is right," said Tracey without hesitation, "I think the reason everyone in Slytherin always conforms to pureblood ideals is because no one has the courage to defy the system. But I think we have that courage. And with Harry and Hermione and even Blaise's help, maybe we can change things."

Daphne exhaled a slow sigh. "Ugh, you're right. Okay where do we start?"

"Let's catch up to Blaise, he might have a few ideas." And Tracey was off sprinting. Daphne rolled her eyes, but then started running to catch up. She supposed being a prefect was overrated anyway.

XXXXX

**October 31st, 1991**

Halloween finally came, and Hermione's plan to deal with the ambush was simple, make sure neither she nor Harry were alone at any time that day. They built a roster with their friends from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff for escorting the two of them to class, and their Ravenclaw friends were keeping an eye out for any suspicious behaviour. Everything was going well until their last class, where they met a group of Gryffindors consisting of Ron, Fred, George, Parvati, and Lavender.

"Want an escort down to the Great Hall for the feast?" said Ron dramatically. He'd really gotten into this bodyguard duty, and seemed to think it made him some sort of hero. Fred and George snickered at him, but Harry was almost touched. Ron had been making a real effort to help Harry and Hermione take the fight to the other Slytherins, and his enthusiasm for protecting them was quite heartening.

"Actually I have to use the loo," said Hermione.

"Ron'll escort you!" said George enthusiastically, to Ron's scowls.

"I'll handle it," said Lavender as she gave George what could only be described as the stink-eye. "Save me a seat Parvati."

"Sure thing," said Parvati.

As Lavender and Hermione left, Fred wrapped his arm around Harry. "Have I told you how badly Gryffindor is going to defeat Slytherin in this year's Quidditch match?"

"Only at every chance you've had," said Harry as they headed towards the Great Hall.

XXXXX

Hermione fixed her robes as she finished in the stall in the loo. Opening the door, she said, "Thanks Lavender, I'm all done."

Lavender was nowhere to be seen. Instead Gertrude Selwyn was standing there, pointing her wand at Hermione. "I'm sorry," she said, "Lavender got a bit confused. She wandered off. Please, hand me your wand slowly."

Hermione growled as she reached for her wand and handed it to Gertrude, handle first.

XXXXX

Harry was waiting for Hermione and Lavender outside the Great Hall. They had been almost twenty minutes, and the feast was about to begin. Finally Lavender wandered in alone. Her eyes seemed cloudy.

"Lavender, where is Hermione?" Harry asked urgently.

"Hermione?" asked Lavender distantly.

"She's been confunded." said Blaise, walking out of the Great Hall with Daphne and Tracey.

"Bloody hell," said Harry angrily.

"Chances are Hermione was caught by Flint, Parkinson and Selwyn," said Tracey.

"They probably have her in the first floor girl's loo," said Harry.

"Well we'd better hurry then," said Blaise.

"We?" asked Harry.

"We're with you," said Daphne confidently, "Time to show them what real Slytherins can do."

Harry took both Daphne and Blaise by the shoulder, and gave Tracey a warm nod. "Thank you, all of you. Now let's go rescue Hermione."

The foursome left the Great Hall behind them, which was how they missed the announcement that there was a mountain troll loose in the school.

XXXXX

Gertrude was once again alone with Granger as Flint and Parkinson were watching for Potter's approach. Gertrude hated this, she thought it was needlessly cruel and vindictive. But a half-blood like her didn't survive in Slytherin by rocking the boat. She did what she was told.

"They aren't going to accept you you know," said Granger suddenly, "Your blood will never be acceptable to them. They're just using you."

Gertrude scowled at Granger, "I'm not dumb, I know that. It's about survival. You do what they tell you so you survive. You'll figure it out."

"If I give into them, they own me. They'll use me for my brains for sure, but they'll never let me take ownership of my life. I'd be no better than a slave," Granger shook her head with certainty, "No they have to be fought, so that no one else has to go through what we've been through."

Gertrude felt a surge of anger. "What do you know about what I've been through all these years?"

"I know that you don't like this, which means you haven't given in completely," said Granger calmly.

Gertrude narrowed her eyes at Hermione. Part of her had to agree with Hermione. But the rest was still scared.

"Okay Granger, I'll give you a choice. You sit here quietly, and I'll make sure that Flint and Parkinson don't hurt you too bad. They'll still beat the shit out of your friend, but you show you know your place and I can convince them you don't need that much of a lesson. Or," she pulled out Hermione's wand, "I give you back your wand, you fight, and they beat the shit out of you along with your friend."

Hermione took her wand and hid it behind her back.

"Good luck Granger," said Gertrude.

Suddenly four first years charged into the girl's loo; Potter, Zabini, Greengrass and Davis. All had their wands drawn.

"What?" demanded Gertrude, as she pulled out her wand, but Hermione was already pointing her wand at Gertrude. Flint and Parkinson charged into the loo behind the four first years, but they had already turned to face them down.

"Why does Granger have a wand!" demanded Flint.

"Later!" shot back Gertrude.

"You can't stop and obliviate all of us," said Potter, "You've lost, let us go in peace."

"Have you turned blood traitor Greengrass?" demanded Flint angrily.

"Proudly," said Greengrass defiantly.

"They're right, we can't win this," said Gertrude even though she was pretty sure it was futile.

"Still, we can't spill that pure blood," said Parkinson, "_Petrificus Totalus_." His spell caused Daphne to go stiff as a board and fall over.

Zabini didn't wait. "_Reducto!_" he shouted, sending a curse right into Parkinson's knee. Parkinson screamed in pain as he crumpled to the ground, blood spurting from his knee. Potter immediately disarmed him, though his face looked shocked. Tracey turned to face Gertrude.

"You two haven't done anything yet," said Granger calmly, "You can walk away."

"Marcus," said Gertrude urgently, "there is no way we can hide this! Parkinson will need to go to St. Mungo's to have his knee reconstructed. The DMLE will investigate this. We have to stand down or we will be expelled and maybe sent to prison!"

"Yeah," said Marcus as he lowered his wand, "you're right."

Gertrude lowered her wand as well. It was over.

And then a mountain troll with a giant club came crashing through the door. It took one look at the screaming Parkinson, then lifted its foot and brought it down on his chest with a sickening crunch. Dragging Parkinson along with its foot, it kicked Parkinson into the stalls with a crash.

A startled Zabini and Davis ran for the back of the loo to where Hermione was. Potter, on the other hand, grabbed the prone Daphne and began dragging her away from the troll.

Flint had turned towards the troll and there was a glint of fear in his eyes. Pointing his wand at the troll he yelled, "_Avada Kedavra!_" For one second Gertrude thought it had worked as green light flashed towards the troll. Potter gasped as he saw it, but continued dragging Greengrass. The troll narrowed his eyes at Flint. The spell had done nothing.

_That spell requires hate, and Flint is just scared, _thought Gertrude.

The troll swung its club up and into Flint from below, catching him between the legs and propelling him into the stalls which were now more destroyed than not. And then it looked at Potter and Greengrass.

"NO!" shouted Gertrude as she charged the troll firing cutting charms at its extremities. A finger and an ear fell to the floor as Gertrude lunged for the door. If she could get it out of the loo...

But she missed a piece of the destroyed stalls on the floor between her and the door. Tripping over it Gertrude fell against the wall. She turned to see the troll's club hurtling towards her face.

And then, mercifully, everything went black.

XXXXX

Hermione nearly screamed as she heard the troll's club make contact with Gertrude's head. They were doomed. The troll was going to kill them. She saw Harry struggling to pull Daphne away from the troll. The troll turned and lifted its bloody club over its head.

And in a last desperate move of defiance, Hermione pointed her wand, and with a swish and flick yelled "_Wingardium Leviosa!_"

The troll tried to swing its club, but it remained hovering over it's head. The troll looked up at his now hovering club.

_"Finite,_" said Hermione breathlessly.

The club slammed end first into the troll's face causing the troll to fall over forward. Harry tried to pull Daphne away from the falling troll, and mostly succeeded, though Hermione heard a snap as the troll's body fell across her leg.

"It's still alive!" said Blaise.

"Not for long!" shouted Tracey, tears in her eyes. Pointing her wand at the troll's head she yelled, "_Reducto!_" The troll's head exploded in a shower of gore.

For a moment all of them stared at the dead troll. Harry was the first to recover his senses. "Blaise, get the teachers. Hermione, Tracey, free Daphne. I'll check on the others."

Blaise nodded and sprinted out of the room. Hermione cast a quick _Finite _on Daphne who immediately gasped. "Oh Merlin, that hurts," Daphne said through clenched teeth. Hermione and Tracey began pushing the troll off of her.

All of a sudden Hermione heard Harry noisily vomiting inside one of the ruined stalls. "Parkinson's dead," he said weakly after a moment, "And Gertrude."

A moment later he shouted out in surprise. "Flint's still alive!"

XXXXX

Minerva was making her way toward the dungeons with Filius and Severus, when she saw Severus looking towards the stairway up.

"Do you think the troll has made it upstairs already?" she asked him.

"It is possible..." he started but was cut off by Blaise Zabini charging up to them at a full run.

Panting Blaise stammered out, "Troll...girl's loo...this way...HELP!" Gesturing back the way he came he ran towards the first floor girl's loo. The three teachers followed at a run. Entering the loo, they saw carnage everywhere. The stalls were shattered. The troll was on the ground with its head exploded. And against one of the walls he saw Gertrude Selwyn with her head in a very similar state.

"Merlin..." swore Filius.

Hermione Granger and Tracey Davis were tending a clearly injured Daphne Greengrass, but Hermione immediately pointed to one of the ruined stalls. "Flint needs immediate assistance." she yelled.

Running up to the stall she saw Harry Potter inside kneeling in a pool of blood next to Marcus Flint. He was channelling some sort of spell at Flint. Harry was clearly exhausted from the spell. "I'm slowing his blood loss," Harry said wearily keeping his wand on Flint.

"I have him Potter," said Snape who silently cast the blood loss slowing spell on Flint, "You did well."

Minerva was shocked at the damage done to Flint's lower body. In addition to the damage to his muscle and bone, which could be healed, there was almost certainly some extreme nerve damage there. That might be permanent.

"Parkinson and Gertrude are dead." said Harry exhausted, but with a telltale deadpan. The boy was in shock. Minerva quickly looked in one of the other stalls and saw Barnabas Parkinson's body. He was mangled even worse than the others. She also noticed his knee seemed to have been disintegrated. Minerva shook her head. Questions later.

Filius had levitated Flint's body and was moving him out of the room while Snape continued channelling the blood loss spell on him. "We'll take him to the infirmary, but we may need to do an emergency floo to St. Mungo's," said the charms professor.

Minerva turned to Daphne as the two professors left the room, "How badly is Miss Greengrass hurt, can she be moved?"

"I think it's just a broken leg," said Hermione.

"Me and Blaise can get her to the infirmary." said Tracey.

"Miss Granger, could you help Mr. Potter to the infirmary? He seems... out of it."

Hermione nodded. As she went to help Harry up Minerva cast a shroud which hovered over Gertrude's body, shielding it from view.

Hermione had wrapped an arm around Harry's waist, giving him support. As they passed the stall with Parkinson's body, she tried to look in, but Harry pulled her back.

"No, you don't want to see that," said Harry in a voice that made Minerva very sure he _had_ seen it.

"Harry is right," said Minerva, summoning another shroud to cover the door to the stall, "Nothing good will come of it."

Hermione nodded seriously, and helped Harry out the door. They were followed by Daphne who had one arm around both Blaise and Tracey's shoulders as they carried her out.

And Minerva was alone. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. No, it wasn't enough, she thought as she sank to her knees and began to weep.

XXXXX

The five survivors of the troll encounter were all sitting silently in the infirmary. Professor Flitwick had put up curtains and silencing charms so they couldn't hear as Madam Pomfrey and the healers from St. Mungo's worked on Marcus Flint. Once Snape had rushed out of the infirmary at top speed only to reappear minutes later with an armful of potions. Daphne was laying on a bed with Blaise and Tracey sitting in chairs on either side of her. Harry and Hermione were sitting on the bed next to them, Hermione with her arm around Harry's shoulders, and Harry just staring off into the distance. Hermione knew something was terribly wrong with Harry, but she had no idea how to snap him out of it.

After some time had passed two adults, a man and a woman charged into the room. Both headed immediately for Daphne's bed.

"Daphne!" shouted the woman, "Are you all right?"

"Mum!" replied Daphne gratefully, "I'm... well my leg is broken, but other than that I guess I'm coping with things."

Both adults seemed to sigh with relief.

"We flooed in as soon as we heard, the headmaster opened the way for us," said the man, obviously Mr. Greengrass.

"It's good to see you," admitted Daphne, "It was horrible. The troll killed Parkinson and Selwyn. It just fell on my leg when Hermione knocked it unconscious. I owe her my life." She gestured towards Hermione.

Both adults looked at Hermione uncertainly. Hermione felt a chill go up her spine. Were they judging her because of her blood status?

"Daphne, you shouldn't be so quick to acknowledge life debts. If it's there you'll feel it, but claiming them too early can get you into trouble," said Mr. Greengrass.

Hermione immediately felt unsure. She didn't know what a life debt was, but it sounded serious.

"It's fine. I was saving my own life as well, so I doubt it counts as a life debt," said Hermione in an attempt to diffuse the tension.

Both of Daphne's parents relaxed visibly, and gave Hermione grateful smiles. But Daphne persisted. "Fine maybe I don't owe Hermione a debt, but I was body bound and Harry pulled me away from the troll at great risk to his life. If he hadn't moved me I would have died."

If anything, the Greengrasses looked even more upset, and Hermione could understand why. Harry was an unknown boy. As far as they knew the things he might ask her to do to repay the debt might be quite inappropriate. While Hermione knew Harry wouldn't ask for anything like that, the Greengrasses had no such assurances.

But Harry had looked up. "You came with me to rescue Hermione. That makes you a friend. My friends don't owe me life debts."

Daphne smiled, and her parents relaxed again, but Hermione knew they were relaxing too soon. It was clear as day to her that Daphne still considered herself to owe Harry _something_. Still Hermione wasn't worried. Harry would never ask her for anything.

Harry seemed to notice this as well. "I can really use good friends right now, more than anything else."

"All right," said Daphne with a beaming smile.

"Thank you for saving our girl anyway Mr. Potter," said Mr. Greengrass, "we really are quite grateful."

"You're welcome," said Harry, returning to his deadpan voice. Mr. Greengrass looked worried.

"Is he all right?" Mr. Greengrass asked Daphne quietly. Hermione doubted Harry could hear him in his current state of mind.

"He saw some... things the rest of us didn't," said Daphne quietly. "It was apparently really bad."

Both the Greengrasses seemed to understand. They began to talk with their daughter quietly, as well as with Blaise and Tracey, who both seemed to know the whole family. Blaise asked after Daphne's younger sister Astoria, and soon it had turned into a family gossip session.

Harry sighed and rested his head on Hermione's shoulder. "It's going to be all right, you know," she said to him.

He seemed about to respond when another woman entered the room. She had a monocle, and was dressed in robes that looked like some sort of uniform.

Daphne was the first of the group by her bed to see her. "Madam Bones!" she said in surprise.

"The head of the DMLE!" whispered Hermione to Harry.

"I hear you have all had a difficult night," said Bones.

The students all murmured signs of agreement.

Madam Bones turned to the Greengrass parents. "Would you mind if I asked them a few questions? You can observe of course, but I need to get a timeline of events to even begin figuring out what went wrong here."

The Greengrasses nodded, and soon Madam Bones was asking questions about the night's events. Soon she began to frown as they told her about the attempted ambush. She frowned even harder when she heard the reasons for it.

"Did you have to blow out his knee?" she asked after Blaise described his fight with Parkinson.

"He was planning to obliviate us!" said Blaise defensively. Bones just nodded.

Soon enough they finished their story. All of them had answered somewhat, though Harry had only answered when asked a direct question. Madam Bones had initially seemed suspicious of this, but that suspicion had quickly been replaced with a look of sympathy. She'd clearly seen shock like this before.

As she finished up, Madam Pomfrey came over. She was clearly exhausted, and had a grim expression on her face. Harry seemed to stiffen as she approached.

"Marcus? Is he...?" said Harry, his voice bordering on panic.

"Mr. Flint is alive and stable," said Madam Pomfrey tiredly, "It was touch and go. He was hurt very badly, but we stabilized him enough to transfer him to St. Mungo's."

She looked at Harry gratefully. "We have you to thank for that as well. The blood slowing spell really saved his life."

Harry looked as if he was going to say something, but just nodded as he slid back into his funk. Madam Pomfrey gave him a sharp look, before turning to Daphne.

"I hear you took an injury?" she asked.

Daphne nodded. "I think I broke my leg when the troll fell on me."

Madam Pomfrey quickly swept her wand over Daphne's body. "Yes, you clearly have," Pomfrey said carefully, "Well that's easily fixed." And with a sweep of her wand she cast a spell, causing Daphne to gasp.

"You'll want to stay off that for half a day or so," said Pomfrey, "You'll have to spend the night here."

"I'll bring up some things for her in the morning," said Tracey, which received a nod from Madam Pomfrey, who had already begun waving her wand at the other students.

"Physically, the rest of you are fine," Pomfrey said. However, she immediately began asking Harry questions, just basic things, clearly gauging his responses. All of his replies were in the same deadpan voice.

After a few minutes of this Pomfrey shook her head. "Well Harry, it looks like you are in shock. It should go away in a day or so," she turned to Harry's friends, "if not..."

"We'll keep an eye on him and let you know," said Hermione.

Pomfrey nodded again. "I think familiar surroundings will do him good, so I won't have him stay here, but make sure he returns tomorrow morning for a follow-up. The four of you can return to your dorms. If anyone has any more questions for you they will have to wait until tomorrow," she looked at Madam Bones significantly.

"Actually I was just finished," said Madam Bones as the four students said their goodbyes to the Greengrasses and left the infirmary.

They made their way down to the Slytherin Common room in silence. When they got to the hidden door, Blaise stopped. "There is going to be a huge crowd when we go in there. Let me handle it Hermione. You just get Harry to bed."

Hermione nodded.

Blaise went in first, and true to Blaise's prediction, the entire house was in the common room. They immediately began demanding answers all at once. Finally Blaise managed to yell loud enough to be heard over the din, "I will answer all your questions! Let everyone else through!"

Soon enough a path was opened to the first year corridor, and Hermione had pulled Harry through it. Waving goodbye to Tracey she pulled Harry into their room.

Harry sat on his bed, eyes staring at the floor. "Do you need to change? I mean..." she stopped as Harry looked at her, tears welling in his eyes.

"You said it would be all right. But it doesn't... I don't..." Harry stammered before he broke down crying. Hermione sat down next to him, and wrapped her arms around him.

"There, there," she said as gently as she could, "It's fine. It's perfectly fine to not be all right."

Harry embraced Hermione in return, and buried his face in her shoulder. She closed her eyes as he wept. She could feel the tears flowing down her own face. She buried her face in Harry's shoulder as well. Despite the tears somehow she knew the worst was over.

XXXXX

**November 1st, 1991**

Harry awoke the next morning groggily. Vents near the ceiling cast light into the room. Harry wasn't sure whether it was actual daylight piped down to the dungeons through some magical means, or just an illusion. Yet it was comforting after that horrible night. Also comforting was soft warmth that was holding him. That he was holding in his arms. Hermione had fallen asleep still hugging him.

Harry initially felt embarrassed, but that almost immediately was replaced by a strange contentment. There was nothing wrong with what they had done. They'd just fallen asleep holding one another after what was likely the worst day of their lives. The truth was Harry was glad that they had felt comfortable enough to help each other. He tightened his embrace, just a bit.

Which was, of course, enough to wake Hermione. She moaned softly, the first sign of wakefulness, then opened her eyes. "Oops, guess I fell asleep," she said without embarrassment.

"It's alright. After last night, it's nice to wake up to a hug," Harry replied, as he buried his face in her bushy hair.

"Is it time to get up?" asked Hermione.

"I think we can wait a few minutes. I do need to stop by the infirmary though."

Hermione sighed, "Need me to come with?"

"After last night?" asked Harry, "I doubt it."

Hermione gave a mirthless laugh. "This wasn't the way I wanted to win."

"Me neither." he said. Then he kissed the top of her head. "But you were right last night. It will be all right. Just not right now."

Hermione closed her eyes again. There was no need to get up just yet after all.

XXXXX

Harry made his way out to the common room. It was empty except for Nott, who nodded at Harry when he came out of the first year hall.

"Everyone else is at breakfast or, in the case of your friends, the infirmary," explained Nott, "I stayed behind to see how you were doing."

"Suddenly you care about me?" Harry asked doubtfully.

"You bested three upper year students in a fight and killed a mountain troll. I doubt we'll ever be friends, but you've shown yourself to be powerful. In Slytherin that gets you respect."

Harry's scowl softened. "Do you know how Pansy is doing?"

Nott pursed his lips sadly. "Ostensibly she's angry at you, but really she blames herself for getting her brother into this. I'd stay away from her if you can."

Harry nodded, "I assume classes are cancelled?"

"Yeah."

Harry sighed wearily, "Well I'd best get to the infirmary."

The trip up to the infirmary was easier than it had been the night before. _One of the benefits of not being completely exhausted, _thought Harry. When he arrived he saw Daphne's bed was surrounded by curtains.

"Hey, Daphne," he said over the partition.

"Hey, Harry, just a minute, I'm getting dressed," Daphne responded.

"I have to check in with Madam Pomfrey anyway," said Harry.

Madam Pomfrey was already out. "I was about to send someone for you," she said accusingly.

"I felt like sleeping in a bit. Figured no one would give me trouble for it."

"Good. Too many of my patients want to start running around before they are fully healed," Madam Pomfrey looked at Daphne's partition significantly.

Harry sat on a bed while Madam Pomfrey examined him. She asked him a number of questions regarding his mental state and well-being. Midway through, Professor McGonagall walked in.

"So you don't feel so distant as you did last night?" asked Pomfrey.

"After I got back to the common room it kind of hit what had happened. I... kind of broke down," admitted Harry.

"That's perfectly normal," said McGonagall, "_I_ broke down after what happened last night."

Harry smiled at her gratefully while Madam Pomfrey continued. "That's good, I think the worst is over. That said, if you are feeling depressed or anxious over the next few days, please let me know."

Harry nodded, and at that moment Tracey pulled back the curtain. "We're finished," she said.

"Go to your friend," said Pomfrey, "She'll be released this afternoon."

Harry walked over to Daphne's bed. She was dressed in her uniform shirt and robes. She motioned to a chair next to the bed. Harry sat down where she gestured.

Daphne leaned over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a hug. "I didn't get a chance last night, so thank you."

Harry smiled at her after she pulled away. "You know, you are the second person I can remember who has hugged me."

"Really?" asked Daphne a bit incredulously.

"I'm sure my parents hugged me, but I was a baby when they died. My aunt and uncle never hugged me. They are... not good people."

"You poor thing!" said Tracey sadly as she practically jumped into his lap and wrapped her arms around him.

"Tracey!" said Daphne a little sharply, "If he's not used to it..."

"Oh, sorry," said Tracey as she pulled away.

Harry laughed. "I can think of worse ways to pass the time than being hugged by two lovely ladies."

Daphne blushed a bit, but Tracey just laughed. "Oh you are a charmer today," she said with a shake of her finger, "But the real question is can you think of a better thing than a hug from us?"

"Well..." started Harry when Blaise charged into the partitioned area.

"A hug from the world's best hugger, Blaise Zabini of course!" shouted Blaise who then pulled Harry to his feet into a giant crushing bear hug.

Several moments passed, and Blaise refused to let go."A...Air," said Harry after a few more moments.

"Oops," said Blaise as he let go to the laughs of Daphne and Tracey.

"So who was the best hugger?" asked Tracey.

Privately, Harry was thinking of Hermione, but he thought better of saying that. "Well Blaise was the most enthusiastic."

"World's. Best. Hugger," said Blaise as his friends laughed.

As he heard his friends laughter Harry realized that his life had changed once again. It wasn't just him and Hermione against the world any longer.

XXXXX

Minerva walked into Dumbledore's office late that evening to find Severus waiting there for her. His usual scowl had been replaced with a more contemplative expression. Was this what Severus Snape looked like when sad? She could never remember him acting like this. Before she could say anything, Albus came out of the floo. He looked very weary, but immediately began speaking.

"Minerva, Severus, I have just come from speaking to Amelia Bones. She spoke with Mr. Flint today. He was apparently aware of how Mr. Potter saved his life. He confirmed Blaise Zabini's claim that they intended to Obliviate Mr. Potter and Miss Granger. As such his use of a deadly curse has been ruled self-defence."

"That is good news," said Minerva, "if a bit disturbing."

"Indeed," said Severus flatly.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Flint has severe nerve damage. He will not walk or ride a broom again, and he will certainly not return to Hogwarts this year, or more likely, ever," said Albus sadly.

Minerva and Severus both hung their heads.

"However, Amelia is stumped as to how the troll entered the castle. She believes that when Quirrell let in his troll this summer to protect the stone, the detection wards were not re-raised. I know for a fact that they were however."

"You think a teacher lowered the wards and granted the troll access?" asked Severus.

Minerva was horrified. "You think one of the teachers did this on purpose?"

"Did you see Quirrell last night?" asked Snape. "I did not. But I saw him this morning. He was limping, almost as if..."

"He tried to get past Fluffy," finished Minerva.

"Also, remember that Quirrell's defence for the stone was a troll," pointed out Albus.

"Have you told Amelia?" asked Minerva.

Albus shook his head guiltily. "I want to, but I fear if she arrests Quirrell now his true master, the one who sent him after the stone, will escape."

"What do you mean..." started Minerva before she gasped in realization. "You-Know-Who!"

Albus nodded. "I am restricting the ward controls to you and myself Minerva, so this cannot happen again. But if there is a chance to capture Voldemort we must take it. We also must not let him get the stone."

"Has You-Know-Who really returned?" asked Minerva.

Albus nodded, "In spirit at least. If he gets the stone, he will return in the flesh, and we will have a huge problem on our hands."

Minerva sighed. "I'm not happy about it, Albus. Two students died and another was injured. You know I trust you Albus. But this absolutely cannot happen again."

Albus smiled for a moment, before turning to Severus with a serious expression on his face. "How are the other Slytherins?"

"Pansy Parkinson is of course distraught, though much of that is because she asked her brother to help Mr. Malfoy. Draco has been unusually sensitive about this. I don't know if he honestly feels bad about it, or if he just realizes how close he is to Miss Parkinson turning on him. The rest of the house is taking it in various ways. Most of them seem to see the whole thing as an accident, at least as far as the troll goes. However they have all been told what happened, courtesy of Mr. Zabini," Severus scowled.

"What did he say?" asked Albus intently.

"Actually, he was quite honest," said Severus, "Of course, everything was told in such an exaggerated style that everyone thinks he is lying and is trying to hide the powerful spell they used to kill the troll. This, combined with the fact that the two new prefects are neutral on the blood purity issue, means that Potter and Granger are the clear leaders in the prefect race for their year."

"I cannot believe that Harry would use this tragedy just to get a little power," said Albus dubiously.

"I think it is more a case of trying to prevent anyone from attacking him, and more importantly to Harry, Hermione," argued Minerva, "He cares a great deal about her."

"He did rush off to her aid without waiting for any more help," agreed Albus.

"He's a very Gryffindorish Slytherin," noted Minerva, causing Severus to give a loud grunt.

"With Flint gone I will need a new Quidditch Captain." began Severus again, "No one on the active team is suitable, they weren't chosen for their... strategic ability. Flint preferred a physical game. However, he kept Melody Cuthbert as a reserve chaser, in case he needed a skills player. I believe she will be an acceptable captain."

Albus nodded, "Very well, I trust you will both keep an eye on all of the students in case they start showing signs of depression or other dangerous mental states?"

Minerva and Severus nodded.

"Let's hope we are doing enough," said Albus.

Severus turned and walked out, but Minerva walked up to Albus and gave him a glare. "Don't be wrong about Quirrell," she said as she walked out.

** Author's Note: ** This chapter has changed so much from my original plans for it that I actually think it is worth mentioning. Originally there was no attempted ambush, nor was there a last minute rallying of Blaise, Daphne and Tracey to Harry and Hermione's cause. The idea in the first outline was actually originally part of Chapter 3, and involved the troll attacking the entirety of Slytherin house on their way back to the common room and just so happening to kill the Quidditch captain and two blood supremacist prefects. There was also a cut subplot involving Lavender, which is the only reason why Lavender is present in Chapter 4 at all.

While the idea of troll with a club wading through a crowd of Slytherin 2nd years was fun on a visceral level, the original version didn't have the moment where Blaise, Daphne and Tracey ride in to the rescue. The result was that all the relationships seemed more like transactions than friendships. This version provides a much stronger basis for those friendships.


	5. The New Normal

**Chapter 5: The New Normal**

**November 9th, 1991**

"C'mon" yelled Tracey over the crowd in the stands on the Quidditch Pitch, "There's good seats over here."

"Calm down Tracey," said Hermione, "It's just the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff game."

"It's our first school Quidditch match," said Blaise, "We have to make it memorable."

"Plus it's our duty to root against Gryffindor!" said Daphne with a goofy smile.

Hermione looked to Harry for support, but he just shrugged. "When in Rome..."

"Fine!" said Hermione petulantly.

"I'm looking forward to this. Ever since Hagrid said my dad played Quidditch. It sounds fun," said Harry.

"It sounds like a death trap!" yelled Hermione, trying to be heard over the crowd.

Normally the first game of the season would be a Gryffindor/Slytherin matchup. But with the Slytherin team reeling from the change in captains it had been decided to change the schedule a bit. So the first match would be Gryffindor/Hufflepuff, while Slytherin would play in the second match versus Ravenclaw.

Once they were seated, Tracey immediately began giving a breakdown of the relative strengths of the two teams. "Oliver Wood, the captain and keeper for Gryffindor is an exceptional keeper, and he has an unconventional, if a bit aggressive, grasp of Quidditch strategy. The Weasley twins are the best beaters in the school, and Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet at chaser are incredible, both offensively and defensively. The third chaser, Katie Bell, is a second year starting for her first time, but Wood has an eye for talent, so expect her to be good. The Hufflepuff team doesn't have a lot of exceptional players, but they are experienced, especially on defense. The key will be the seekers. Doug Croft, the Gryffindor seeker is terrible. Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff seeker, is a third year student starting for the first time. If he's good, the Hufflepuffs will probably win this. Still, the whole game is likely to be Gryffindor scoring relatively frequently, while Hufflepuff scores occasionally, until someone catches the snitch."

The match more or less went the way Tracey described. As it turned out, Katie Bell _was_ good, and the Gryffindors were soon building a significant lead. Harry was captivated by the seekers however. Croft was definitely bad. He sat high above the fray, looking desperately for the snitch. He didn't see it once. Cedric was staying a lot closer to the action, but he saw the snitch twice. Unfortunately, he was driven off by Fred and George both times. Harry realized that Cedric's strategy was utterly contemptuous of Crofts abilities; Cedric honestly didn't think Croft had a chance to see the snitch himself, so by keeping close to the action he made it harder to tell whether he was after the snitch or not. Harry himself had seen the snitch four times, though to be fair he wasn't on a broomstick dodging bludgers.

Around the time Gryffindor went up by 100 points Cedric clearly saw the snitch again. Croft was on the other side of the pitch, and the Weasleys had broken off to defend against a breakaway by one of the Hufflepuff chasers. Cedric swept in and snapped up the snitch, causing the Slytherin and Hufflepuff stands to go wild.

"Croft was really bad," said Harry, "He's not a bad flier, but he never came close to finding the snitch. He was looking scattershot everywhere."

Tracey nodded happily, "Diggory didn't even treat him scanning the field as a threat. He went in close despite the fact that this might keep him further from the snitch if it was on the wrong side of the pitch."

As Cedric flew by in a victory lap, Harry suddenly yelled out, "Great job Diggory!" Cedric seemed to hear him, and seeing him waved then pumped his fist into the air and held out the snitch for everyone to see.

"Oh no," said Hermione, "Not another Quidditch fanatic."

XXXXX

**November, 14th 1991**

As November wore on things calmed down in the school. With no threat of imminent harm to him or Hermione, Harry found himself able to explore the school in ways he had not been able to previously. In some ways he missed Hermione's constant companionship. But his independence had allowed him to spend more time with Ron and Justin, both of whom he now considered to be good friends. Harry was also getting to know their friends better. He thought Ernie Macmillan was a bit stuck-up, but Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones were both nice once you'd earned their trust. Neville Longbottom had some serious confidence issues, but was otherwise a decent bloke. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan were a bit more standoffish, but Seamus at least seemed to appreciate Harry's flouting the Slytherin rules.

Of course Blaise had become his best mate. Blaise had a wicked sense of humour, and was absolutely biting in his criticism of everyone. Meanwhile Harry tended to elicit reactions from lots of people which allowed Blaise to hone his craft. Malfoy in particular seemed to be a favourite target of Blaise's. Despite his cutting invective, Blaise rarely targeted anyone who was really vulnerable.

However, Harry was alone one day when Fred and George Weasley accosted him on his way to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Harry Potter, just the man we've been looking for!" said probably Fred.

"We have to apologize for being remiss in meeting our obligations towards you. We have been quite busy," said probably George.

"Doing what?" quipped Harry.

"We found out..." started George.

"...what's on the third floor," finished Fred.

Harry tilted his head curiously, "What?"

"A giant vicious three-headed dog," the twins said in unison.

"You're telling me that there is a Cerberus on the third floor?" asked Harry incredulously.

"Wasn't hard to get to either," noted Fred.

"Just behind a simple locking charm," added George.

Harry suddenly realized they weren't joking. They were really trying to get him to stay away from this dog. Though he couldn't for the life of him figure out why they'd have a Cerberus in a school.

"Still Harry," said Fred, "We promised you we'd prank Malfoy, and we haven't delivered."

"Worry not!" said George excitedly, "We have set events in motion which will correct this, if you will accompany us into the Great Hall."

"Sounds intriguing," said Harry as he followed them into the Great Hall.

Most of the students had already arrived. Malfoy was standing talking to Nott. He then sat down at his usual place. And he immediately began to levitate up. Once he was about 5 metres in the air he began to drift around the room being dragged by what appeared to be a balloon that said "The Amazing Flying Malfoy," on its side.

"I'll let him down," said Professor Flitwick, but when he cast a spell at Malfoy the balloon sped away, dragging Malfoy away from his spell.

"Curious," said Flitwick, as most of the students in the hall started roaring with laughter.

The balloon began to speed up, dragging Malfoy around the room faster and faster. No matter how many times they tried, the teachers couldn't hit Malfoy with a spell. Just as Dumbledore got up to deal with it, the balloon moved back to its starting position and Malfoy drifted to the ground lightly. Upon touching the ground, Malfoy sighed with relief.

Then the balloon popped, spraying Malfoy with brown goo.

Malfoy immediately began screaming. "It burns, it burns," he shouted as he tried to get the goo off his face.

Unfortunately for Malfoy some of the goo had landed on Nott's hand. He looked at it puzzled for a second. Then he smelled it. Then he licked it.

"It's treacle you moron," Nott shouted suddenly his face wholly contemptuous. Malfoy stopped screaming as the entire hall burst out into laughter. Roaring in frustration he fled from the Great Hall.

XXXXX

Minerva did her best to hide her smile, but that didn't fool Severus.

"You're enjoying this display of...bullying," said Severus bitingly. "Potter is behind this. How like his father."

Minerva gave Severus a withering glare. "After what Draco has done to some of the other students, like Miss Granger, for example, I think him getting showered in treacle is a relatively moderate response."

Severus went silent. After a moment he said, "I was not aware at the time of what he had done to Miss Granger."

Minerva gave Severus an understanding smile. "I know Severus. But you would do well to understand that Harry has come from abuse and bullying himself. His attitude towards bullying more resembles that of a young Severus Snape than that of a young James Potter."

Severus grimaced. "Perhaps," he said sadly before he hesitated, "Did Petunia really abuse him?"

Minerva had forgotten that Severus knew Harry's aunt. She realized that he might be a more sympathetic ally here than she had thought.

"She treats him as if he isn't family, and never shows him affection. She had him sleeping in a cupboard when we sent his first Hogwarts letter. And she doesn't stop her husband and son from piling on worse abuse," she replied.

Severus sighed, "That sounds like her level of pettiness."

He looked Minerva in the eyes, "It is hard for me to see his face and not think of his father. But understand Minerva, I am trying."

"I know Severus, I know," she said kindly. Perhaps things were looking up.

XXXXX

"So did that help us at all?" Harry asked Daphne as he sat down at the Slytherin table.

"Well every little bit helps," said Daphne, "I think at this point it's obvious that Nott won't be supporting Malfoy."

"Yeah, Nott hinted that he didn't want any trouble with us the day after Halloween," said Harry.

"That means Malfoy's faction has five people, and your faction has five people," said Daphne.

"Are we ahead in the prefect race?" asked Blaise.

Daphne seemed to consider this for a moment. "Maybe," she guessed, "Malfoy has had a lot of screw-ups, and he's lost a lot of house points. But wealth and influence count for a lot."

"Harry has money," insisted Hermione.

"Not as much as the Malfoys," said Daphne, "No one even comes close to the Malfoy's amount of wealth anymore. The Black family _was_ close but..." She trailed off.

Harry noticed that as Daphne said that last part she was looking at him rather uncomfortably. Blaise also seemed to be gauging his reaction.

"But?" asked Hermione

"The Black Family seems to have supported You-Know-Who in the last war," said Daphne, "No one knows for sure what happened to their money once Walburga Black died. It didn't go to either Andromeda Tonks or Narcissa Malfoy, who should have been in line to inherit it. Most people think the Ministry confiscated it."

Harry shook his head at that. While he didn't object to fining Death Eaters, but this sounded more like graft to him. Well, it didn't have anything to do with him.

"In any case, the incident on Halloween has convinced the older students that Malfoy isn't worth helping," said Tracey.

"Malfoy moved too fast, and doubled down on too many of his bad ideas," agreed Blaise, "He fell on his face so badly that the upper years became involved before Christmas. That has never happened before. Malfoy had his shot as far as the upper year Slytherins are concerned. They probably figure it is fine to write off one year's worth of prefects."

Harry considered that. If it was the case then he'd just have to make sure it was more than one year of Slytherins that managed to resist the Slytherin Machine.

**November 23rd, 1991**

The Ravenclaw/Slytherin Quidditch match was definitely a mismatch.

As per Tracey's breakdown, the Ravenclaw offense was dominating. Flint had been pretty good at coordinating his flyers to aggressively attack opposing defenses, but the Ravenclaws dealt with this by barely playing defense. Cuthbert wasn't even having that success, though the Slytherin defense was okay. But okay wasn't enough against the Ravenclaw chasers who quickly pulled out to a 30-0 lead.

The seeker fight was interesting to Harry. The Slytherin seeker, Terrence Higgs, was moderately skilled, but his sluggish movements were failing to impress Harry. The Ravenclaw seeker was a second year named Cho Chang. At first Harry thought she wasn't very good, as she kept following Higgs around the pitch. But he quickly realized that Cho's smaller size made her more maneuverable, meaning that staying close to Higgs meant she had a good chance to grab the snitch first if it was close to them.

The Snitch appeared only 20 minutes into the match, with Ravenclaw up 60-20. Cho saw it first, but it was a ways away, and Higgs saw it almost immediately after. Cho initially had a lead, but Higgs had a better broom and was catching up. Suddenly he veered into Cho, sending her spinning away. He immediately began to shoot towards the snitch.

However, Cho hadn't lost control. She pulled up to regain control of her spin finding herself above and slightly behind Higgs.

"She's got him," said Harry to Tracey and Blaise.

"What are you talking about?" asked Tracey.

"He isn't paying attention to her," explained Harry.

"Oh, shit," said Tracey as she saw it.

"Tracey!" said Hermione disapprovingly. But before she could see anything else Cho had moved.

She flew down hard putting the front end of her broomstick straight into the bristles of Higgs' broom. His broom flipped end over end backwards, and Higgs simply couldn't hold on. He let go of his broom, falling 8 metres to the ground.

Cho on the other hand was hot on the tail of the snitch. She rolled her broom to avoid a bludger then reached out and snatched the snitch out of the air.

"Damn," said Blaise loudly. Harry was in full agreement with that sentiment.

"This puts Ravenclaw at 190, Hufflepuff at 40, Gryffindor at -40, and Slytherin at -190," said Hermione.

"What are the chances of Slytherin coming back to win from a -190 point differential," asked Daphne.

"Virtually unprecedented," said Tracey glumly.

"That's what I thought,"said Daphne resignedly.

XXXXX

**December 2nd, 1991**

The truth was, thought Harry one day as he was working on his Transfiguration essay in the Slytherin common room, that everything was so much easier when no one was after you. It was an unusual sensation for him, as for most of his life his aunt, uncle and cousin had very much been trying to make his life miserable. To be fair to Dudley, he was just acting like he had been taught to. This didn't change the fact that Dudley's actions had been immensely destructive to Harry, but in some ways Harry pitied the boy. If Dudley turned into an even remotely decent person, he would eventually come to regret what he had done to Harry.

But Harry had been dreading going back to the Dursleys, until Snape had put up a signup sheet for those who would be staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. Harry had signed up immediately, and sent his Aunt Petunia a letter letting her know he would not be back for the holidays. After listening to Harry's stories about his family, Hermione had pointed out that Petunia was the most likely to listen to anything he had to say about the magical world. She might not like the magical world, but she understood it far better than her husband did, and playing to her ego by treating her as if she was knowledgeable was a good way to keep her somewhat pacified.

The result had been positive. She had sent a cordial note back with permission to stay and even a thank you. Harry was a bit divided over whether being thanked for not showing up to a family Christmas was a good thing. Still no Dursleys for Christmas was definitely good. The problem was, Harry did face the prospect of being alone for Christmas. He sighed. It was all a bit bittersweet really.

"You okay Harry?" asked Hermione, who was sitting beside him reading a book. She of course had finished her essay. Harry had a couple of days before it was due to finish it, but Hermione liked to start everything immediately.

"Just thinking about the holidays," Harry admitted, "I'm afraid I'm going to be alone this Christmas."

"I'd stay, but this is the longest I've ever been away from my parents. I'm sure they want me to come back, especially given what happened on Halloween," said Hermione consolingly.

"I'm staying," said Blaise, "I don't really get along with my mother very well, so me staying makes things easier for both of us." Harry noted that at this Tracey and Daphne gave each other significant glances.

"Also the Weasleys are staying," said Tracey, "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, along with their daughter, Ginny, are going to Romania to visit Charlie Weasley, but they don't have enough money to take everyone, so the school-age kids are staying here."

"Where'd you hear that?" asked Harry curiously.

"Around. I hear things," said Tracey overly nonchalantly. Harry idly wondered why she was keeping tabs on the Weasleys.

"I'll try to stay next year Harry," said Hermione, putting her hand on his arm, "Or maybe get my parents to invite you to our place."

"It isn't a big deal," said Harry. Outwardly he was acting as if it were unimportant, but inwardly he felt a thrill at spending the holidays with Hermione's family. Even if it wasn't_ his _family, spending Christmas with a loving family sounded wonderful.

"I'll be back, I'm going to visit the loo," said Blaise, "Then we can start planning our holiday out. With the Weasley twins here and no prefects (well no prefects except Percy) we'll be able to have some fun."

As soon as Blaise got out of sight Daphne sighed. "He isn't any better. Damn him,"

"Language Daphne!" said Hermione to an eye roll from both Daphne and Tracey.

"Better how?" asked Harry.

"Blaise has a really bad relationship with his mother, largely because he blames her for his father leaving his life," said Daphne, "But the truth is, while Blaise's mother isn't a very nice person, she didn't prevent his father from seeing him. His father has chosen not to have contact with him since she got custody."

"How awful!" said Hermione.

"Blaise idolizes his father and can't accept that he really doesn't live up to the standard Blaise set for him," said Tracey sadly, "Though it hasn't helped that his mother keeps trying to poison his mind with pureblood supremacist rhetoric. He isn't a pureblood, though his mother certainly acts like he is. Like the time she proposed a marriage contract with Daphne."

"What?" said a clearly agitated Hermione, "They can force you to get married?"

"Of course not," said Daphne, "It's just a form of alliance really. It has no legal or magical force, at least not anymore, though family customs can play a role in enforcing them. But even the old pureblood families rarely use them anymore. The last major marriage contracts were those of the Black sisters, and Andromeda married a muggleborn wizard instead, Bellatrix ended up in Azkaban after she and her husband joined the Death Eaters, and Narcissa... well she married Lucius Malfoy."

"Anyway, my father would never have subjected me to anything so barbaric as even a voluntary marriage contract," said Daphne confidently, "I may disagree with his politics, but he cares about and wants what's best for me."

"I was worried for a second that I might be forced to marry against my will," Hermione admitted.

"That is no longer possible," replied Daphne confidently.

XXXXX

**December 21st, 1991**

The train ride home was, for Hermione, a revelatory experience. She'd started a study group with Padma Patil and Sue Li to study ahead in their classes, but that group largely stuck to discussions of their course material. For most of her interactions with Daphne and Tracey, Harry and Blaise had been present. The fact was that she had spent very little time with just other girls, and she was finding that she enjoyed it. There was a certain pressure Hermione felt in how to act and speak when boys were around, even boys as undemanding as Blaise and Harry, and it was totally gone when it was just her and Daphne and Tracey.

Their discussions were more open as well. Daphne told her a lot more details about Madame Zabini. Apparently she had not wanted to divorce Blaise's father, but he had insisted on it because of her financial support for the Death Eaters. She had kept the name though, and Madame Zabini was now a fixture in the moneyed class once again. She made a lot of her money through illicit means such as smuggling, gambling, and prostitution (which she funded, but did not participate in), but was rich enough that all but the richest families put up with her. Daphne's father in particular was willing to put up with her, but that, Daphne claimed, was because he felt sorry for Blaise, and hadn't wanted to cut him off from his friendship with Daphne.

"Things were a little awkward after the marriage offer," admitted Daphne, "But my father doesn't blame Blaise."

Tracey told stories about her family. Her father was a pureblood who had gone to school with Daphne's father. Despite the fact that he didn't agree with Daphne's father on politics, they had remained friends. He was now a Healer, albeit one with a private practice. Tracey's mother was a muggleborn, who had also become a Healer. While they had met in school, they only really got to know each other in the Healer training program, and had fallen for each other.

Hermione told stories about her muggle life, and was surprised how little both Tracey and Daphne knew about how muggles actually lived. That blindness was a large part of the problem with the way a lot of purebloods operated, Hermione realized. Any attempt to reform magical society to be less bigoted would require them to understand that muggles weren't the savages many magicals seemed to think they were.

"I did have one question. Why were your parents so upset when you said Harry and I saved your life on Halloween?" asked Hermione.

"Do you know what a wizard's life debt is?" asked Daphne.

"Yes," said Hermione, "But if Harry and I saved your life, surely you either owe us a debt or not regardless of how you feel about it."

Daphne shook her head. "With magic it isn't that simple. By agreeing to come save you with Harry, I forged a bond between us, maybe not a friendship, but something that comes very close to it. A life debt only really applies if the person who saves the other person does it selflessly. Saving a friend isn't selfless, though it isn't selfish either. So any theoretical debt that I have towards either you or him is possible, but not necessary. But because it is magic, my feelings on the subject matter. If I feel strongly enough that either of you had no reason to save me, I can activate the debt myself by saying that I owe you a life debt three times."

"Why three times?" asked Hermione.

"Three is an important magical number," said Tracey, "That in and of itself isn't the reason though. What's important is that we _believe_ three is an important number."

"It's ritual magic," said Daphne, "We use the symbol of the number three to stand in for actually performing a spell. Because we believe that the number three has power. Like all ritual magic it requires a sacrifice, but in this case owing a life debt to another person would be a sufficient sacrifice."

Hermione nodded. That would be useful information to know.

Before they knew it, the train had reached King's Cross station. Soon they were unloading their trunks off the train. Daphne waved Justin over when he left the train shortly after them. "My parents have something for you and Hermione," she said cryptically.

Sure enough, in moments Daphne's parents came into view, with another witch and wizard Hermione quickly realized were Tracey's parents. Tracey ran to her mother and gave her a hug, while Daphne did the same with her father. After they made their greetings, Daphne pulled on her father's shirtsleeves. "We'd best let Hermione and Justin get back to their parents," she said expectantly.

"So we should!" said Mr. Greengrass exuberantly. He pulled out four wristbands made of some leathery hide.

_Dragonskin,_ thought Hermione, _to hold enchantments._

"These wristbands cancel out muggle repelling charms," Mr. Greengrass said kindly, "As you are Daphne's only muggleborn friends, it is only right that I repay you with these."

For a moment Hermione wondered why the Greengrasses were giving Justin a set of wristbands. After all, he wasn't that close to Daphne. Then the line about repayment hit her. These were for her, as a thank you for saving Daphne's life. For some reason they seemed to be trying to hide that fact, so they were giving Justin a set as well.

"Thank you," said Hermione, "I appreciate the sentiment, and the spirit in which it was given."

Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass beamed at her. Mrs. Greengrass looked like she was about to say something when they heard a loud woman's voice ask "Have you seen Blaise?"

Turning they saw a short woman with dark skin interrogating Draco Malfoy, who seemed more interested in getting away than answering her. _Mrs. Zabini_ thought Hermione.

"Why is she here?" asked Tracey.

"Oh _Merlin,_" said Hermione as the truth struck her, "he didn't even tell his mother he was staying at Hogwarts."

Mr. Greengrass hung his head sadly, "Of course he didn't."

He turned to Hermione and Justin again, "Go meet your parents. I'll deal with poor Madame Zabini."

After making brief goodbyes to Daphne and Tracey, Hermione and Justin made their way through the entrance to Platform 9. As soon as she reached the other side, Hermione saw her parents. "Mom, Dad!" she yelled as she ran to meet them in a hug. And as her mother embraced her she felt as if a great weight had been lifted. She was going home.

XXXXX

As Hermione sat in the back of the car she felt as if something was amiss. Her parents had of course been thrilled to be given the wristbands the Greengrasses had procured for them, and they had been happy to hear her tell them about her classes (once they were in the relative safety of their car at least). Yet Hermione could feel a chill settling over her parents demeanour. Something was wrong.

"You seem upset by something," said Hermione carefully, "Is something the matter?"

"Well, we did receive a letter from your school about you being involved in an incident, which you haven't mentioned yet," her father said somewhat disapprovingly as he drove, "And you said something similar in a letter to us, but it was quite vague."

"You mean about Halloween?" asked Hermione, "I don't really like thinking about that to be honest, which was the reason I hadn't brought it up, though I'd be willing to answer any questions."

"What happened?" asked her mother, "The letter we received from your school was vague. It just said that you were involved in an incident, you weren't hurt, and you weren't in trouble. What sort of incident was it?"

For a moment, Hermione sat, stunned at the enormity of what her parents had said. "You mean, they DIDN'T TELL YOU!" she yelled furiously, "Bloody hell!"

"Hermione!" chided her mother.

"Sorry," apologized Hermione, "Blaise's bad habits are rubbing off on me I guess. But really, this is just proof that magical society just doesn't spare a second thought for muggleborns. Daphne, Tracey, and Blaise's parents were notified immediately."

"Hermione..." said her father in a warning tone that meant he was losing his patience.

"Listen, you have to understand, I thought they told you!" protested Hermione, "I wasn't expecting to have to explain _all_ this to you. I don't even know where to start!"

"Take your time honey," said her mother, who shook her head at her husband, who seemed about to demand answers again.

Hermione took a deep breath. "As I believe I've written to you about before, but magical society tends to be dismissive of muggleborns. Not that all magicals are prejudiced, but there is definitely a history of prejudice that influences magical institutions to this day. One of the first major voices to express this distrust was from about a thousand years ago, by a man named Salazar Slytherin."

"Slytherin, isn't that the name of your house?" asked her mother.

"Yes," replied Hermione, "And the house remains the most inhospitable to muggleborns to this day."

"So why were you sorted there?" asked her father.

Hermione paused. Telling them about her desire to be in the same house as Harry, and the way he had been sorted might be a step too far for them right now. So she decided for a different style of honesty. "I'm not entirely sure. But I was."

She then went on to tell them about Draco's visit that night, which nearly caused her father to turn around to hunt down the boy. She told them about her hellish first week, and how Harry had come to her rescue and helped her shut Draco out.

"How did he do that?" asked her mother. Hermione knew this was an innocent question, but she also really didn't want to give an honest answer about it.

"Well the magic was programmed to only not activate for muggleborns, so we figured a way to use Harry's halfblood status to activate the wards."

"Clever," said her mother, dropping the subject, to Hermione's great relief.

Hermione then recounted how she and Harry had made a fool of Malfoy, and how they had come to realize this had made them targets of older students. She told her parents about making friends in the other houses, and warning the teachers. And then she told them about that fateful Halloween. She left nothing out, from her capture, to Blaise's _Reducto_, to the brutal troll attack.

"And things afterwards were just so hectic I didn't think to write more that a short letter. Initially we all sort of hunkered together for comfort, but after we started to recover, I don't think any of us really wanted to think about it."

Her parents had grown quiet. Finally her mother said, "I'm sorry you had to see that Hermione."

"Actually I didn't get a good look at what happened. While it was happening, I was just trying to get away. And afterwards… well once Harry had seen the bodies, he physically prevented me from going and looking. He was in shock that whole night."

"Poor boy," said her father sadly.

"How did a troll get into the school?" asked her mother.

Hermione paused, "I don't know, though there was an investigation into what happened, and the school changed a lot of its policies. Now access to the wards is restricted to the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress. I'm not sure if they think the troll was let in deliberately, or if they just think someone carelessly left part of the wards down."

Her mother looked worried, "Do you feel safe going back? Even without a troll, it sounds like the other students were making life miserable for you."

"I have friends now, I'll be fine. Besides," Hermione paused again, "No one is going to mess with the first years who killed a troll."

"That is a good point," said her father.

"Did Tracey _have_ to kill the troll?" asked her mother.

"I'm not entirely comfortable with that either," admitted Hermione, "but after watching that troll kill two people I'm not prepared to die on that hill. And I might have."

"Who was supposed to notify us of this anyway?" asked her father.

"Probably Professor Snape. He is the head of Slytherin." Hermione shook her head sadly, "I think he was prepared to let us fend for ourselves against those older students. It makes sense, in Slytherin house if you draw negative attention to yourself you're expected to deal with the consequences. Professor McGonagall is the Deputy Headmistress though, and she has no use for that mentality. If you want more information I'd suggest you ask her."

"I will. She seemed quite reasonable the times we've met her," said Hermione's mother.

"Oooh, if she comes by I can have her bring Harry a present!" said Hermione excitedly, "I know exactly what he needs, and he isn't likely to get it from his aunt and uncle."

As she continued talking about her friend, Hermione missed the slightly worried look her mother gave her father, as well as the tightening around her father's eyes.

XXXXX

Snow softly fell over the mountains as Ginny Weasley made her way through the woods. The cold was biting, though she was dressed warmly enough that it wasn't all that uncomfortable yet. The clouds obscured the sun, which made it difficult to find her way, even if wasn't midday. The fact was she was lost, she didn't speak Romanian, and she had no idea how to even tell if someone was magical or muggle here.

She only had herself to blame, really. Ron had sent her a letter before she had left home, and it had contained the information that he would be spending his holidays with Harry Potter. She was jealous, she'd always seen Harry Potter as a hero, had daydreamed about having adventures with him, but that had been before she had met him.

And in truth she'd been appalled at his lack of knowledge of his past. Yet that had led her to realize that just because he's survived You-Know-Who's attack all those years ago, it didn't mean his life had been all roses since. In a real way it had been a wake-up call to her. Now her daydreams focused on showing Harry the magical world, and all the things that were normal to her, but would astound him.

The fact that he had been sorted into Slytherin troubled her, but not as much as it had troubled the rest of her family really (well except Fred and George, who thought it was a big joke). The truth was she felt that she understood. If the injustices done to him had given him a great ambition that was all to the good. And by Ron's accounts Harry seemed intent on cleaning up Slytherin.

And so, fantasizing about going to Hogwarts and meeting and Harry Potter and defeating the legacy of Salazar Slytherin once and for all, she had failed to pay attention to her surroundings and had gotten lost.

Suddenly Ginny saw a trickle of smoke in the distance. She didn't even think twice about it, and began running towards the smoke. Even if it was a muggle, it would be better than running lost in the snow.

Soon she came upon a small clearing in which sat a small cottage. It was quite ramshackle from the looks of it, yet somehow seemed inviting. Something about it reminded her of the Burrow. An old woman, dressed warmly, was carrying wood into the cottage from a pile near a small shed. Initially the woman didn't seem to notice her, and brought the wood inside the cottage. But then the old woman walked back out and spoke some words in Romanian directly to Ginny.

"I'm sorry, I only speak english," said Ginny plaintively.

"An English girl comes to my cabin, how strange," said the old woman in thickly accented, but otherwise flawless, english, "And not just a girl, but a witch at that. For how else could you get past my Muggle repelling wards?"

"I'm lost," said Ginny, "I was staying at the lodge for the dragon reservation, and I wandered off and got lost." She winced at how pathetic that made her sound.

"Well, I will take you back shortly then," the old woman said kindly, "But first come in and have a cup of tea. I daresay you English still like tea?"

Ginny nodded. The woman gestured her inside. The inside of the hut was full of herbs and other potions ingredients, as well as a number of other magical implements including a crystal ball, a couple of telescopes and a self sweeping broom.

"You do Divination?" asked Ginny curiously. She noticed that the old woman had already boiled the water _and_ brewed the tea for Ginny.

The old woman smiled. "Ah yes, I used to be the most in demand fortune teller in Europe. People came from all around the world to have me look at their future." She set down a cup and poured tea into it.

"Why do you live here then?" asked Ginny.

"One day a man came into my home, and I told his fortune. I must have prophesied, because he liked what I said so much that he said from then on I would only prophesy for him. I said no. He laughed and told me that no one says no to Gellert Grindlewald."

Ginny gasped, nearly spilling her tea.

The old woman nodded, "The very same. For years he held me hostage. I tried to lie to him, to tell him things that would be clearly false. He always saw through me and laughed about how hard I tried to stop him. But I could not stop the prophecies that came from my mouth. When Grindlewald was defeated many wanted me punished alongside him. Some believed my story, but many thought I was complicit in his crimes. Once the darling of Europe, I had become a pariah. So I came here, where I could die in peace."

The old woman shook her head, "I've done a very poor job of it."

Ginny wasn't sure what to make of this. But here she was sitting in front of a real live seer. Suddenly she felt an impulse to ask a question.

"Could you tell my fortune?" Ginny asked nervously as she sipped her tea.

The old woman looked at her for a second. Then she smiled. "I see no harm in it. Yet fortunes are not always what we want to hear. What do you want to know?

Ginny thought about her wording, it might be important. "Will Harry Potter ever love me?"

The woman looked surprised, and perhaps a bit disappointed. "Hold out your hand," she said as she sat down across the table from Ginny.

Ginny held it out as the woman examined her hand thoroughly. "Many misunderstand Divination. For most doing what I am doing would do nothing. Only those with the sight would gain any insight this way. Those who struggle against their natures to understand divination do so in vain. The lines on your hand are meaningless, yet this is as good a way to tune myself to your magical essence as any. We shall see if there is anything to see."

The woman's eyes grew distant. "You are the only daughter of seven children. You have dreams of making a name for yourself beyond your family. You have met Harry Potter before, and have done him a great service. Your request was not as frivolous as I thought."

Suddenly the woman's eyes grew wide and she shouted,

_If you marry him, he will hate you._

_If you steal his heart, he will die._

_If you follow the narrow twisted path to its end, _

_you may know his true heart._

Suddenly the woman's eyes returned to normal. "Sorry I couldn't find anything more useful."

Ginny gaped at her, "What was that?"

"What was…" began the woman confused, before she stopped and shook her head, "I made a prophecy didn't I? I never remember when I do."

Ginny nodded as she finished her tea.

"Well," the old woman said, laughter now entering her voice, "I guess you just proved old Gellert wrong. Can't say I'm disappointed with that."

The old woman stood up and picked up a weathered old walking stick. "Come now, I will take you back to the lodge."

The trip back took very little time, only about 15 minutes. Apparently Ginny had wandered in circles more than she had thought. As they came near to the lodge, Ginny could hear a voice yelling her name. _Charlie,_ she thought.

"Thank you," she said turning to the old woman. Or rather where the old woman had been, for she was gone. Ginny smiled wryly and shook her head. She realized that the woman hadn't even told her what her name was.

"I'm over here!" she yelled back to Charlie as she made her way towards his voice. She thought momentarily about the prophecy she had heard. It didn't sound promising. Yet it hadn't really answered her question. either. She shook her head. One thing she was sure of now, she was definitely _not_ taking Divination.

XXXXX

**December 24th, 1991**

Harry was sitting alone in the common room, waiting for Blaise to get back so they could go to dinner. Apparently there would be a special meal, as it was Christmas Eve. However Blaise had been called to Snape's office minutes ago. Snape had worn a grim expression on his face, which Harry suspected did not bode well for Blaise.

Blaise walked in looking a bit abashed. "Let's go." he said simply.

Harry got up and followed him out of the room, "You in trouble?"

Blaise nodded. "Yeah, I uh, forgot to tell my mother I was staying here, so she was a little mad. But she didn't demand I come home, so it's all good. I'll just have detention once school gets back in."

"Blaise…" Harry started.

"Don't," said Blaise emphatically, "I know it was stupid. It was moronic. I figured she knew I wouldn't want to come home. I figured she wouldn't want me to come home."

"Blaise, it doesn't sound like your mother hates you, it just sounds like she's wrong about, well, almost everything," said Harry, "Believe me, I'm and expert on having family that hates me."

Blaise laughed, "I'll be damned if you aren't right," Then Blaise sighed, "I'll write her an apology letter I guess."

Coming to the Great Hall, they saw the Weasleys had beat them there, though Percy seemed a little annoyed to be there. Surprisingly, McGonagall and Dumbledore were there, along with Hagrid.

"We'll have a bit of a bigger party, with all the other resident teachers, tomorrow," said McGonagall as Harry and Blaise sat down, "but we decided, given the traumatic events so far this year, that a bit of a friendly sit down would be in order."

And Harry had to admit the whole thing was quite genial. The food was good, the Weasley twins were constantly trying to prank everyone except McGonagall, and Hagrid began telling stories about the Forbidden Forest. Not scary stories, but just stories about the unicorns and centaurs and other creatures that lived there.

Harry was moderately interested in that. "So what is the most interesting creature you've cared for Hagrid?"

"Oh definitely Fluffy," said Hagrid happily, but then winced as McGonagall shot him a withering glare, "I guess I'm not supposed ter talk about that."

Something in Harry's head clicked. "Fluffy wouldn't happen to be the giant three-headed dog on the third floor would he?"

Hagrid began stuttering, Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, and McGonagall scowled. "How do you know what is on the third floor?" she said, her voice verging on anger.

"Lots of people know," said Harry, "the rumor has been all over school. I haven't been there myself, but then again I've had more than enough excitement this year already." The Weasley twins were trying very hard to look innocent, which actually had the effect of making them look extremely guilty.

And McGonagall noticed, "I see…" she said as she gave shot very menacing looks at the Weasley twins.

"Obviously you have Fluffy guarding something," said Harry, "So I have to wonder, what is so important that it has to be kept behind such a dangerous dog in a school."

Dumbledore's eyes seemed to twinkle even harder, McGonagall shut her mouth, as if she didn't trust herself to speak. Hagrid on the other hand was more vocal.

"That's none of yer business Harry." he said, "It only concerns Headmaster Dumbledore here, and Nicolas Flamel."

McGonagall put her face into her hands, while Dumbledore sighed. "Hagrid…" the headmaster said gently.

"I shouldn'a said that," said Hagrid, his face clearly upset.

Harry's stomach sank. He hadn't meant to get Hagrid in trouble. He ate the rest of his meal in silence.

XXXXX

"Harry could you stay for a moment?" asked Dumbledore as everyone was leaving the Great Hall.

Harry motioned for Blaise to leave. Once everyone was gone other than Dumbledore and McGonagall, Harry exhaled slowly. "I didn't mean to get Hagrid in trouble."

"We know," said McGonagall, "you were just curious. Hagrid is not always the most dependable with secrets. He is loyal to a fault, but…"

"I do not wish to interrupt you Minerva, but I did not ask us to stay so we could talk about Hagrid behind his back," said Dumbledore with just a hint of reproach in his voice. "Suffice to say, he is not in trouble. No I am more worried about what you are going to do with this information. I assume you wish to find out who Nicolas Flamel is?"

Harry nodded, "I was going to look him up."

Dumbledore smiled, "You might have a difficult time looking him up, if you don't know where to look."

"I did plan on asking Hermione and Daphne for help," volunteered Harry. On hearing Daphne's name Dumbledore's face tightened. Did Dumbledore not want him telling Daphne this? No, that couldn't be it. Suddenly the truth hit Harry again. Dumbledore didn't want Daphne telling her father about this.

"While I can't demand you keep this quiet, I would ask that you be circumspect in who you tell about this. This information could be dangerous in the wrong hands," said Dumbledore, who then seemed to hesitate.

"Albus, just tell him, he'll figure it out anyway!" said McGonagall.

"Nicolas Flamel is an alchemist, an old colleague of mine in fact. He is the only known, and certainly the only living, creator of the Philosophers Stone," said Dumbledore.

Harry frowned. "The Philosopher's Stone turns any ordinary material into gold correct?"

"That is one of its properties, yes. It also can be used to create the Elixir of Life, which restores the physical health and youth of anyone who drinks it," clarified Dumbledore.

"Wait, I've heard of Flamel in Muggle books. He was supposedly from the fourteenth century!" said Harry excitedly, "Are you saying the Elixir of Life makes someone functionally immortal?"

"That is correct."

Harry thought about that for a moment. "But to function like that it would have to be a near universal restorative."

Dumbledore smiled, "Well done Harry! Yes, the Elixir of Life restores everything short of death. Death, alas, cannot be healed."

"So you are guarding it because someone wants to steal it?" asked Harry.

"Again correct," said Dumbledore.

"Who would be so bad off that…" Harry trailed off as he remembered something McGonagall had said at his orientation at Diagon Alley.

Harry drew in a breath. "Voldemort."

Dumbledore nodded. "Quite so Harry. He has not been fully destroyed, and seeks a way to restore his body. If he does so…"

"Things will get bad again," Harry finished.

"Probably," said McGonagall.

All of a sudden a thought struck Harry, a thought that filled him with fury. "He let the troll in didn't he? He let the troll in to allow him to try to get the Philosopher's Stone without being interrupted," Harry said, practically shouting.

Dumbledore hung his head. "Yes," he said sadly, "Though it is more likely that he had someone do it for him than that he came here himself."

"So one of the teachers is working for Voldemort?" fumed Harry.

"Probably, though we aren't _certain_ who it is," answered McGonagall, though the way she said certain indicated to Harry that she at least suspected someone.

"It's Quirrell," said Harry with absolute certainty.

"Pardon me?" said Dumbledore, clearly taken aback.

"My scar has a tendency to hurt when he is around. The scar given to me by Voldemort. There must be a connection."

Dumbledore nodded. "Quirrell is indeed a suspect, but we have no proof."

Harry sighed, "Of course not."

"Harry, I would ask that you not mention your suspicions of Quirrell to anyone," said Dumbledore, "It might serve to alert Quirrell, and if he is not in the service of Voldemort, it would be in poor taste to sully his name."

"I understand," said Harry.

"I believe that is all then," said Dumbledore.

As Harry left the hall his head was spinning. One thing he was absolutely certain of though, was that as soon as Hermione came back he was telling her everything.

XXXXX

**December 25th, 1991**

The next morning Harry woke early. He had always been used to being woken up, either by his family, trying to force him to make their breakfast, or by Hermione, who was constantly worried he'd be late for class. But he was alone. And that is when he remembered that it was Christmas. There was no real excitement for Harry, after all he'd never had anything to celebrate before. It had never occurred to him that this year might be different.

As he made his way to the common room he saw Blaise sitting next to a stack of presents. "You took your sweet time Potter," he said wryly.

"No one ever sends me presents," said Harry.

"Well I guess a bunch of people didn't get that message this year," said Blaise pointing to another stack of presents. Harry realized that the house elves must have delivered them in the night. Appropriate really.

"Brilliant," said Harry, genuinely touched.

Soon the two boys were tearing open their presents. Harry's first was a book from Ron on the Chudley Cannons, a Quidditch team he'd heard the boy mention before. Blaise took one look at it and scowled. "He's trying to jinx you, I know he is. The Cannons are terrible! Perpetually terrible!"

The next gift was a book on explosive magic from Blaise. Tracey had given Harry a book on Quidditch strategy, while Daphne had gifted him a book on magical law and customs. Justin had sent Harry cuff links, which confused Blaise to no end, but actually made Harry laugh. Justin clearly needed to get out of his entitled upbringing. He was almost unbearably posh at times.

Hermione's gift was in a box, and when Harry opened it he was stunned. Pajamas. Pajamas that fit him. Blaise seemed a little confused at how excited Harry was until he explained. "No one's ever given me clothes designed to fit me before. It's been all hand-me-downs from my fat cousin my whole life."

There was one last present, and when Harry opened it up he couldn't quite figure it out. It was a huge shimmering cloak. In it was a note. Harry opened the note, it read:

_This cloak was given to me many years ago by your father. It is time that it was returned to you._

_Use it well._

"Bloody hell," said Blaise.

"What is it?" asked Harry curiously.

"It's an invisibility cloak."

Harry looked at the cloak in his hands incredulously. Then he began to laugh. Oh, he was going to make great use of this.

XXXXX

**December 26th, 1991**

Hermione was sitting in her room reading the book Harry had ordered for her for Christmas. The veritable swarm of owls that had descended upon the Grangers Christmas morning had not gone over well with her parents. Still it hadn't been her fault, they'd soon see it as part of the price of being part of the magical world. This book in particular was interesting, as it had a lot of advanced magical theory in it. A lot of it went over Hermione's head, but she realized she would be able to use this book as a reference for years.

She heard her mother's light knock on the door. "Come in," she said absently.

Her mother came in and shut the door behind her. "Enjoying your book?"

Hermione looked up smiling, "Yes. It's really advanced, but a lot of the principles here are really useful going forward. It's sort of like the difference between Newton's laws and the Theory of Relativity. We learn how to use magic in an easy way, but the actual way it works is far more complicated."

"That does sound interesting," said her mother, "Do you have a minute to talk?"

Hermione set down her book, making sure to mark her place in it. "Sure, what about?"

"Well, your father and I are very concerned about some things. We did have a discussion with Professor McGonagall, and she did promise she would personally make sure we were notified if something happened to you. That being said we still have some concerns. Would you have to continue any magical education at Hogwarts?"

Hermione considered. "There are other schools, but they are in other countries. Only the schools in America and Australia teach in English. It would be very difficult for me at Beauxbatons, they teach in French. Durmstrang wouldn't accept me because I'm muggleborn. The other schools are all very far away. You could hire a tutor, but it would be VERY expensive."

"That's what we figured," her mother said, "And I supposed the Ministry won't let us unilaterally withdraw you?"

Hermione shook her head, very grateful for Ministry bureaucracy at the moment. "No. First, they are reluctant to expel any student until they can control their magical reliably, usually at the end of second year. It has happened for extreme cases, but it is rare. Second...well not to put too fine a point on this but the Ministry won't allow me to be withdrawn from magical schooling without my agreement, and that of my magical guardian."

"Magical guardian?" her mother asked confused.

"Many contracts in magical society are magical contracts. They use the magic of the person signing to enforce the contract. You don't have magic, so you can't sign them. The Ministry appoints a person to hold that power for all muggleborn students, specifically, the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts."

"Oh," said her mother unhappily, "Can we change guardians?"

Hermione scowled, "No, currently the law does not allow us to pick our guardians. But in this case it doesn't matter. I intend to finish my magical education."

Her mother smiled and wrapped her arm around Hermione's shoulders. "Okay, I get it. Withdrawing you isn't an option. But there are other things we are worried about."

"Oh?" asked Hermione.

"We are concerned that you are maybe getting a bit too close with Harry," said her mother gently.

Hermione felt her stomach sink. She should have seen this coming. Yet she wasn't entirely unprepared for this. She _had_ known they might be a bit worried. But they didn't even know the worst of it.

"Go on," she said, trying to keep her voice neutral.

"Well most of your early letters only talked about Harry, and Professor McGonagall said you are always seen in his company. I realize Harry needed clothes, but it is a little strange to buy him sleepwear. We, and especially your father, are afraid you are moving a bit too fast for an eleven year old boyfriend."

Hermione grimaced. Her mother had definitely noticed some inconvenient things.

"Well," she started, "In the first place Harry isn't my boyfriend, he's my best friend. We spent a lot of time together in the beginning because people were threatening to hurt me and Harry was watching out for me. And now that we have other friends we don't spend nearly as much time together." Hermione was surprised, but she actually felt a bit of regret saying that last bit.

"Okay so he's your best friend instead," said her mother, "Don't you think that is strange for a girl your age?"

"No," said Hermione certainly, "He stood up for me when no one else would. He's earned my friendship."

Her mother nodded.

"Harry and I did already have this conversation," Hermione admitted, "We got really close really fast, and then we realized we barely knew each other. But we are friends. And it isn't like he's my only friend either."

"Well that's good." said her mother.

"As for the pajamas specifically, I got them because they would be the most useful. He spends most of his day wearing his school robes, which he had fitted for him. So the only clothes he really needs are something to sleep in."

"It's unfortunate that his family has so little money, though I thought you said he had some from his parents," said her mother.

Hermione nearly growled, "They aren't poor, they make plenty of money. They just don't spend any of it on Harry. His uncle thinks magicals are abominations, and his aunt is still jealous that her sister could use magic and she couldn't."

Hermione shook her head to clear it. Getting enraged would help no one. "Let me be clear," she said, "Harry's aunt and uncle aren't cheap, they are abusive. They made him sleep in a cupboard. They tried to stop him from going to Hogwarts. They hate him and what he is, what I am. Harry hadn't even been hugged since his parents died until I…" Hermione trailed off as she realized she was on the verge of tears.

Her mother noticed though. "Oh that poor boy!" she said as she wrapped Hermione up in a full hug, "I didn't know it was so bad. I am so sorry."

"Thanks," said Hermione, trying to suppress a sniffle.

"It's clear that you want to help your friend. But you realize you can't replace his family for him all by yourself, right?" her mother asked.

"I know that," said Hermione sadly, "But I can at least let him know someone cares about him. And now that Blaise and Daphne and Tracey are our friends they've been helping out too."

Her mother ruffled her hair, "You're right, you can do that, and the more people helping the better."

Hermione realized that the danger seemed to have passed. "Listen, I am not going to pretend with you mum. I really like Harry. We're very good friends. And we are likely to get closer. But I am not trying to get ahead of myself here. We are just friends."

"That's reassuring," said her mother.

Her mother ruffled her hair as she got up and left. As soon as her mother left, Hermione exhaled in relief. That had nearly gone very badly. Still with her mother's concerns mollified she hoped this would buy her some cover for a while.

XXXXX

Helen Granger was not exactly looking forward to her conversation with her husband. Robert was in most ways a reasonable man, but he was quite protective of his daughter. And despite her protestations it was clear that Hermione was very infatuated with one Harry Potter. As far as she was concerned, that was fine, especially given the level head Hermione seemed to have about it. Hermione wasn't trying to push a relationship, she just wanted to be his friend. But Robert was not taking the idea of his daughter actually dating a boy well at all.

"So how did it go?" he asked as she came into their room.

"Well," Helen said lightly, "We were right about it being difficult to pull her from school. Practically impossible is more like it. It turns out that we have basically no say in the matter. If we convinced Hermione, maybe we could pull it off, but she is determined to stick it out, so legally we don't have a leg to stand on."

"We're her parents," said Robert angrily.

"Doesn't matter, and if what she told me about Harry's aunt and uncle is true, it might be for the best. They are are almost certainly abusing that boy. If they had their way he'd be living the life of a slave, and he _wouldn't_ be at Hogwarts."

Robert's face softened. "That bad?"

Helen sighed, "I suspect it's worse. Hermione… well she tries to mother that boy, but in truth he needs to be removed from their custody. But I have a feeling that would be easier said than done."

Robert shook his head. "So Hermione and him aren't…"

"She says they are just friends," emphasized Helen, "While Hermione clearly has a crush on him, she doesn't feel ready for anything other than a close friendship."

Robert grunted.

"Robert, she has the right to choose her friends. In a couple years, yes she might decide she wants more from their friendship. Right now it isn't an issue, but if you keep making it one she isn't going to pay any attention to us when it becomes one for real."

"I'd just pull her out of that school if I could," Robert said sourly.

"She'd never forgive us, even if it were possible," said Helen.

Robert nodded reluctantly.

"Robert, you thought the idea of Hermione and Harry was funny when they first met. Why the sudden change of heart?" Helen asked.

"I was just joking around before. After all that Hermione said it seemed a lot more, well, real," Robert shook his head, "I guess I can't control how she feels."

Helen sighed with relief. This would keep things calm for a while. But she thought back to her conversation with Hermione. She had definitely been hiding something, and Helen had a feeling that there would be a storm when it came to light.

** Author's Note:  **This chapter and the next were originally one chapter in my first outline. It kind of spiraled out of my control for a bit there actually. The only significant change is that originally Dumbledore didn't tell Harry who Flamel was, instead Daphne was going to learn it from her father. The problem with that plot is obvious: if Mr. Greengrass found out the Philosopher's stone was at Hogwarts he'd make a stink about it until it was moved. Which is why in the final version Dumbledore tells Harry, to prevent exactly that from happening.

And Ginny is back. That scene was written solely so people wouldn't forget she is supposed to be part of this story. It wasn't in any of my outlines, but I don't ever recall not planning to put in that scene. The reference to the title of this story in the prophecy was developed as I wrote it though. Which is good, as otherwise there would not have been any explanation of the title until the very last chapter.


	6. A New Year, A New Problem

**Chapter 6: A New Year, A New Problem**

**December 31st, 1991.**

Daphne was having a decidedly bad night. She was at the annual New Year's Eve gala, hosted this year by her father. She hated hobnobbing with the wealthy families of Magical Britain. Too many were pureblood supremacists, and too many had designs that she was skeptical of. Things were worse this year, of course, because Blaise wasn't there. Without him there she had spent most of her time with Neville Longbottom and Ernie Macmillan. Neville was a decent guy, but Ernie had a tendency to get under her skin. Avoiding Draco and Pansy was her main objective though. Draco because he was just absolutely loathsome, and Pansy because she wasn't sure Pansy didn't blame her for her brother's death. It was a shame, she'd always gotten on with Pansy in the past, but that was probably over.

Of course avoiding Pansy was difficult, because it quickly became obvious Pansy was trying to talk to her. She kept approaching Daphne, and initially Daphne had avoided her by getting engrossed in other conversations. But when Pansy persisted, Daphne made her way to the edge of the room to look out the window. Pansy followed.

"I don't have much time, because my father will wonder why I am talking to you," said Pansy, "I just want to apologize for what my brother tried to do to you."

Several sarcastic comebacks sprung into Daphne's mind, but she shook them away. "Thank you. I'm sorry we weren't able to help him more."

"He shouldn't have been there. That was my fault," said Pansy, "I'm going to stay out of the fights between Potter and Draco now. I'd steer clear of Draco entirely, but my father won't have it."

Daphne nodded. Marriage contracts might be out of style, but that didn't mean that some parents didn't put enormous pressure on their daughters to woo the sons of wealthy wizards. And Draco's father was as wealthy as they came.

"Good luck Pansy," said Daphne agreeably.

Pansy nodded and walked off.

Daphne looked out at the snowy landscape. If only she'd thought to pretend to be sick earlier, she could have begged off early. She sighed, and turned around, only to be confronted by the whole Malfoy clan, Lucius, Narcissa and Draco, plus Madame Zabini.

"Hello there," Daphne said, putting on her fakest smile, "We're so happy you could be here tonight."

"Oh these events are always illuminating," said Lucius suggestively. Inwardly Daphne groaned. She was about to be pumped for information. She looked desperately for Neville or Ernie, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"How has my son been doing?" asked Madame Zabini acidly, "He hasn't seen fit to talk to me about it."

Daphne winced, "He's all right. I think he feels that now that he is in school he can express his… individuality more. I fear he may have taken it too far."

Madame Zabini glared at Daphne for a moment then shook her head. "I know he didn't tell you about not speaking to me about his arrangements. I'm quite cross with him right now."

"I do think it's good that he stayed to keep Harry company though," said Daphne, "Harry doesn't like his muggle relatives, so there was no way he'd be going back home for the holidays."

"Potter doesn't like muggles?" asked Lucius, suddenly very curious.

Daphne smiled, as she suddenly saw a way to make this conversation interesting. "Oh he likes muggles fine, just not his aunt's family. They're pretty horrible, by any standard. His best friend is a muggleborn though, Hermione Granger. I'm sure Draco has told you all about her."

"Indeed," said Narcissa icily. Daphne wasn't sure whether that ice was directed at her or Draco.

"Well she's absolutely the best student in our year," said Daphne teasingly, "She's been helping tutor all of her friends. I'm sure she'd be willing to help Draco, or would have been if he hadn't introduced himself to her by assaulting her." Madame Zabini glared at Draco.

"You think you are so clever Greengrass, but I know things that could cause Potter trouble," Draco said angrily. This was actually worrying to Daphne as revealing Harry and Hermione's living situation could, in fact, hurt them both badly.

Draco opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He closed his mouth confused then opened it again. Still nothing.

"What's your game Greengrass?" he demanded.

"Like I know how to stop you from talking," Daphne said flippantly, "If I did, I'd certainly use that ability more often."

And then she realized what had happened. There was a compulsion, probably part of the protections that protected their rooms, that prevented them from talking about Slytherin house's unique rooming system out of turn. Which would explain why no one had blabbed about Harry and Hermione yet, and would also explain why the rooming situation wasn't common knowledge. Which meant…

Daphne began to laugh. "Oh Merlin, I just realized what's happening. That stupid enchantment is preventing you from talking and spilling the beans on the entirety of Slytherin House. You're lucky Salazar Slytherin is smarter than you Draco."

"Was, Slytherin is dead," Draco said annoyed.

"I stand by my statement," said Daphne as she nodded at Narcissa Malfoy and Madame Zabini and left. She was going to get in trouble for that, but Merlin it was satisfying! Better yet, she now knew Draco couldn't rat out her friends. She found Neville again, who was apparently trying to hide from his Gran. However it wasn't long before she heard a sharp voice behind her.

"Daphne!" said her mother quite severely.

"Yes mother," Daphne said meekly.

"I just had a conversation with Narcissa Malfoy. You have some explaining to do," said her mother as she pointed towards the door that led to the kitchen.

"Worth it," she said with a smile. Her mother almost managed to hide her smile. Almost.

XXXXX

"What was that about?" asked Theodore Nott Sr, as his son watched Daphne Greengrass walk away from the Malfoys. Madame Zabini was giving Draco an absolutely venomous glare. Clarise Zabini might be a Death Eater sympathizer, but she had very little use for men who were abusive towards women.

Theodore Nott Jr., who had very much enjoyed watching Malfoy get put in his place, just shook his head. "The Malfoys should have left Daphne alone. Draco got in a lot of trouble during first term, and some of what he did never did come to light. I knew he made some threats to Hermione on her first night at Hogwarts, but I'm not sure exactly what he did. Daphne makes it seem like a lot more than threats."

"All that fuss over a muggleborn?" asked Nott Sr.

Nott Jr. gave an exasperated sigh, "Draco is very good at making enemies father. Even I am starting to dislike him. Potter and Granger have just given people a way to express that."

Sr. nodded, letting Nott sigh in relief. His father was too old fashioned. As much as Nott thought that purebloods were superior to mudbloods, treating them like insects just wouldn't fly anymore. He even felt sorry for what was about to happen to Daphne.

XXXXX

"Lucius Malfoy is one of my most important political allies!" shouted Bryant Greengrass. Daphne had known he was going to be angry, but this was a bit much. She'd gone through the kitchen to the back way into his private study and waited for him there. He had not been long.

"Well then he should act like it, instead of needling me for information," said Daphne calmly.

"He didn't even get a chance to ask you anything," her father accused.

"He was going to," said Daphne incredulously, "Please do not make the mistake of thinking I'm naive."

"And what is this slander about Draco Malfoy assaulting Hermione Granger?" yelled her father, undeterred by her deflections.

"It isn't slander, it's just something that very few people know. Draco dragged her from her room and threw her into the showers half-naked. I knew Draco was causing trouble, but I didn't know exactly what he'd done until after I became friends with Hermione. If I had known, I would have turned on Malfoy ages before I did." Daphne still felt guilty about that. If she had swapped rooms to be with Hermione, the entire power struggle could have been avoided.

"Are you sure that things actually happened that way?" asked her father.

Daphne narrowed her eyes angrily. "Yes," she said flatly. Her father seemed to realize that this was dangerous ground.

"Daphne, I know you dislike the Malfoys. I dislike them personally as well. But I need their support in the Wizengamot. We…"

"Don't lump me in with you politically," interrupted Daphne caustically, "Just because you made a deal with the devil doesn't mean I have to be fine with that."

Her father's eyes flared, "Do you have any idea of the sacrifices I have made to protect our family?"

Daphne snorted, "Your 'sacrifices' seem to have involved other people making most of the sacrifices. Look, it's clear that we don't see eye to eye on this. I'm heading to my room, you can tell me my punishment after the party," She got up to leave.

"Daphne," said her father angrily, "When will you apologize to the Malfoys?"

Daphne stopped, and turned her head to look at her father, "When Hell freezes over. I'm not apologizing to a man who thinks one of my friends shouldn't _be allowed to live!_"

And she stormed out.

XXXXX

**January 1st, 1992**

Hogwarts was a very different place at night, thought Harry as he wandered the halls. It was darker, more foreboding. The magic that seemed so whimsical in the daytime took on a fearsome presence at night. Perhaps there was more to observing curfew here than Harry had originally thought. Perhaps, in some ways, the school was dangerous. Yet part of Harry rejected that. Part of him said it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He hoped it was so.

Harry had taken to wandering the school in his invisibility cloak. In truth, he had wanted to do this for ages, but was worried about getting caught. Now that he had the means to go undetected, he could explore at his leisure. There was a certain thrill to the whole thing. _Maybe Blaise is right, I do belong in Gryffindor, _thought Harry. Blaise wasn't above flouting the rules, but he would rarely do so for no reason.

What he didn't expect was to run into a confrontation between Snape and Quirrell. The sight of the back of Quirrell's turban set Harry's scar alight with pain. Quirrell turned, but didn't seem to see him.

"There's nothing there," said Snape contemptuously, as he looked straight through the spot where Harry was standing, "You won't get out of this so easily."

"I-i-i-i-i don't know what you m-m-m-ean Severus-s-s," said Quirrell nervously.

"Please," said Snape, "We both know why you are here, and what you are doing, and who you are doing it for."

Quirrell shook his head desperately.

Snape sighed exasperatedly, "I am not your enemy Quirrell. We both want the same thing! But I cannot help you if you won't tell me how far you have managed to penetrate Dumbledore's little gauntlet."

Harry was doing his very best not to breathe. Had Snape betrayed the school? Or was he trying to fool Quirrell? But that wouldn't work unless…

Harry gasped. Snape had been a Death Eater.

Snape's head snapped back to Harry's location. Harry quietly stepped back as Snape reached out to grab where Harry had just been. Harry continued to back away towards a nearby classroom.

Snape snapped his head back towards Quirrell. "We will continue this later. I want the return of our master as well Quirrell, and you had better remember that." And with that he turned and left.

Quirrell stood still for a moment, waiting until Snape was out of earshot, then looked around, as if scanning the shadows. "Where are you Potter," he whispered, almost too soft for Harry to hear.

Harry slipped into the classroom.

The pain in his scar subsided, and soon he heard Quirrell walking away. Harry sagged in relief. Maybe this had been a bad idea. Turning he took a look at the room he was standing in.

Set against one wall of the room sat a large ornate mirror that extended almost to the ceiling. Near the top was an inscription: _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._ It took Harry a moment to interpret that, but then shook his head as it became obvious. _I show not your face but your heart's desire. _Harry dropped the invisibility cloak on a hunch, putting himself squarely in front of the mirror.

In the mirror, he saw himself, but he wasn't alone. Behind him were two adults. _My parents_, realized Harry. Next to him was Hermione but also Blaise and Daphne and Tracey, and further out he saw Ron and Justin and so many others he couldn't recognize.

Harry closed his eyes sadly. "It isn't possible." Opening his eyes he saw Hermione in the mirror had taken his hand. Harry wondered idly what Hermione might see if she looked in the mirror.

Harry grinned. He'd just have to bring her here when she got back.

XXXXX

**January 5th, 1992**

Hermione was more than ready to get back to school. Her parents had lightened up considerably after her conversation with her mother, but she was quite worried about the turn those conversations had taken. Still, she was excited to show her parents the Hogwarts express. They were duly impressed by the hidden Platform 9 and 3/4. Still she thought that there was also some disappointment from them that it wasn't more.

Tracey was waiting for her. "Hey Hermione! Good to see you again!" she said happily.

"Mum, Dad, this is Tracey. Tracey, my parents," introduced Hermione.

"Hermione has told us a lot about you," said Hermione's mother.

"I'm surprised she stopped talking about Harry long enough to mention us," said Tracey jokingly.

Hermione's father scowled, and Hermione covered her eyes exasperatedly. "Tracey!" she admonished.

"Did I just step on another landmine?" asked Tracey, "Cause I caused a huge fuss between Daphne and her parents."

"Oh?" asked Hermione's mother.

"Daphne was rather rude to the Malfoy family on New Years Eve, and it has caused a bit of friction between her father and her," explained Tracey. She pointed towards the side of the platform. They could see Daphne and her father in animated discussion, but nothing could be heard. Some sort of silencing charm Hermione guessed.

"I was meaning to thank him for these bracelets," said Hermione's mother.

"Ummm, I'd hold off till summer if I were you," said Tracey a bit shamefacedly, "Part of what is going on is that Daphne stood up for Hermione to the Malfoys and… well I'm just not sure Mr. Greengrass wants to see you right now."

"Is this some of that wizard bigotry Hermione was talking about?" asked Hermione's father.

Tracey nodded sadly. "I'm afraid so."

Hermione said her goodbyes to her parents, and made her way onto the train with Tracey. She found a compartment that was empty. A few minutes later Daphne stormed in.

"I'm sorry…" started Tracey.

"It wasn't your fault. You had no way of knowing," said Daphne dismissing the whole incident with a wave of her hand. "Still my father, in his infinite wisdom, expects me to apologize to Malfoy."

"I'd rather drink poison," said Hermione angrily.

Daphne smiled. "I have no intention of doing it, but I would like to not get in trouble. When Malfoy comes in, back me up."

Both Hermione and Tracey agreed quickly.

It wasn't long before Malfoy came blundering in with Crabbe and Goyle in tow. Surprisingly, Nott was with him as well.

"Do you have something to say to me Greengrass?" said a sneering Malfoy.

"Yes," said Daphne as Hermione and Tracey both stood behind her, "I have two options for you. One, you walk out of here and tell your parents that I apologized to you, despite the fact that I have not and will not ever apologize to you for anything. We go our separate ways, trying to ignore each other as much as possible."

"Not likely," said Malfoy arrogantly, "What's the other option?"

"You tell your parents the truth, I get in trouble, and you spend the rest of your time at Hogwarts being the number one target of the Gryffindors. Starting with the Weasley twins."

Malfoy paused. "You can call off the Weasleys?"

Daphne nodded. "Harry can, though all bets are off if you draw attention to yourself again. We can't _order_ the Weasleys around."

Draco considered for a moment. "Fine, deal. Stay out of my way Greengrass," and without another word Draco left, Crabbe and Goyle following behind him with confused looks on their faces.

Nott bowed elaborately as the girls turned to face him. "Well done Daphne."

"You aren't going to snitch on us?" asked Hermione suspiciously.

"Oh Merlin, no. Believe it or not, I hate Malfoy almost as much as you do. He's an embarrassment," said Nott, seemingly sincerely.

"Good," said Daphne.

With a nod of his head, Nott left the compartment.

Hermione relaxed into her seat. That had gone well. Hopefully things would go better at school than they had on holiday.

XXXXX

"Well, that's pretty terrible," Harry noted as Daphne finished her story at dinner.

Daphne nodded. "I'm going to have to do something to keep my father from causing me trouble. I am NOT going to just let Malfoy get away with things because my father is trying to stay on good terms with Lucius."

Harry thought about it. He doubted there was much she could do about it really. But maybe she had more options than he thought.

"Anyway I will talk to the twins, they'll probably agree to lay off if they realize it might spare you some real trouble," said Harry.

"I'm more concerned with Hermione's parents," Blaise said thoughtfully. "Not in the short term, but in the long term they seem like they are going to have some serious problems."

"It's just parents afraid their daughter is growing up," said Tracey.

"And when they find out about my living situation?" asked Hermione, "They won't let it slide, and the older I am when they discover it, the worse it'll be."

"We could switch around next year," suggested Tracey.

Daphne shook her head, "That might allow Draco or someone else to talk about it. Right now the information is safe behind a compulsion, but any change could disrupt that."

"So I have to hope they don't find out until I come of age," said Hermione sadly.

"Oh!" Harry said suddenly, "There is something I want to show you later, if you aren't too tired."

"Really?" asked Hermione curiously, "What?"

Harry smiled, "It's a surprise, but I guarantee it'll be worth it."

Hermione shook her head.

"Well I'm more worried about Quirrell trying to steal the stone…" Hermione began.

The rest of dinner went quickly and Harry had to rush to catch the twins before they left the Great Hall. Strangely, when Ron saw him coming he sped up and exited the hall without saying a word.

"Is there something wrong?" a puzzled Harry asked the twins.

"Oh no," said Fred

"He just has a surprise he doesn't want to spoil," said George.

"Ron isn't very good at keeping secrets," said Fred, which Harry had to admit was quite true.

"Anyway, it was you I wanted to talk to," said Harry, "I'd appreciate it if you'd lay off Malfoy for a while. Daphne's father wanted her to apologize to him for something she said, but she refused. Anyway, Malfoy agreed to tell his parents she did if you guys stop tormenting him."

The Twins looked at each other then nodded.

"Truly a sad story! We'd be happy to help a damsel in distress," said George, trying to pose heroically, and managing to look more hapless than usual.

"But we'll need a new target," said Fred, "luckily one has just provided himself."

"Well good luck at going after Mr. Greengrass," said Harry, "You'll need it."

XXXXX

As Harry and Hermione navigated the halls of the school under the invisibility cloak, Hermione was nearly apoplectic.

"I can't believe you talked me into this Harry," Hermione whispered urgently. "If we get caught out after curfew we'll be in so much trouble."

"We have an invisibility cloak," Harry whispered back, "How will we get caught?"

"Invisibility cloaks are not impervious to magical detection!" said Hermione, barely remembering to whisper now.

"We're here," said Harry as he approached the classroom with the mirror in it.

Entering the room he brought them directly in front of the mirror.

"Harry, it's a mirror," said Hermione, her deadpan tone scarily neutral.

"A magic mirror," Harry said as he dropped the invisibility cloak.

Hermione gasped as she saw herself in the mirror. "What…" she stuttered.

Harry smiled, "When I look in the mirror, I see my family. But I bet it shows you something different."

"I see myself, but I'm older, and I'm a spellcrafter and the Minister for Magic!" said Hermione excitedly, "I've passed laws to protect muggleborns and others hurt by the pureblood supremacists. And I also see…" Hermione trailed off again, but even in the dark Harry could see her cheeks darken into a blush.

"Do you understand what the mirror shows Harry?" asked a familiar voice from behind them.

The two spun to see Headmaster Dumbledore standing there.

Hermione punched Harry in the shoulder, "I told you we'd get caught!"

Dumbledore smiled, a gesture that seemed more like a laugh than laughter somehow. "Do not be too hard on him. For some people, the allure of this mirror is too much to be ignored. I am surprised that he was able to resist coming back here until your return, to be honest."

Hermione subsided thoughtfully, while Harry thought on Dumbledore's question. Surely he wanted more than the obvious.

"The mirror shows you what you want," said Harry, "but not your immediate desires. It shows, well, your truest desires."

"Quite correct," said Dumbledore with something Harry might call pride in his voice, "Do you see the problem with that?"

"For someone like Hermione, there is no problem," said Harry, "She sees her goals and ambitions. The mirror will only push her to achieve them. But for someone like me…"

Harry looked Dumbledore squarely in the eye, "What I see is impossible, and dwelling on it as if it were real could destroy me. It shows what you want, not what you _need._"

"Very good Harry," said Dumbledore, "It takes a perceptive mind to understand the dangers of this mirror. It brings neither knowledge nor truth. That is why I will be moving the mirror to a new home. I must ask that you not go looking for it Harry," Dumbledore said as he gave Harry a significant look.

"Yes sir," Harry said as he picked up his cloak.

"Very well, please return to your house," said Dumbledore pleasantly.

Harry nodded, and grabbed Hermione by the hand and pulled her out of the classroom. He threw the cloak over them just in case another teacher spotted them.

"I'm sorry," said Harry, "I just…"

"No," interrupted Hermione, "Dumbledore was right. If you saw your parents… well I understand why you'd want to show me right away. And maybe the mirror had more influence over you than you had realized."

Harry smiled, "So, about what you saw that you didn't tell me about…" he started.

"None of your business," said Hermione abruptly.

Harry stopped for a moment. Could she have seen him in her vision?

"When I said that I saw my family," Harry started saying slowly, "I didn't just mean my parents. I meant the people who I have come to see as family." To drive the point home, he squeezed her hand.

Hermione remained quiet. She stayed that way the rest of the way back to the common room.

When they reached their room, Hermione continued to hold onto Harry's hand for a moment. Turning to look her in the eyes he saw a warmth there that he had never really seen before.

"I see you as family too," Hermione said. And she kissed him on the cheek.

"Now we have to get to bed, we have classes tomorrow," said Hermione as she walked to her bed.

"Oh wait, I have classwork to finish!" said Harry with a mischievous grin.

"Harry!" yelled Hermione as she threw a pillow at him.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he said as he threw it back.

She just shook her head.

XXXXX

**January 6th, 1992**

The next morning Harry woke to find Hermione examining his invisibility cloak on her desk.

"Mornin'," he said sleepily, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out how Dumbledore knew we would be there last night," said Hermione, "There was a tracking charm of some sort on your cloak."

"Huh, I guess Dumbledore was the mysterious person who gave it to me then," said Harry.

"It was barely attached to the inside of the cloak," said Hermione, "I wasn't able to dispel it actually, I just knocked it off."

"Huh?" asked Harry, not certain where this was heading.

"Most invisibility cloaks are just permanent Disillusionment Charms cast on a specially prepared cloak, they don't protect from other magical detection methods," explained Hermione, "This one reflected every magical detection spell I know right back at me. Also most invisibility cloaks have a lifespan of a few years, tops. This one was owned by your father."

Hermione shook her head, "This is a very powerful magical artifact, at some point we'll have to look into it."

"But without the tracking no one will be able to find me now right?" asked Harry.

"Unless you open your big, dumb mouth," Hermione said with a grin.

Harry laughed. "So much for that idea."

XXXXX

School went quickly this term, and while there was more work, it seemed like less as Harry spent more time with his friends. Ron was still avoiding him for some reason, but Justin seemed to have loads of free time to spare, which was often used studying Herbology. While Harry had originally paired with Hermione in Herbology, somehow she had come under the impression that Harry was doing fine in that subject and had decided to help Susan Bones instead. So Harry now paired with Justin, and to Harry's surprise Justin was quite skilled in the subject. Of course they didn't just do herbology, but spent a lot of time playing muggle card games that no one else seemed to know.

Harry was also spending a lot of time with Blaise and Tracey in the Flying club. All three of them were determined to try out for the Slytherin house team next year, so they may have been a bit too serious about it all. Still it was time flying with his friends, which Harry loved. Hermione of course was often off studying with her Ravenclaw friends, but she still found time to spend time with Harry as well. Often it was in study sessions for school, but they also continued to learn how to defend themselves. Occasionally Daphne would join them, but she mostly studied with Blaise and Tracey.

Harry was noticing a pattern there. "Daphne seems to be trying to avoid being alone with me," he told Hermione one day as they were studying.

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. "She probably has a crush on you,"

"What?" exclaimed a suddenly nervous Harry.

"Well you _did_ save her life," said Hermione, "it would only stand to reason."

After a bit of thinking on the matter he decided Hermione was probably right. Not that he thought that Daphne was seriously going after him. She seemed to be embarrassed by the way she felt more than anything.

On the more serious front, Quirrell hadn't done anything more to arouse suspicion, at least as far as Harry could see. Meanwhile McGonagall and Flitwick had made no more progress into the mystery of Harry's sorting, though Harry now thought it was obvious that Quirrell was behind it.

And so things began to progress until the most important day of the year. The Gryffindor/ Slytherin Quidditch match.

XXXXX

**February 15th, 1992**

The stands were crowded on the day of the match. The Gryffindor/Slytherin match was always a grudge match, and everyone always had a favourite. Some people rooted for Gryffindor because of Slytherin's unsavory reputation, while others rooted for Slytherin because of the Gryffindor students' arrogance. Whatever the reasons, everyone was rooting for someone, and the stands were packed. Luckily Tracey, Harry and Blaise had arrived two hours early to reserve their seats.

When Hermione and Daphne arrived the stands were already nearly packed. "Lucky we saved you seats," said Harry to Hermione.

"Yeah, lucky," said Hermione sarcastically. Harry stuck his tongue out at her.

Suddenly Lee Jordan was announcing the beginning of the match. Harry liked Lee, but he couldn't help but notice how nakedly partisan he was at announcing the matches.

"Hey," said Blaise, "Croft is over there in the Gryffindor stands. Who's playing seeker?"

Their question was answered when Lee's voice boomed out, "And playing seeker, RON WEASLEY!"

Ron flew out onto the field looking a little unsure of himself.

"You have got to be kidding me," said Tracey.

Harry shook his head, "There's something else behind this, Ron isn't a seeker."

Harry paused for a moment. "Though I think this might explain why he wasn't talking to me," he noted.

Tracey nodded, then reached into her robes. "Sorry I have something to do," she said as she pulled out a trumpet.

"A trumpet," said Hermione deadpan.

Tracey smiled, which caused Hermione to frown, but everyone else to grin like idiots.

"Oh boy," said Daphne shaking her head.

Lee started announcing the Slytherin players, but after each one Tracey interrupted him with a fanfare from her trumpet. Lee, to his credit, immediately started pausing after each introduction. The Weasley twins had begun mock saluting each fanfare. When Lee announced Cuthbert, Tracey played the most elaborate fanfare yet.

"Everyone is staring at us," said Hermione between gritted teeth.

"You will be putting the trumpet away now, yes Ms. Davis?" asked the very familiar voice of Professor Snape, who had somehow appeared effortlessly right below them.

"Ummm, yes sir," said Tracey as she put the trumpet in her robes again.

"A good choice," said Snape blandly, though Harry thought he might have seen a hint of a smile coming from the greasy man as he left.

"You were going to play it at every Slytherin goal, weren't you?" teased Blaise, to which Tracey just beamed at him.

Harry laughed, "I didn't know you played the trumpet Tracey."

Tracey winced slightly. "I'm pretty bad, but I can play loud."

Suddenly they saw Madam Hooch releasing the Bludgers and the Snitch. She threw up the Quaffle and the game was on.

From right away it was clear that Gryffindor had a huge advantage. Offensively and defensively they had the Slytherins outmatched, and from watching the first match they knew to stay out of foul range of the Slytherins as much as possible. The points were soon racking up against Slytherin. The one bright spot seemed to be Higgs, the Slytherin seeker. He was much more active in hunting for the snitch than Ron was. But Harry quickly saw through that. Ron wasn't hunting the snitch. He was just following Higgs.

And suddenly Harry realized why they were playing Ron at seeker. He was a Quidditch fanatic who knew who to read a Quidditch pitch. Maybe not perfectly, but he knew how to follow the flow of the game. Which he was doing in order to keep Higgs from getting the snitch.

"They're using Ron like a third bludger," he said.

"It's their only hope really, without a seeker," agreed Tracey.

Eventually Ron's luck had to run out, yet it did so in a fortuitous way for him. Harry spotted the snitch, and mere seconds later it became obvious that Ron had as well. And Higgs hadn't. Quickly Harry did the mental calculations. Ron was closer to the snitch than he was to Higgs. Higgs had a faster broom. If Ron gave chase to the snitch Higgs would probably see it. Higgs would have the advantage if he saw Ron moving towards the snitch right away. Suddenly, Higgs began to turn towards the snitch, not able to see it yet. And Ron went.

Higgs reacted quickly, and for a moment Harry thought he had it in the bag. But Ron began to drift slightly into Higgs' path. And then Higgs veered into Ron. Just like he had with Cho.

"Nooo!" shouted Harry, causing most of the Slytherins to look at Harry oddly. But then they saw how easily Ron recovered as he took position above and behind Higgs. And as Ron came down on the back of his broom the Slytherin stands gave a groan. Higgs flipped away, and Ron began to close on the snitch. Reaching he grabbed it, though not without nearly falling off his broom. Hanging from his broom with one hand and with the snitch in the other, Ron pumped his free fist in victory.

"GRYFFINDOR WINS!" shouted Lee.

"THE EXACT SAME WAY?!" shouted Tracey disconsolately.

"Higgs has all the situational awareness of a blind elephant," said Blaise.

Harry quickly made his way down to the edge of the stands. Fred and George had helped Ron back onto his broom, and he was now flying a victory lap.

"Hey Ron!" shouted Harry as Ron passed. Ron stopped suspiciously.

Harry smiled. "Nice catch!" he yelled.

"Don't get used to beating us Weasley!" shouted Tracey, "You just wait till I'm on the team!"

Ron grinned, and flew off to celebrate with his teammates.

XXXXX

**March 7th, 1992**

The Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff match wasn't so exciting. While some bad defensive play by Ravenclaw had led to Hufflepuff taking an early 50 point lead, the Ravenclaws soon settled in, leading to an excruciating hour and a half of low scoring play where Hufflepuff's defense stopped Ravenclaw's offense, and Hufflepuff's offense stopped itself. Suddenly Cedric lunged for the snitch, but Cho, who'd been following him all game, turned into him tightly and snatched the snitch right from under his grasp.

"So we're at Ravenclaw 290, Gryffindor 210, Hufflepuff -60 and Slytherin at," Hermione paused as she grimaced, "-440."

"Ouch," said Tracey.

"If Ravenclaw wins the last game they win the cup," noted Blaise, "but if Gryffindor wins by 50 or more they win the cup."

"I'm almost wanting to root for Gryffindor, see the upstarts win and all," said Harry.

"Traitor!" shouted Tracey as she slugged Harry's shoulder.

XXXXX

**April 11, 1992**

Hermione had to admit, studying so far ahead did have its disadvantages. On most days Professor McGonagall would have some extra challenge for her after she demonstrated her competence at a basic Transfiguration. But today McGonagall had said it was too dangerous as most of the other transfigurations involving beetles were well above Hermione's level. So she had to sit watching most of her other classmates fail at something she had done her first try. Harry had done it on his third try of course, and Blaise and Daphne had each succeeded on their fifth tries. Tracey was still trying, but she was abysmal at Transfiguration.

Absentmindedly, Hermione looked out the window at the grounds. She could see the Quidditch pitch, a giant willow tree, a pillar of smoke coming from the direction of Hagrid's hut, a small dragon running across the grounds…

Wait, what? "There's a dragon outside!" Hermione shouted suddenly.

The other students were suddenly all staring at her like she was crazy.

"Miss Granger, there is no dragon outside," said McGonagall disapprovingly.

"Look!" she said, pointing out the window. She saw Hagrid come running after the Dragon, faintly shouting something that sounded like "Norbert."

"Now really Miss Granger…" said McGonagall as she approached the window and looked out. And she stopped. "Merlin's Beard, a dragon!"

"Class dismissed!" she yelled as she ran out the door at top speed.

Everyone was, of course, at the windows immediately.

XXXXX

**April 13th, 1992**

Contrary to everyone's expectations, the dragon hadn't burned down Hagrid's hut, but instead set fire to his woodpile. Still, within hours Ministry officials had arrived to deal with "a rampaging dragon." However they found nothing. No one had any idea how Dumbledore had relocated the dragon so quickly. Hagrid seemed to be a bit chastened though. When asked about the dragon, Hagrid only told Harry that he'd won him in a card game at the pub, and that he'd "always wanted a dragon."

A couple nights later Harry awoke in the middle of the night screaming. His scar was on fire, far worse than it ever had been before. Hermione was at his side in a moment.

"Harry, what's wrong?" she asked, her eyes wide with fear.

"My scar. It was worse than ever," admitted Harry.

"You have to go to Dumbledore," she said, and he knew she was right.

But the next day, when he went to Dumbledore, the Headmaster sighed.

"Last night, Hagrid found a dead unicorn in the forest," said Dumbledore, "Drained of its blood."

Harry thought for a moment. Unicorn blood had restorative properties, but no one actually used it because of how horrible a crime killing a unicorn was. For a moment he wondered what this had to do with him.

Harry gasped, "Voldemort is here."

"I'm afraid so Harry," said Dumbledore.

From that day on, the headaches just got worse.

XXXXX

**May 9th, 1992**

The Slytherin/Hufflepuff match was, for all intents and purposes, a formality. Neither team had any chance of winning the Quidditch cup. But for the Slytherins it was their last chance to avoid an 0-3 season. And Harry had to admit, they were playing better than they had been, at least defensively. Unfortunately, the Hufflepuff defense was just as good.

Twenty minutes in Higgs was looking for the snitch, and he saw Cedric lunging for him from across the pitch. He turned his head. And noticed the snitch just feet away from him. Desperately Higgs turned and reached for the snitch, plucking it out of the air mere moments before Cedric got there.

Harry let out a long breath. "That was nearly bad," he said, "A second later and it would have been Cedric's."

"I think Higgs will be out next year," said Blaise.

"Maybe Harry can try out for seeker," said Tracey, "Well, you do seem to have the instincts."

"Maybe I will," said Harry.

"That's all I need," said Hermione glumly.

"It's all right Hermione, I'm still sane," said Daphne.

XXXXX

**June 4th, 1992**

As the school year finally moved towards its end, Harry noticed his headaches getting worse and worse. Still, with Hermione's help he was fairly confident in his ability to do well on his exams. "Sharing a room with you has to be good for something!" he'd said.

And in truth, he'd found them much easier than he had thought. Aside from History of Magic, which as far as Harry was concerned was class for free study or sleep, he found the exams relatively easy. Not that he thought he aced them, but he was fairly sure he would pull out A's or E's in most of them. The Defense exam had been a joke, but his scar had been positively on fire in that class. Still, he thought he'd done O work in that class.

And now, his exams complete, Harry was making his way to visit Hagrid with Hermione, Daphne, Blaise and Tracey. It was a beautiful day. When they reached Hagrid's hut, they saw him talking with Ron and Neville Longbottom.

"Harry!" shouted Hagrid excitedly, "I was telling Ron and Neville here about how I won Norbert."

Harry shook his head. Hagrid never did learn when to keep his mouth shut. He was surprised that the large man had managed it so long.

"So this feller says to me, 'I can't just give you a dragon egg, how do I know yer can take care of one?' And I tell him that after Fluffy, a dragon would be a piece of cake."

"Hagrid!" shouted Harry suddenly, "Tell me you didn't tell a stranger how to get by Fluffy."

"Well I…" Hagrid trailed off, "I may have told him yer have ter play music to get by him…"

Hagrid stopped, "I shouldn'a said that."

Harry looked at his fellow Slytherins, then Ron, then at Hermione specifically. "McGonagall. Now." he said. He burst out into a run, with the rest of his friends behind him.

They found her just outside her office. "I'm afraid if you are looking for your scores, you are still quite early," said McGonagall.

"Professor, Hagrid told a stranger at the pub how to get past Fluffy, my scar is on fire, and Voldemort is skulking around the school," Harry took a deep breath. "Quirrell is going to go after the stone soon, maybe even now. We have to warn Headmaster Dumbledore."

"I'm afraid that is impossible," said McGonagall with a shake of her head. "He was just called away on Wizengamot business."

Harry closed his eyes. But it was Hermione who spoke up. "No Professor, he was called away so Quirrell could steal the Philosopher's Stone."

McGonagall reached up and rubbed her forehead. "I fear you are right," she said.

** Author's Note:  **Forgive me for that Gryffindor Quidditch match, but I found the idea of Wood playing increasingly incompetent Seekers and getting increasingly better results too good to pass up. Just wait till you see who is seeker in the last match. But dammit, Wood is gonna win at least one Quidditch Cup!

This chapter is sort of a Frankenstein monster, where I took the end of the original planned chapter four and combined it with the beginning of what I had for the original outline of Chapter 5. Also the entire sequence with Daphne's party and her conflict with Bryant I came up with on the spot.

To Alyx33's question about office hours, McGonagall wouldn't have official office hours on Saturdays, but at the same time she is a Head of House and Deputy Headmistress. She's probably very used to students coming to see her at all sorts of strange times, especially first and second years who have never been away from their parents for this long before. And having all those extra roles would also mean that she probably has to work more on the weekends to catch up.

Also I have finished a full list of rewrites and additions I need to do in the later years. The list is surprisingly short, though two of the elements will require minor edits to multiple chapters.


	7. Obstacles

**Chapter 7: Obstacles**

**June 4th, 1992**

"Your task will be to keep attempting to contact the Headmaster," said McGonagall as she pulled several small vials out of one of her office drawers, "Under no circumstances are you to follow us up to the third floor. Quirrell alone would be a very dangerous opponent. If his master is with him…"

"Now Minerva, I'm sure they understand," said Flitwick chidingly.

"It is not understanding that I'm worried about," said McGonagall dryly.

"We're not going to follow you in, don't worry," said Harry. He idly wondered exactly how long he'd have to wait before going to the third floor would not qualify as following.

McGonagall gave him a suspicious look.

"Why didn't you ask Professor Snape to go with you?" asked Daphne.

McGonagall and Flitwick looked at each other. "There are reasons that he cannot openly fight Quirrell," said McGonagall.

"He wouldn't be able to spy on the Death Eaters if he did that," said Harry, one more mystery falling into place.

McGonagall scowled, "As you say, though it would not do to repeat that. Anywhere."

Harry nodded.

"Well wish us luck!" said Flitwick. And the two took off from McGonagall's office, leaving the students by the fire.

"Tracey, try to Floo the Ministry again, see if Dumbledore has arrived yet," said Harry.

Tracey nodded.

"Ron," started Harry, "We agreed not to follow McGonagall, but Fred and George didn't."

"You want them to go after them?" asked Ron incredulously.

Harry shook his head, "No, I just want them to keep a watch on the door."

"Oh, well I'm sure they'd be glad to help," said Ron as he ran to find his brothers.

"And now we wait," said Daphne, which prompted frustrated sighs from everyone else.

XXXXX

"Well the Ministry has closed," said Tracey, "And I think the receptionist there wants to strangle me."

"Where is he?" asked Harry angrily, "and why did he take a broom?"

"Maybe he turned back," said Blaise.

"More importantly where are Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick?" asked Hermione. "They've been gone for almost an hour."

"I'm going to the third floor," said Harry suddenly, "We're useless here."

"McGonagall said…" started Hermione.

"Not to follow her," Harry replied, "And we won't. We'll just wait for her to come out."

Daphne, Blaise and Tracey nodded, even though they all knew McGonagall's orders had been to not go to the third floor.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Fine, I bet McGonagall will even commend how we had admirable restraint from not charging the giant Cerberus."

"Ooooh I'll have to get something, just in case," said Tracey, "I'll meet you on the third floor."

Hermione watched as the girl ran out of the room, "She's getting her trumpet, isn't she?" she asked unhappily.

"Probably," admitted Daphne.

"How do I_ know_ that this is going to end with us going after the stone?" asked Hermione defeatedly.

XXXXX

"So how do you think McGonagall and Flitwick got past the dog?" Fred asked Harry. They'd been waiting outside the room with Fluffy for about 10 minutes.

"Flitwick is the sponsor for the school choir, I assume he sang," noted Daphne.

"Hmmm, well I think…" Blaise started when the door to the room burst open. Flitwick jumped out, bloodied and battered, with a levitating McGonagall coming out behind him, just barely ahead of three large snapping dog heads. She was unconscious.

"You-Know-Who… was definitely with him," said Flitwick, before he collapsed unconscious.

Harry shook his head. This was bad. Very bad.

"Ron," Harry said quickly, "Tell Madame Pomfrey we have injured here."

Ron nodded and set out toward the Infirmary at a sprint.

"Fred, George, can you get them to the Infirmary?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," said George.

"But what will you be doing?" asked Fred.

"We'll keep watch on the door," said Harry.

The twins looked sceptical, but then looking at McGonagall and Flitwick they shrugged, "Good Luck," they said in unison.

As soon as the twins were gone, Harry turned to his friends, "I'm going in. Alone."

"Like _hell_ you are," said Hermione.

"Did you think I would turn down a chance to piss off my mother," said Blaise, "I'm definitely in."

"I've never thumbed my nose in a Dark Lord's face, might be fun," said Daphne

"Well you need me to get past the dogs," said Tracey nonchalantly.

Hermione looked at them helplessly, "I meant...he shouldn't…" She sighed. "Oh all right, I guess I'm going with you."

"Tracey you're up," said Harry.

"Right!" she said pulling up her trumpet. Blaise waited for her and then at her nod he pulled open the door. Fluffy started snarling at her. Tracey immediately began playing one of the fanfares she had played at the Quidditch match.

"Um, Tracey, I don't think that's going to calm him." said Hermione a bit nervously.

"I don't think she knows any other songs by heart," said Daphne with a frown.

So Tracey did the only thing she could. She increased the volume. Fluffy started barking.

"It isn't working," said Harry.

And then Tracey took a step forward. And Fluffy took a step back.

"Or maybe it is," said Daphne incredulously.

Step by step Tracey walked into the room, pushing back Fluffy. Eventually she came to a trap door in the floor and stopped.

"Let's move!" said Harry. He and Blaise rushed into the room and opened the trap door. Daphne and Hermione ran in after and jumped down; into the hole. Harry nodded at Tracey. Finishing her fanfare with a flourish, she leapt down into the hole, with Harry and Blaise jumping after her.

They landed on something soft. Well softish. It was a plant.

"What is this?" asked Blaise.

Harry and Hermione recognized it instantly, "Devil's Snare!" they yelled, accidently in unison.

"Oh, Devil's Snare, I know how to deal with this!" said Daphne as she pulled out her wand, "_Incendio!"_

A massive fireball exploded from her wand burning the Devil's Snare almost instantly, but also setting fire to several other things, including Tracey and Harry's robes. Harry just threw his robes off, but Tracey dropped to the ground, rolling around until Hermione put out the fire with an "_Aguamenti!_"

"Why didn't you just throw off your robes?" asked Hermione.

"Some of us don't fancy walking around in our underwear," replied Tracey.

"Wait, you don't wear trousers or a skirt under your robes?" asked Harry baffled.

"Why would we?" asked Blaise.

Hermione and Harry looked at each other resignedly. It hadn't occurred to either of them to not wear something under their robes. "In case of situations like this obviously," said Hermione.

"I never thought of it like that," said Daphne.

"I guess the difference is that robes are just your normal clothes, but to us they're more of a costume," noted Hermione.

"This is ever so interesting, but maybe we should press on," said Harry, losing patience with the whole conversation.

Everyone nodded.

The next room was filled with what looked like many large moths or small birds. There was a door on the far side of the room. Blaise tried to open it but it was locked. The unlocking spell was similarly useless.

"How on earth are we going to get past this?" asked Daphne.

Tracey gasped, "Those flying things...they're keys!" Harry looked up and indeed realized they were keys. Harry also noticed a broom in the corner of the room.

Harry walked over and hopped on the broom, taking flight. "No fair!" shouted Tracey.

"To be fair, we'd be able to see up your robes if you were on the broom because you're just wearing underwear under your robes," noted Hermione.

"That's nothing, some older witches and wizards wear nothing at all underneath their robes," noted Blaise.

"You are definitely making my point for me," snapped Hermione.

"Hey! Stop talking about old naked people and help me figure out which key to grab," Harry shouted down at them.

"That one," said Daphne, pointing at a large old fashioned key, "Someone crushed one of its wings."

Harry flew over and grabbed the key. He flew down and put it into the lock. With a twist, it turned and the door unlocked.

"Good eye Daphne," said Harry.

"You definitely need to try out for Quidditch next year Harry," said Tracey, "Seeker, definitely seeker."

The next room held a giant chess set between them and the next door.

"Anyone know how to play chess?" asked Daphne

"I do, but I'm terrible," said Harry.

"I'm almost okay, my Mum says I overthink it too much," said Hermione.

"The one time we could use Ron Weasley," said Blaise disgusted, "Ah fuck it, let's blow our way across."

_"What!?"_ shouted Hermione.

"The Reductor," explained Blaise, "It probably won't disintegrate those giant chess pieces, but it should break them. And we all know it."

"This is a terrible idea," said Hermione.

"Do you have a better one?" asked Tracey. Hermione just shook her head.

"Okay, wands up," said Harry, and all of them lined up with their wands up, "Count of three. One...Two...THREE. _Reducto!"_

Five spells hit four white pawns plus the Queen. All five pieces broke down the middle and collapsed. The other pieces seemed to stir.

"Take out the dangerous pieces first!" shouted Hermione.

The next casting took out the rooks, bishops, and the king. The next casting took out the knights and three of the pawns. Blaise finished off the last pawn. All five of them were breathing heavily from the exertion.

"I imagine that would be difficult for a solitary wizard, or even a duo to do effectively," said Tracey, breathing much harder than the others.

"But it worked!" said Blaise happily, "Let's move on."

As they approached the door however they noted that it was still closed. And then they heard noises behind them. Turning around, they saw that the black pieces were coming to life.

_"THIS WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA!" _shouted Hermione angrily.

"_Reducto _on three," said Harry, "One, two, three, _Reducto!" _This time the Queen, King, both Rooks and a Bishop collapsed.

So did Tracey.

"This is too much for us!" shouted Daphne.

"Again!" shouted Harry, and four more spells took out the last bishop, both knights and a pawn. Daphne sunk to her knees, looking dazed. The remaining pawns were advancing.

"Again," said Harry more weakly, two more pawns broke and collapsed. Harry and Blaise had targeted the same pawn!

"Again," said Harry breathily, as the pawns continued to advance. Three pawns went down, but both Harry and Hermione went down as well.

Two pawns were left for Blaise, but he was clearly also at the end of his tether. One was advancing on Tracey, the other on Daphne.

_"Reducto!"_ he shouted, and the pawn attacking Daphne went down.

Harry tried to summon up some magic to use on the pawn advancing on Tracey, but there wasn't anything there yet. The pawn reached Tracey, and raised its weapon.

And Tracey lifted her wand and shouted, _"Reducto!"_

The pawn broke into several pieces, but one of them came down on top of Tracey, glancing off her shoulder, knocking her to the floor again.

The lock on the door made an audible click as it unlocked. The students all sat or lay on the floor for a moment, trying to recover their strength.

"That was a terrible idea," Hermione said finally.

XXXXX

After a few minutes Hermione was finally able to collect herself a bit. Of course it had all gone wrong. Eleven and twelve year old witches and wizards didn't have the stamina to be casting powerful spells like the Reductor repeatedly. Luckily their youth meant their magic came back quickly, as long as they hadn't completely overextended themselves. Which Daphne and Tracey pretty clearly had.

"Blaise," Hermione said, "Look after Tracey and Daphne. Harry and I will go on ahead."

"But..." Blaise started to object, but Harry cut him off.

"They're defenseless right now, and you are barely better," said Harry, "You'll be useless against Quirrell, but you might be able to find a safe place to hide them."

Blaise nodded helplessly. "How are you so much better off than us?" he asked.

"It's the trousers," said Harry dryly.

Blaise gave a mirthless laugh.

Hermione shook her head. Maybe the joke had gone too far. "Actually, Harry and I have been practicing powerful magics like that. We're more used to it."

Blaise nodded. "Good luck, don't get killed, all right?"

"Right," said Harry as he and Hermione made their way into the next room.

To be greeted by a scene of absolute carnage.

Walls had been gouged by spells, and pillars had been shattered. Pieces of what had once been a mountain troll were scattered all over the room. Its head was in one corner, an arm in another. Its intestines had been nailed to a wall by another of its arms which was half transfigured into an iron spear.

Hermione fought an urge to vomit. "I think we found where Flitwick and McGonagall fought Quirrell."

Harry nodded, "At least there isn't another obstacle. Are you all right?"

Hermione nodded gratefully, "I'll be okay. What about you?"

Harry's eyes hardened. "I've seen worse."

Hermione nodded. "Let's move on."

The next room held a table with seven different shaped bottles on it. As Harry and Hermione approached the table, a wall of fire burst into existence behind them, while another blocked the way onward.

"How adorable," said Hermione, "I guess we have no choice but to play this little game." She picked up a roll of paper next to the bottles and started reading.

It was a long poem. Hermione grinned. Now this was her sort of challenge. "A logic puzzle, just a sec"

Quickly reasoning everything out she pointed to the smallest bottle. "That'll take us onward."

"There's only enough for one," said Harry.

Hermione grimaced. "Well you better take it then. I know better than to argue."

Harry hugged her, "I knew you'd understand." He started towards the fire, but then turned back. "You do know how to get back?"

"Of course," she said impatiently.

"Thanks for everything Hermione," said Harry as he drank the potion and walked through the flames.

Without hesitation Hermione unbuttoned her robes, then ran towards the fire. She threw her robes in front of her as she leapt through the fire, landing on her face in front of a startled Harry.

"That's why I wear jeans under my robes," said Hermione as she picked herself up.

"Hermione…" started Harry.

"There was no way I was letting you go on alone," Hermione said defiantly.

"Personally, I wear black leggings under my robes, but I usually don't get my robes damaged," said an unfamiliar, almost snakelike voice.

Hermione looked into the room. Quirrell was looking into a mirror. Not just any mirror, but the mirror of Erised. Somehow his turban had been knocked off. And on the back of his head was a face.

"Voldemort," said Harry.

Hermione gulped. This was bad.

XXXXX

Harry gritted his teeth with rage. The creature who was responsible for the deaths of his parents was right in front of him.

_"Reducto!" _he shouted, sending a spell towards that hideous face. With a casual wave of his wand, Quirrell deflected it. Suddenly Harry's wand fell from his hand, and he felt his arms stick to his sides as he was dragged right in front of the face on the back of Quirrell's skull. In front of Voldemort. Hermione had been similarly disarmed and dragged.

"Impressive," said Voldemort, "Futile, but impressive. Even if you had hit me in the face, all you would have accomplished would have been killing poor Quirinus here. You are quite incapable of killing me."

Harry noted that Quirrell seemed a bit annoyed at the reference to his expendability.

"Still, you tried to kill me, which is more than that fool Dumbledore would have done," continued Voldemort, "Indeed, you seem to have frustrated many of the dreams I'm sure he had for you. Killing a troll, accumulating a group of followers, even being sorted into Slytherin. His obvious frustrations have amused me to no end."

"Well, I'm glad to have amused somebody," said Harry.

"Now, now, no need to be bitter about it," chided Voldemort, "You've done remarkably well. As has Miss Granger here. You're both credits to Slytherin House. You've been blunter than most Slytherins would be, but considering the caliber of your opponents so far it is only to be expected."

"Well that's true," said Hermione, "Malfoy, Parkinson, and Flint weren't exactly titans of intellect."

"I will admit, before this year I would have wanted you both dead," said Voldemort with a chilling casualness, "Miss Granger on general principle of course, but you Harry… has Dumbledore even told you why I came to kill you on that Halloween?"

Harry's blood chilled. "No, he hasn't," he said, trying to keep his anger out of his voice.

Voldemort laughed. "I thought not. Why don't you join me? I can offer you power the likes of which you could only dream of. Your resourcefulness would prove a valuable asset when I finally take control of this country."

Hermione scoffed, "And why would you let a muggleborn like me live?"

"Why I would let you live because you are useful," said Voldemort honestly, "Obviously any restrictions wouldn't apply to my most loyal followers. Why would they? We, the conquerors of both this world and the next WOULD BE ABOVE ANY RULES!" Voldemort's voice had expanded into a horrible roar, that seemed to beat at the confines of Harry's mind.

Harry saw Hermione preparing to issue a retort, and decided to intervene. "Let's not be hasty Hermione, let's, uh, think about this."

Hermione nodded, clearly having caught the hint.

"I'm not certain about any of this mind you," lied Harry, "but it seems to me that you have a more immediate problem in that you can't find the Philosopher's Stone."

Voldemort's eyes flashed. "It is a momentary problem, the way will be revealed to me."

"With all due respect, I'm actually familiar with this mirror, and I'm pretty sure it won't appear for you no matter what," said Harry, "Remember Hermione, what you want, not what you need,"

Hermione nodded.

"What?" demanded Voldemort.

"Let me go and stand in front of the mirror, and I will try to get the stone to appear for me. You see I don't actually want to use the stone, so I won't see myself using it instead of seeing myself getting it."

Voldemort stopped for a second, seeming to consider. Then he looked Harry directly in the eyes. For a moment his scar burned as badly as it ever had. Then it stopped.

"Very clever Dumbledore, clever indeed," said Voldemort somewhat admiringly, "I have to admit it is an ingenious way of keeping the stone safe. I must also commend you Harry Potter, for being such a good liar. It is no wonder that the Sorting Hat decided to put you in Slytherin. But you must understand that _I_ can see right through you. You just want to be free. How disappointing."

Harry's heart sank. Not only had Voldemort seen through him, he had just accidentally revealed that Voldemort had not been behind Harry being sorted into Slytherin.

"Still, perhaps you still may be of use to me. Quirrell!"

Quirrell waved his wand again and Harry was in front of the mirror again. Harry noted that the bonds on his arms seemed gone.

"What do you see?" asked Voldemort.

Harry looked at the mirror. It was the same as before. "My family," he said honestly.

Voldemort smiled almost as if he was a proud father or mentor. It was really creepy.

"Of course Harry, because you'd have to be stupid to _want_ to get the stone while I'm in the room," said Voldemort, "Let's see if I can motivate you."

Quirrell spun around to face Hermione and waved his wand again. She flew towards him and stopped just in front of Quirrell, who grabbed her shoulder and put his wand against her temple. Voldemort was facing Harry again. Harry did notice that Hermione's arms had started moving again when Quirrell had summoned her.

"Find me the stone or she dies," said Voldemort.

"Okay, I'll try!" said Harry desperately, "Just give me a second,"

Harry looked in the mirror again. He saw himself, holding the stone. His reflection sadly winked at him, then placed the stone in his pocket. And Harry felt a weight enter his pocket. He breathed in sharply. He had one shot at this.

"Okay, I've got the stone," said Harry, pulling it out of his pocket and holding it out as if to drop it in Quirrell's hand, "Here you go."

"A wise decision Harry," said Voldemort as Quirrell extended his wand hand to receive the stone.

And then Harry lunged and grabbed Quirrell's wrist, turning his wand away from Hermione.

Voldemort and Quirrell both screamed in pain, and Harry understood why. He could feel Quirrell's skin burning under his touch. In his agony, Quirrell let go of Hermione, who began to sprint across the room for her wand.

"I cannot stand it master!" yelled Quirrell. Harry was unable to dodge the kick that Quirrell then directed at him. The force caused Harry to lose his grip on Quirrell's wrist. Quirrell took aim with his wand at Harry.

_"Expelliarmus!"_ shouted Hermione. Quirrell's wand flew out of his ruined hand and across the room into Hermione's.

Harry tried to come to grips with what had just happened. Why did his touch burn Quirrell? And then it snapped into focus. Whatever had allowed him to defeat Voldemort so many years ago as a baby was still working.

He walked up to Quirrell and grabbed his throat.

Quirrell's eyes bulged, and it was clear to Harry that he knew he was dead. When Harry removed his hand, Quirrell's throat was turning to ash. Quirrel collapsed, and suddenly a strange black cloud seemed to come out of his body.

"Well done Harry," he heard Voldemort somehow whisper, "But I'm not done."

But Harry was already in motion. Whatever Voldemort was now, he was clearly capable of possessing people. And there was only one other person in that room who wasn't immune to Voldemort. He stood squarely between Hermione and Voldemort's shade.

"You'll have to go through me!" Harry shouted.

"So be it!" said Voldemort, but he then suddenly recoiled and fled straight up.

Exactly as Albus Dumbledore strode into Harry's vision.

Harry let out a sigh of relief, and sank to his knees. Hermione ran over to him. It was over.

Seeing Voldemort in flight, the Headmaster turned to Harry.

"Are you all right, Harry?" the old man asked.

"Yeah," said Harry, "Though I was probably never in any real danger from him."

Harry grinned. "Here's the Philosopher's Stone though," he said as he handed it to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore nodded. "Thank you for keeping it safe."

"Are you all right Hermione?" asked Harry, worried.

"Thanks to you and your incredible stupidity, yes!" said Hermione, who seemed angry to the point of tears.

"I'm sorry I worried you," said Harry

Hermione shook her head, "If you're sorry, stop nearly getting yourself killed!"

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "You two both need to get to the hospital wing. Your friends are not far away. Come now, and we can talk about this after you have had a rest."

"Sounds good," said Harry as Hermione helped him to his feet. He realized he was a lot unsteadier on them than he had thought he would be. Hermione put his arm over her shoulder in order to give him some support. Dumbledore led the way as the left the Mirror of Erised behind.

XXXXX

**June 5th, 1992**

Harry woke the next morning in the hospital wing. He vaguely remember greeting Blaise and Daphne, though Tracey had still been very out of it. He also remembered being levitated out of the hole into Fluffy's room. He definitely remembered being greeted by an angry but relieved professor McGonagall when they had reached the hospital wing.

And then he had lain down and instantly fallen asleep.

"You're awake!" shouted Hermione, who was sitting by his bed. She immediately wrapped him up in crushing hug. "I'm sorry I was upset with you last night, I was just so scared!"

"Whoa, Hermione," said Harry, "I just woke up. I'm not upset with you."

"You seem to be no worse for the wear, Mr. Potter," said a kindly voice. Dumbledore.

"Good morning, sir," said Harry, "Sorry for the inconvenience last night."

"No, I daresay you saved the day," said Dumbledore, "Might I have a private word with you?"

"You can say whatever you need to say with Hermione here," said Harry. He now was fairly sure Voldemort had not arranged his sorting into Slytherin, which put Dumbledore right back at the top of that list. It would be best to have a witness, just in case.

"As you wish," said Dumbledore, who seemed slightly disappointed. "I just thought you might have some private questions for me."

Harry nodded. "Quirrell is dead?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Quite, but you mustn't blame yourself Harry. Quirrell was dead the moment Lord Voldemort possessed him."

That might be true, thought Harry, but I went for his throat. I intended for him to die, and he did.

"I assume that the reason Voldemort couldn't touch me is the same reason he couldn't kill me when I was a baby?" asked Harry inquisitively.

"Correct," said Dumbledore, "It was your mother's sacrifice. She died to protect you, an ultimate act of love. That is powerful magic Harry, possibly the most powerful there is. Voldemort, and the power he wielded, could not stand to touch something so pure. That protection still lives in your blood."

"That means Voldemort was coming for me, not them," said Harry, "Why?"

Dumbledore paused. "You are right, but I cannot tell you why. Not yet."

Harry's eyes narrowed.

"Believe me Harry, I want to tell you," pleaded Dumbledore, "But even Voldemort does not know the whole story behind what caused him to seek you out. Can you keep him out of your mind?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I can't."

"One day I will tell you, I promise," said Dumbledore. Harry didn't know whether to believe him or not.

"What happened to the stone?" asked Hermione.

"It has been destroyed. Nicolas agreed that it was time," said Dumbledore.

"I am sorry that your colleague is going to die," said Hermione, "But honestly, I think it is for the best. I think that sort of immortality is dangerous, to say the least."

Dumbledore nodded, "That is very wise of you. To the well organised mind, death is but the next great adventure. If only more people thought that way."

Something then occurred to Harry, "That's why I had to go live with my relatives, isn't it," he said, "If the protection was in my blood, living with those of my blood kept it alive."

"Very good Harry," said Dumbledore, "Yes, so long as you live with your aunt, you will bear this protection."

Harry looked Dumbledore in the eyes. "They treat me like worse than a stranger. They hate me."

"They are your family Harry."

Harry shook his head. "No they aren't. My parents were family. Hermione and Blaise and Daphne and Tracey, they are my family. The Dursleys are just relations."

Harry leaned forward, "I know you hold the power to end this. Please sir..."

Dumbledore shook his head, "I'm sorry Harry. I wish I could grant your request. But it is too dangerous."

He got up to go, but turned around one last time. "Madame Pomfrey says you are good to go, all of you except Tracey, who needs rest." And then he was gone.

Harry leaned back in bed with a sigh. Hermione rested a hand on his shoulder.

"You all right still?" she asked.

Harry shook his head, "I don't know."

XXXXX

**June 6th, 1992**

The real drama kicked off when Madame Pomfrey told Tracey she couldn't go to the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw Quidditch match.

"I have to be there! Harry will be rooting for Gryffindor and I need to be there to cancel out his support!" she yelled. For some reason Madame Pomfrey did not find this persuasive. It was only when Harry and Blaise offered to carry Tracey down to the pitch and then back up to the hospital wing that she relented.

"Don't overexert yourself!" she yelled at them as they carried her away.

"Is this really that important?" asked an exasperated Hermione.

"Yes, and I'm glad that I have some friends that understand that," said Tracey with fake haughtiness.

The stands were once again packed, as this was going to essentially be a championship match.

"I just don't see how Ron is going to beat Cho to the snitch," said Blaise.

Harry shook his head. "Ron won't be seeker again. That was a gimmick."

Sure enough when the Gryffindor team was announced it wasn't Ron Weasley who came out.

It was Lavender Brown.

"WHAT?" shouted Tracey.

"That is…" Harry stopped, not knowing what to say, "I have no words."

"I didn't think Lavender was a very good flier," noted Hermione, "She's worse than I am."

With the match starting it immediately became clear that Gryffindor's offense was in full swing. They scored three times in succession. But it was more than that. They weren't sparing either Fred or George for seeker protection, which meant they were dominating defensively as well. Cho was playing 'inside' again, covering Lavender. Clearly the Ravenclaws had no idea what to make of Lavender any more than Harry did. Every so often Lavender would lunge for something, causing Cho to try to find whatever it was. But it was never the snitch. And that was when it hit Harry.

"Lavender isn't pretending to be bad," Harry said, "She is bad. Wood put in a completely unknown seeker to confuse the Ravenclaws into putting Cho into seeker coverage."

All of Harry's friends stared at him.

"That's _insane_," said Daphne.

"But it's working," said Tracey, almost dreamily, "Merlin, you're right Harry!"

Once Gryffindor had gone ninety points up the Ravenclaw captain called a time out. It quickly became evident that Cho and the captain were having a heated argument.

"Looks like Cho figured it out, but her captain is still overthinking it." noted Blaise.

"This is the perfect strategy to use on Ravenclaws," said Daphne, who was shaking her head in disbelief.

When time was called back in it was clear the captain had won the argument, because Cho remained in seeker coverage. And so it continued until Gryffindor went up by 150 points.

This time Cho had called for the time out, and she began tearing into the captain immediately. Harry couldn't hear her, but whatever she said seemed to work, because when the game resumed, Cho went into a long range seeker hunting pattern.

"It may be too late," said Harry.

"If she catches the snitch before the Gryffindors go up another 50 points they still win the cup though," pointed out Hermione.

But she didn't. Cho first spotted the snitch exactly as Gryffindor went up by 200 points. Cho growled in annoyance then lunged for the snitch.

"What is she doing?" asked Hermione incredulously, "If Ravenclaw scored again they could still win the cup!"

"Cho's teaching her captain a lesson," said Tracey approvingly.

"What lesson?" asked Hermione.

"Never ignore your seeker when they say something is up with the other seeker," said Harry as Cho grabbed the snitch.

The stands roared as everyone realized that Gryffindor had just won the Quidditch cup. Lavender seemed kind of stunned, Wood was practically crying. The Ravenclaw captain was yelling at Cho, but the rest of the team seemed to be taking her side.

"Well that's probably it for the House cup as well," noted Hermione. Harry nodded. Barring a miracle, Gryffindor was definitely going to win the house cup.

XXXXX

**June 13th, 1992**

"That was a bloody miracle," said Nott as the Slytherins left Great Hall following the farewell feast.

"I'm actually a bit offended," said Blaise, "What sort of praise is 'Executing a terrible plan in a terrible way and still coming out ahead?'"

"You got 50 points for it," said Tracey bitterly, "I got 10 for being the loudest trumpet player in the history of Hogwarts. That's humiliating."

Some of the students from the other houses seemed a little miffed; most of the other houses hadn't wanted Slytherin to win again this year. Still after Ron and the twins had gone around telling everyone about how Harry and his friends had defeated Voldemort, no one really had grounds to complain.

Speaking of Ron, thought Harry, he saw the boy walking up to him.

"Congratulations on the win Harry," he said, "You earned it."

"The other Gryffindors going to give you trouble over this?" Harry asked.

Ron shrugged, "A bit maybe. Not anyone who I care about though. For a Slytherin, you sure have a lot of fans in Gryffindor."

"Well, thanks for your support Ron," said Harry.

Ron grinned, "We won the important cup anyway." And then he sprinted off.

Tracey buried her head in her hands. "He's so right," she said sadly.

Hermione sighed, "Quidditch fans are insane."

XXXXX

**June 14th, 1992**

"Harry, wait up a sec!" shouted the booming voice of Hagrid.

Harry stopped as he was making his way towards the Hogwarts express, to turn to see the giant man with a book in his hands.

"I thought I'd get you something, ye know, to remember your parents by," he said, handing him the book. It was a photo album, full of pictures of his parents. Harry noticed that the back of the book was empty.

Hagrid smiled as Harry looked up at him quizzically, "You have new friends now, I figured you'd want to add some pictures of your own."

Harry smiled. "Thanks, Hagrid."

XXXXX

"So" said Daphne in the safety of their compartment on the Hogwarts express, "At Harry's behest, and with Hermione's help, I compiled a list of things we need to do over the summer to continue our efforts to reform Slytherin House."

Everyone nodded. As much as they all wanted to socialize in their last few hours together for a while, this was more important.

"First, we need to reach out to some of the members of our year who have not yet aligned with a faction," she read off the parchment she had written her list on, "Millie and Nott."

"Draco treats Millie sort of like a cast off sometimes, so It should be easy to convince her we'd be better friends to her, so long as we all make sure to write her," said Harry.

"Won't she realize what we're doing?" asked Tracey.

Hermione shrugged, "She might, but what do you want to bet Malfoy doesn't even write her once? At the very least, staying on good terms with her means she won't align with Malfoy."

"Anyway, it's just polite," said Harry, "Basic human decency is kind of underrated."

"Second," continued Daphne, "we need to keep up our friendships in the other houses. When the other Slytherins realize we are putting a faction together, we will need all the allies we can get."

"And third," she said with a wry smile, "we need to stay out of trouble. If we can."

Blaise shook his head. "Fat chance of that."

**Author's Note: **Whew boy, that's the end of first year. With that my updates will slow down a bit, mostly just so I can finish fixing years 3-7. Though year 3 is pretty much ready to go aside from basic proofreading and maybe some minor tweaks. Still, I will be putting out at least one update a week, (probably more like 3 or 4, but I don't want to over promise). I will also probably release the first Chapter of Harriet Potter and the Strange Witch tomorrow, which is the first part of Harriet Potter and the Guardians of Atlantis. That series will only be updated as I see fit for the time being.

This chapter was actually the last chapter I wrote based on my original outline. Chapter 8 and 9 aren't based on any outline, they just sprung into my head as I tried to fill in the gaps all the changes I had made had created. From Chapters 10-50 I am working off of my second outline which was far more detailed and organized.


	8. Debts

**Chapter 8: Debts**

**June 14th, 1992**

The little group leaving the Hogwarts Express was perhaps a little more dour than one might have expected, given that they were starting their summer break. But Harry knew that all of them except Tracey were going to have to face the consequences of what had happened that year. Hermione would have to explain what happened to her parents, Daphne would have to negotiate her father's political schemes, Blaise would face the consequences of his defiance against his mother, and Harry would face the Dursleys, who wouldn't likely be any nicer now that he knew a little magic. The truth was they had all felt the uncertainty building the entire trip home. And as they got off the train, it was feeling ready to burst.

Daphne was talking to Blaise quietly, so no one else could hear her. Blaise would occasionally respond animatedly, but just as quietly. But no sooner had Blaise picked up his luggage than a woman who could only have been Blaise's mother swooped in, directly in his path. She was a large woman, not fat exactly, but certainly not skinny.

"Hello Blaise," she said flatly.

"Hello Mother," said Blaise, "I'm sorry I didn't let you know about Christmas."

His mother's eyes flared. "So I get an apology now, is that it? Did Daphne finally guilt you into it?"

Blaise shrugged, "Well yeah, her and all my other friends."

Daphne groaned as she hung her head, Tracey smacked herself on the forehead, and Hermione just shook her head. Harry for his part rolled his eyes. That was not a productive tack to take.

"Hmm," Blaise's mother said grudgingly, "At least your friends have some sense. You'd do well to listen to them more often. As it is though you probably won't be seeing them for a while, as you are definitely grounded. Come now!" And began to make her way to the station floo.

"Bye everyone!" said Blaise unhappily.

Harry sighed as he watched Blaise leave, "I do feel sorry for him, but that was entirely his fault," Harry noted, "Even I informed the Dursleys of what I was doing."

Searching further on the platform, they found Hermione's parents talking to the Greengrasses as well as the Weasleys. Both of Daphne's parents were there, along with a younger girl who could only be Astoria, her younger sister. Molly Weasley was there with Ginny. Percy had already met up with his family, but Fred, George and Ron were nowhere to be seen.

"Well," said Bryant Greengrass, "I see our troublemakers have arrived." Harry noticed that Hermione's parents' faces looked a little strained after that comment.

"Have you seen my parents?" asked Tracey.

"Your parents were delayed a bit by a patient of theirs, so I agreed to bring you home," said Mr. Greengrass.

As Tracey gave her thanks, Harry noticed that Ginny was trying hard not to be seen. She wasn't exactly hiding, but something was making her very uncomfortable. Harry had no idea what it was, but decided to break the ice.

"Hey Ginny, long time no see," Harry said in a friendly tone, "How have you been doing?"

Ginny looked like a deer in the headlights for a moment, but then she seemed to collect herself a bit. Not completely, but a bit. "I'm… pretty good I guess."

Harry nodded. "That's good, looking forward to going to Hogwarts next year?"

Ginny smiled a bit, "Yeah I am,"

"Well it'll be good to have you there," said Hermione.

"Though it sounds like some of your brothers might not agree," said Harry with a hint of teasing.

Hermione glared at Harry for a moment, but Harry almost instantly knew he'd made the right choice. Ginny's smile grew wide, and her eyes brightened. "Which one of them said something? Oooooh I bet it was Ron."

Percy seemed to be a bit disapproving of this conversation but Molly Weasley's eyes couldn't hide her amusement. Harry made a note of that.

"Anyway, If you ever need something next year be sure to let us know," said Harry, "I haven't forgotten what you did for me when we first met." Ginny blushed.

"Well Daphne, Tracey, we do have places to be," said Daphne's mother

Daphne and Tracey both gave Hermione a hug, then Daphne turned to Harry and gave him one as well. It seemed to be going on a little longer than Harry would have expected, but then Daphne whispered, "I have a plan to get you away from the Dursleys. Please stay safe until then." And then she had moved on.

Tracey snickered a bit, but said, "Well as long as I don't have to set the pace," and gave Harry a longer hug as well.

"Goodbye!" the two girls shouted as they walked away.

As he waved goodbye, Harry was a bit disappointed that the twins hadn't pranked Mr. Greengrass, but he figured they were waiting to get home to set up something really good.

When Harry and Hermione got done waving, Hermione turned to her parents. "Why don't we walk Harry out to his aunt and uncle?"

"Why didn't you give them bracelets?" asked Robert Granger lifting his arm up to show off his.

"They wouldn't have used them, it would be a waste of money," said Harry matter-of-factly.

Harry turned to the Weasleys. "I'll see you all later, in September at the latest."

Molly smiled, "I do hope you are able to visit sooner, I think Ron would like having you over for a day or so."

Harry beamed. "If I can, I certainly will."

As Harry and the Grangers made for the entrance to the platform, Hermione said, "I like Molly Weasley, she seems very nice."

"She was most helpful to us," said Helen Granger.

Passing through the barrier, they searched for the Dursley's. It didn't take long to find them. Still they hadn't seen Harry yet, so he turned to the Grangers.

"I will see you later in the summer," he said. All of a sudden he felt awkward about hugging Hermione in front of her parents. Hermione sensed his unease and reached out and squeezed his hand.

"Please stay safe," she said, a further unspoken understanding of who he was staying safe from hanging in the air. Then she looked behind Harry. The Dursleys had noticed him and were walking over.

And then Hermione had hurled her arms around his neck and whispered, "Do you really have to do this?"

He returned the hug just as fiercely, "I'll survive. I did before," he replied, "Goodbye."

Then he turned to the shocked Dursley's and shook his head at them. "Well, I'm ready to go,"

His Aunt Petunia, gave a small "hmph," but his Uncle Vernon seemed to realize this was not the place.

"Come on, boy," he said. And Harry followed them back into the muggle world.

XXXXX

Daphne looked through the copy of The Daily Prophet she had found once she arrived home. The most interesting story had, of course, been buried on page 10. Daphne was actually scared to ask about this, but she realized it was absolutely essential that she do so. Harry was counting on her, but she couldn't even start approaching him for that until she could get a grip on father's current political troubles.

"So what do you think of this Muggle Protection Act father?" she asked him.

"Hmm," said her father thoughtfully, "Well, Arthur means well with it. I'm not sure how workable it's going to be."

Daphne read between the lines; his actual opinion on it wasn't that bad, but supporting it would be a bad political move.

"There are some problems there," said Daphne, trying to spin things from a different light, "But a robust amendment process could fix those."

"I think the section on Muggle artifacts is especially bad," her father noted.

"It isn't as if the man who wrote the bill works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office and specifically tailored it to the abuses he commonly sees," said Daphne dryly.

Her father opened his mouth as if to retort, but then closed it thoughtfully. "That's… a fair reply. It still criminalizes a lot of things that most wizards find completely normal."

Daphne smiled, "While I do agree that there is some truth to that, I also realize that the law is this harsh because it has to be. The loopholes that we have used for years to make our lives easier have also been used by some wizards to deliberately harm muggles. Yet all of the Ministry's attempts to distinguish between the harmless actions of the majority and the more malicious muggle baiters have failed."

Her father nodded. Whatever his faults, Daphne knew that her father always stood against muggle baiting when standing in judgement as part of the Wizengamot. One of the very reasons he had done this was his conviction that failing to distinguish between muggle baiting and other benign uses of magical on muggle artifacts might create a backlash. And that backlash was now here.

"The fact that some have failed to uphold what should be a cornerstone of magical law, enforcing the Statute of Secrecy, shows they put their own personal prejudices above the good of magical society in general," finished Daphne.

Daphne didn't need to specify who those people were. Her father knew. They were his own political allies.

"What would you have me do Daphne? Abandon all of my allies to find uncertain welcome in the eyes of the progressives?" her father asked

"I think," said Daphne carefully, "you should not be so eager to count former Death Eaters among your closest allies."

"Lucius was acquitted," replied her father, as if by rote.

Daphne shook her head. "Father, my apologies, but that is bollocks. That acquittal was bought and paid for. Do you really think I'm naive enough to fall for that?"

Her father hung his head a bit. "I suppose you're right. I should realize you're getting older, and you have been raised to eat, drink and breathe politics. You are right, I believe in Lucius' innocence no more than you do. But I still need him."

"I don't think you do, but I understand that you haven't come around to my way of thinking," said Daphne.

Her father nodded, seeming to think the conversation over. How wrong he was.

"Still, there is something that I need of you," said Daphne with absolute confidence, causing her father to perk up a bit.

"Oh?" he asked.

"It is not going to make you popular with your allies, but it is necessary all the same," continued Daphne.

"What is it?" asked her father, "I find myself fascinated."

"I want you to look after Harry Potter's political interests," said Daphne, "not officially necessarily, but to be behind him and to defend him against the people who will try to hurt him."

Her father looked at her, stunned. "Daphne, you know I'd like to, but do you understand what you are asking?"

"I understand that Harry is a boy whose only crime is that his parents were murdered by a madman, and for that he is going to be hounded by the followers of that madman," started Daphne, "I understand that the man responsible for his magical upbringing left him with abusive muggle relatives who hate magic and demean him at every turn. I understand that Harry has never been given a full accounting of what happened to his parents and why. And I understand THAT I OWE HIM A LIFE DEBT!"

The last bit came out so suddenly that her father was stunned by it.

"Daphne we've been over this. He considers you a friend.."

"I could have helped Hermione dozens of times before she was abducted," said Daphne, her voice on the edge of tears, "I could have volunteered to room with her so Malfoy couldn't toy with her. I could have used my influence to take Harry and Hermione under my wing, and ensure they were protected. Instead I DID NOTHING!"

Daphne seemed to collapse in on herself, "I had no right to expect Harry to save me after that. I owe him a life debt."

Her father began to pace nervously. He had to know what was happening. Friends did not owe other friends life debts. But Daphne hadn't really been Harry's friend when he saved her. Harry had insisted that she owed him no debt, but the debt was Daphne's, not Harry's. Her conscience could compel her to acknowledge the debt. Such a debt would not force her to take any specific actions, yet it could enormously complicate her life if Harry asked her to do something beyond what she was willing to do.

"Are you sure about this?" her father asked quietly.

Daphne nodded, "Yes," she said, "I owe Harry Potter a life debt. And I want to start repaying it by having you save him from his relatives." She felt the words sink in. There was nothing else, yet she knew that she was bound nonetheless.

Her father looked at her with a strange look in his eyes. Was it pride? Sorrow? Daphne couldn't tell.

"Very well," he said, "I will do what I can."

A moment later he looked at her again. "You have feelings for him, don't you?"

Daphne nodded. "Of course, he saved my life."

Then she sighed, "He doesn't feel the same for me though. Maybe one day… but no, that's foolishness. He is my friend though. Even though I don't deserve it."

Daphne's father didn't know quite what to say.

She suddenly laughed, "Oh Dad, it's just a crush, I'll get over it. I swear, you're taking this worse than I am."

"Was Blaise just a crush too?" asked her father.

"Blaise has nothing to do with this," said Daphne.

And then she turned and left the room.

XXXXX

Hermione was surprised that her parents hadn't brought up her little adventure on the drive home, but considering how poorly the last conversation like that had gone she supposed that they had good reason to wait until they got home. She was not disappointed.

"So," said her father, "What happened at the end of term? All we got was a letter saying that you were unhurt, again, and that Professor McGonagall would try to come and explain things in a few days if we felt it was necessary. While I do find this brush off to be more timely, I'm not exactly happy, given the promises we were given."

Hermione raised her hands in a calming gesture, "Hold on a second, Professor McGonagall hasn't been able to come here because she was badly injured. Professor Quirrell really did a number on her last Friday."

Her father seemed to lose some of his anger at this, Hermione's mother nodded, "I suspected something happened. How did you get wrapped up in all this?"

"Well, we, and by we I mean Harry, Blaise, Daphne, Tracey and myself, had all come to suspect Quirrell had something to do with the troll being released earlier in the year," explained Hermione, "Apparently he released the troll to create a distraction so he could steal the Philosopher's Stone, which is a stone that can turn ordinary materials into gold, and can create the Elixir of Life, which is sort of a universal restorative. Drinking it consistently would essentially make you immortal."

"Wait, Wizards can become immortal?" asked her father incredulously.

"Sort of?" said Hermione, "There are different ways to achieve it, but they all have massive drawbacks. In the case of the Philosopher's Stone, only one person has been able to create one. Ever. Two if you count Hermes Trismegistus, but no one even knows if he was real or not."

Her father calmed again, but her mother seemed angry now. "Why," her mother demanded, "was such a thing in the school to begin with."

"Dumbledore was protecting it for Nicolas Flamel," said Hermione, "And yes it was a very stupid thing for him to do, though from what I gathered Dumbledore wanted Flamel to destroy the stone and he only agreed to hide it when Flamel initially refused. It's no longer an issue anyway. Flamel destroyed the stone when he heard how close it came to… to falling into the wrong hands."

Her mother nodded.

"Anyway Dumbledore had placed traps around the stone. We had some evidence that Quirrell had figured all of them out except one. Hagrid, the Groundskeeper, had posted a Cerberus as a guard dog. But last Friday we discovered that Hagrid had unwittingly told someone how to get past Fluffy in exchange for a dragon egg."

"Why did he want a dragon egg?" asked her father, somewhat reluctantly.

"He uh, wanted it as a pet. As you might expect, dragons don't make good pets," said Hermione glibly.

"I assume you took this information directly to someone in authority?" said her mother, who sounded as if she doubted that the idea would have even occurred to them.

"Of course we did!" said Hermione, to her parents obvious relief. "That's how Professors McGonagall and Flitwick got injured. Dumbledore was gone at the time, it turned out he'd been lured away by Quirrell."

"Well that isn't so bad I guess," her father said.

"Dear, she's obviously not done with this story," said her mother pointedly.

"So once the Weasley twins took McGonagall and Flitwick to the Hospital wing, H… we decided we were going to try and stop Quirrell," said Hermione, bracing herself for the explosion.

"After he had just taken out two of your teachers?" he father exploded at her.

Hermione blanched, but her mother put a hand on her arm reassuringly. "Honey, let her finish."

"Well, the traps were not very good," continued Hermione, "Tracey played music to calm the Cerberus, Daphne set fire to a Devil's Snare, and Harry caught a flying key on a broom. The next room after that had a giant chessboard in it."

"So you played across the room?" asked her mother.

"No, Blaise had the brilliant idea of blowing up the White pieces with the Reductor curse," said Hermione said bitterly, "This of course caused the black pieces to try and attack us from behind. We destroyed them, but, it was a near thing, and Blaise, Daphne, and Tracey were exhausted by it, and a piece of one of the pawns bruised Tracey's shoulders."

"So," pressed on Hermione, "Harry and I continued alone. The next room had been protected by a troll." Her parents both seemed angry at that.

"Don't worry, it was already dead," assured Hermione, "Actually it was in many pieces, it got caught in Quirrell's fight with McGonagall and Flitwick. I still don't know how its…"

Hermione stopped, realizing she had just been about to tell her parents about the troll's intestines being stuck on the wall. That was a detail they didn't need to know.

"I am getting off track," said Hermione, in what she considered an unconvincing attempt to cover her near gaffe, "The next room had a logic puzzle to figure out which potion would get you through an enchanted fire. I figured it out easily, but there was only enough potion for one person, so Harry drank it and went through."

"Thank God," her father said, "Not that I'm happy Harry was at risk but I'm certainly happy you weren't..."

"Robert," said Hermione's mother resignedly, "She's still not finished."

Hermione hung her head. "I may have taken off my robes and used them to shield me as I jumped through the fire."

"So you were standing in your underwear?" her father asked, scandalised.

"Of course not, I wear jeans or leggings under my robes," said Hermione indignantly, "Though I guess that isn't standard procedure in the magical world, at least not among the more elite class. Anyway Quirrell was there, but…" she trailed off. This would be bad.

"But?" her father said angrily.

"He had Lord Voldemort on the back of his head." said Hermione.

"Wait, that's the wizard who killed Harry's parents. Isn't he dead?" asked her mother.

"What do you mean on the back of his head?" demanded her father.

Hermione took a deep breath, "Remember what I said about immortality? I don't know what Voldemort did to make himself immortal, and I probably don't want to, but when his body was destroyed, his spirit survived. He was, for lack of a better word, possessing Quirrell, though that term would imply that he had direct control of Quirrell, which doesn't seem to be the case."

"Hermione," said her mother softly, "Did you know Voldemort was possessing Quirrell before you went after him."

"No," said Hermione quickly, "But... we suspected Quirrell was working to restore Voldemort, and we suspected he might be with Quirrell somehow."

"How could you go after him, knowing that?" said her mother, finally losing control.

"Because, if Voldemort had drunk the Elixir of Life, he would have returned to his full power!" said Hermione.

"It was too dangerous!" her father shouted.

"As dangerous as if Voldemort had returned?" shouted Hermione,"I'm a muggleborn, I'm at the top of his list of people to kill, along with Merlin knows how many others. INCLUDING YOU. He would kill you to get at me in a heartbeat. If he returned hundreds if not thousands would have died. So yes, I went in there prepared to die if it would stop him."

Her father looked at her, his eyes horrified. Her mother looked sad, but also a little proud. Neither said anything.

"Anyway, the Stone was hidden in a magical mirror that showed your heart's truest desire," continued Hermione, "Both Quirrell and Voldemort wanted to use the stone, so they couldn't see themselves actually getting the stone, which would have given it to them for real. So Voldemort grabbed me and threatened to kill me if Harry didn't look in the mirror and get the stone for me." Her parents' expressions grew even more horrified.

Hermione actually blushed, remembering how seeing her threatened had actually changed Harry's greatest desire. "It actually worked, Harry got the stone. But Harry grabbed Quirrell's wand hand when he reached for the stone, and I ran and recovered my wand and disarmed Quirrell. Then Dumbledore arrived and Voldemort fled and Quirrell died."

Hermione shrugged. "That's it."

Her parents both looked at her, absolutely stunned. "Hermione, the two of us are going to need some time to process this," her mother said.

"I'll be in my room when you want to talk," she said, as she quickly exited the room.

XXXXX

Helen came into Hermione's room, to find her laying on her stomach and looking out the window. "Have a moment?" Helen asked.

"Nothing but," said Hermione.

"I talked things over with your father," Helen said, "And we've decided that while we aren't happy about what happened to you, it wasn't your fault. Once your teachers were defeated you were left with few good options, though you could have contacted the magical police. Still we aren't going to hold you accountable for not thinking like an adult."

Helen hesitated, "Personally, I'm proud you stood up for yourself, for muggleborns. I hope you realize how difficult it can be for people to maintain their convictions in the face of true peril."

"I saw what happened to Gertrude when she gave in," said Hermione, "Whatever I become, it won't be that."

Helen paused, "There is also the matter of what you were clearly leaving out. You were clearly reluctant to tell us about how Quirrell died."

Hermione's eyes fell. "There's a reason for that," she said.

Finally Hermione shook her head, "Harry killed Quirrell. Quirrell was already dead the moment Voldemort left him, but Harry didn't know that. His touch… well because of what happened when Harry was a baby Harry's touch burned Voldemort, and by proxy, Quirrell. When Harry realized that he grabbed Quirrell by the throat. Then…" Hermione trailed off.

Her mother put her arm around her. Hermione suddenly felt better. "Voldemort tried to possess me. Harry leapt in between us to prevent it."

"Could he have possessed you like that?" asked her mother.

"I don't know. I don't think so, not without my permission, or all at once I think," said Hermione.

Helen nodded grimly. "I find that your father and I are completely out of our element with this magical stuff. While I'm sure you will try, we really need to get more information on the magical world."

"Daphne was talking about coming over at some point this summer, I'm sure she could tell you loads," said Hermione.

"I'm sure she can, but I was hoping to spend time talking to other adults. That's why Molly Weasley invited us to come over for a few times this summer and visit with them. You can spend time with Ron and Ginny, and I can learn some things from Molly," said Helen.

Hermione considered this. "That sounds like a good idea. Maybe I'll be able to get Ginny to stop getting all shy in front of Harry."

Helen smiled, "She does seem to have a bit of a crush there."

"Harry Potter crushes are pretty common in the magical world," said Hermione.

Helen laughed, "You'd know all about that wouldn't you?"

Hermione blushed. "Mum!" she yelled to her mother's renewed laughter.

XXXXX

**June 20th, 1992**

About a week after his daughter returned from school, Bryant Greengrass stopped outside the Wizengamot chambers and collected himself. That had been a marathon session. Sometimes, Bryant was happy for the small size of the Wizengamot. Practically everyone had wanted to speak for or against the Muggle Protection Act, and things had taken quite long enough, thank you very much. Still it was clear that the writing was on the wall for Greengrass's purebloods on this issue. Several normally inactive members of the Wizengamot had shown up to support the law, and Fudge had allowed Arthur Weasley unlimited time to defend his brain child. Popular support was against muggle-baiting, and Bryant couldn't blame them really. He really did find it to be a barbaric practice, and he felt that Nott and Malfoy's opposition to the plan was telling. Yet alienating them could have drastic consequences for the Greengrass family's status in the Wizengamot.

Bryant saw Arthur Weasley talking to Chief Warlock Dumbledore further down the hall. Just the people he needed to talk to. He waved at them as he approached.

"I wonder If I could have a word with the two of you?" asked Bryant.

"By all means," said Dumbledore, with his usual warmth.

"You were unusually quiet in there," said Arthur hopefully, "Dare I say you were keeping your peace because you support the MPA?"

"If only I could," said Bryant honestly, "I am personally opposed to the disgusting practice of muggle-baiting. But I'm about to do something that will annoy some of my allies considerably. I will need to make amends somehow. Luckily, you don't seem to need my vote."

"Pity," said Arthur, who seemed to not know how to respond to that.

"I actually wish to speak to you regarding a personal matter. It concerns Harry Potter," said Greengrass.

"I had thought Lucius would be the one to try this, if anyone did," said Dumbledore, nonplussed.

"Try what?" asked Arthur confused.

"I have no intention of trying to take Harry's guardianship from you," emphasised Bryant, "Indeed, I initially had no intention of getting overly involved with the boy at all. However my daughter has forced my hand. She has formally declared that she owes Potter a life debt for saving her from the troll."

"Ah," nodded Dumbledore knowingly.

"A life debt wouldn't force you or your daughter to do anything," said Arthur.

"I could ignore this, true. At the cost of a great deal of emotional and magical distress to my daughter," said Bryant, "No, I will not see her suffer so. I have agreed to help protect Harry from those who wish to harm him, both politically and domestically."

Arthur's face softened. Dumbledore's didn't change noticeably.

"Domestically. You are referring to his aunt and uncle?" asked Dumbledore.

Bryant nodded. "By all accounts they are emotionally abusive, and they absolutely despise magic."

Arthur looked surprised at this, but Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "And you wish to take custody of the boy?"

Bryant gave Dumbledore an appraising look, "No," he said, "Not permanently anyway. I am aware that Harry will eventually have to return to the Dursleys for his own protection. And I certainly would like for him to spend a day or two with us, so we could get to know him, and give him some idea of the political forces which will eventually come to bear on him. Most importantly it would allow him to spend some time with my daughter. They are friends, and they deserve a little time to just be friends, without school hanging over their heads. But given my associations, it would not be wise to keep him there any longer."

Dumbledore looked troubled, "What do you propose?"

Bryant breathed a slight sigh of relief, "I propose that I do a welfare check on Harry in about a week. If things are as I believe they will be, I will bring him to my home for two or three nights after which I will send him on to another trustworthy wizarding family."

Bryant turned to face Arthur. "Which is why I wished to speak to you," he said candidly.

"Oooooooh," said Arthur as Dumbledore began to nod approvingly.

Bryant began to explain his intentions.

XXXXX

**June 27th, 1992**

Harry had spent most of his time back at Privet Drive in his room. His aunt and uncle had been reluctant to bother him. That was fine with him, he didn't want to have to deal with them anyway. He spent much of his time reading his school books, which was one of the few things that he could do in his room without having to go past the Dursleys. Apparently all the reading he had done had paid off this last year. When he had received his grades he'd been shocked. He thought he had only done well enough for A's or maybe E's but he'd actually had O's in all of his classes except for History and Astronomy. He'd squeaked out an E in History, solely because of Hermione, and an A in Astronomy.

So Harry decided he would study more. But Harry quickly realized this would not last. It could only keep him occupied for so long. He needed to find something else to do. What worried him was that he hadn't received a single letter from any of his friends in two weeks.

Yet when the house elf appeared in front of him with a pop Harry immediately realized that this was not the sort of distraction he was going to want. The elf was wearing dirty rags, what might have been a tea cozy.

"Hello, there," Harry said in a friendly tone, "I think you might be lost. There really shouldn't be a house elf on Privet Drive."

"No," said the elf, "Dobby is not lost. But Dobby didn't intend for Harry Potter to find him yet."

Harry was immediately suspicious. "Why not? I'm friendly," said Harry calmly.

"Dobby wishes to warn Harry Potter, wishes to warn him not to return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," said the elf.

Harry suppressed an urge to yell at Dobby. "Why should I not return then? I trust you have more information for me than that?"

"There is a plan, to do terrible things there this year. Terrible things! But Dobby was just scouting around, he didn't mean to disturb the great Harry Potter," said Dobby.

Harry sighed. Even the elves were idolizing him!

"That's really vague Dobby, can't you tell me more?"

Dobby shook his head, "I cannot betray my masters, my family."

Harry frowned. Masters didn't sound good, and family..."Are your masters planning to do this thing?"

Dobby just shook his head again.

Harry knelt down on one knee, and asked gently, "Are you afraid of what would happen if you tell me what is really happening? Are you afraid of what your family would do?"

"Yes, the magic which binds me to a family prevents me from betraying them. But I must warn you of the danger! Even if I must punish myself. Even if I must shut my hands in the oven," said Dobby, as he grabbed a lamp and began hitting himself in the head with it. It took Harry a moment to get the lamp away from Dobby.

At this point it was obvious what was going on. Dobby was a slave, held captive by this magic which bound him to a family. Were the house elves at Hogwarts slaves? Harry was disturbed by this possibility, and made a mental note to follow up on this.

"Dobby," said Harry softly, "I have to go back. Even if something bad is going to happen. Especially if something bad is going to happen. I can't abandon my friends."

"Friends who don't even write to Harry Potter?" Dobby said suggestively.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "I see. So you are the reason I haven't been getting my mail. Give it to me please."

"Not until you agree not to return to Hogwarts!"

Harry shook his head. "Not going to happen."

Suddenly there was a loud rapping on the door to the house. Dobby looked at Harry shrewdly. "You won't have a choice." And the elf disappeared.

"Oh, bloody hell," said Harry as he raced for the door. He made it to the stairs where Dobby was sitting. He'd accidentally apparated directly into the line of sight of the guest.

It was Mr. Greengrass. He was looking at Dobby incredulously. "Dobby?" he asked hesitantly.

Dobby shrieked, and disappeared again. Vernon Dursley let out a sound that seemed to be half way between a dismissive grunt and and angry roar.

"What was that?" the fat man yelled.

"That was a house elf, and it should not have been here," said Mr. Greengrass.

"He said…" Harry started, but Mr. Greengrass cut him off.

"You can tell me what he said in a moment. You will be staying with me for a few days. Please get your things," said Mr. Greengrass.

Harry seemed shocked. "But Dumbledore…"

"Dumbledore agreed that I could take you out of here for a few days and then have you spend the rest of the summer with the Weasleys if I found something wrong here," said Mr. Greengrass, causing Harry's heart to leap for joy, "And finding Lucius Malfoy's house elf here certainly qualifies as something wrong."

Harry's heart sank again. "I will get my things."

Greengrass nodded. "We will be stopping at Hogwarts first though. Much as I dislike the man, Dumbledore has to be informed of this."

Harry nodded, and ran upstairs before he could change his mind.

XXXXX

"It is possible that this was just an attempt by the Malfoys to intimidate Harry," said Dumbledore, as Harry and Mr. Greengrass sat comfortably in his office.

"It was a really bad attempt then," said Harry, "No I think Dobby was really scared Lucius Malfoy would find out he was there."

"Lucius has always treated that elf abominably," Mr. Greengrass said somewhat sadly, "That it would try to betray him, even against its own magic, is not actually surprising. I've always treated my elf like part of the family."

Harry shook his head, "That still sounds like slavery to me."

"And what do you know about house elves?" asked Mr. Greengrass, calmly and without malice.

"Not much, but I did hear about slavery in muggle school," replied Harry, "And is Hogwarts any better? You have loads of elf servants!"

Dumbledore nodded somberly. "I agree with you Harry. Even with the part about the Hogwarts elves. I have offered to pay them, but they have all refused. The truth is that elven society has been subordinated to wizards for centuries."

Which meant House elf culture was completed dominated by their subservience to wizards. Their desire to serve, their willingness to go without pay, it all was probably heartfelt, even if misguided. "I understand," said Harry.

"Good, I'd hate for you to make Cheri uncomfortable," said Mr. Greengrass.

Harry shook his head. Talk about missing the point! Still, he had a lot to think about on this topic.

"On the matter of Lucius, all we can do is wait and see if he makes a move," said Dumbledore gravely.

"Well trust me, my eyes will be wide open," said Harry.

XXXXX

Harry's first impression of the Greengrass home was that it was far smaller than he had been expecting. It seemed, at first glance, to be a small single family home, perhaps a bit older than his aunt and uncle's home on Privet Drive, but in much the same style. Though it was far out in the country, which Harry preferred. But then Harry went inside.

He entered into a giant reception room that one might find in a Manor house. A giant staircase led upstairs. A small figure waited and took Mr. Greengrasses coat. A house elf.

"How have things been Cheri?" asked Mr. Greengrass.

"Quite well, Master Bryant," said the elf.

Suddenly Daphne was there, engulfing Harry in a hug. "Thank Merlin he got you out of there," she said.

"Cheri, why don't you take Harry's things to the blue guest room," said Mr. Greengrass. Cheri bowed and grabbed Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage, then disappeared. Harry scowled a little bit, but said nothing.

"Daphne…" her father began.

"I'll show Harry around, and then show him to his room so he can freshen up," said Daphne.

As Daphne led Harry away, Harry had to ask, "Do you use glamours on the outside?"

"A bit," admitted Daphne, "The house would look really weird without it though. It's not really a manor house, regardless of what the entrance hall looks like."

The ground floor had a sitting room, kitchen, dining room, and what Daphne called the activity room. "We glamoured it as a ballroom for the New Year's Eve party," she explained. There was also a small room for the house elf, right off the kitchen.

Upstairs there were six bedrooms, each with a bath, and two studies, each connected to one of the bedrooms. There was also a library and a sitting/playroom for the girls. Harry was shown to his room, which was appropriately enough filled with blue sheets, curtains and furnishings.

Harry noted that his things were sitting on the bed, and he scowled again.

"Is there a problem Harry?" asked Daphne.

"We had a run-in with the Malfoy's house elf, Dobby. I'll tell you about it in a bit," Harry paused, unsure how to address this with Daphne, "I'm just a bit upset after learning how house elves are treated."

Daphne nodded, "I understand. I had a serious crisis when I learned about how some other elves are treated. Cheri has always been a part of the family here, but when I saw how other elves were treated, I kind of lost it."

Harry sighed, "Daphne, I don't mean any offense, but no matter how well you treat your elf, I think she's still a victim of wizarding society."

Daphne looked at Harry quizzically, "I'm not sure I get what you mean."

Harry shook his head, "I'll have to talk with Hermione about this. I'm sure she can express it better than I can. She usually does."

Daphne laughed. "So what do you want to do tomorrow?"

Harry shrugged, "I have no idea, any suggestions?"

Daphne smiled "Only lots, why don't you get freshened up for dinner though, and we can talk about it then. I think my father wants to talk to you tonight."

She left him alone, when he realized something, "I have nothing to wear!" he said.

Cheri appeared in front of him. "Harry Potter needs clothes?"

"Sorry, I have no casual wizarding clothes," Harry explained.

Cheri snapped her fingers and a set of casual robes appeared on his bed. "Cheri transfigured some of your clothes, but it will only last till tomorrow morning."

"Thank you Cheri," said Harry.

"You'se is most welcome Harry Potter," said the elf as she teleported away.

XXXXX

Harry sat down in Mr. Greengrasses study after dinner, quite full. Mr. Greengrass had sent him here while he had gone to see to another matter. The food at dinner had been excellent, Daphne's mother, Philomena, was an excellent cook, especially assisted by Cheri. This life, Harry realized, was tempting him. After all, he had the money to live it. He shook his head. Being waited on hand and foot was not his way. Certainly not by slaves.

"Sorry Harry," said Mr. Greengrass as he walked in, "I had to deal with a small issue with the Unicorn herders. Someone was trying to attack one."

Harry's eyes grew wide, but Greengrass waved away his terror. "Just some local potioneers trying to scrape off some unicorn horn. Nothing to be concerned about."

Harry relaxed. "What did you wish to speak to me about?"

"What do you know about our system of government Harry?" asked Mr. Greengrass.

"I know that you have the Minister for Magic, as executive, and the Wizengamot as a court and legislature, though I am a bit unsure of the details Mr. Greengrass."

"Please, when my daughter isn't around, call me Bryant," said Mr. Greengrass.

"Okay… Bryant."

Bryant nodded. "Well I want to talk about the Minister and the Wizengamot. Mostly the Wizengamot really. The Wizengamot is made up of 50 to 60 active members."

"Active members?" asked Harry.

"Many members rarely attend, either because of age or lack of interest. Others never take their seats. Every Order of Merlin recipient is automatically granted a seat, but of them all only Albus really attends meetings," explained Bryant.

"How does one become a member?" asked Harry.

"Well the Minister and the Department Heads are automatically members if they aren't already," said Byrant, "And technically the sub-department heads have seats as well, but those are at the discretion of the Minister. They may or may not attend meetings, but it is traditional that they not take part in Wizengamot debate unless invited by the Minister. Though I suppose if they constantly speak in his favor Fudge would be more likely to grant that permission."

Harry nodded.

"The majority of the seats are grants, given to the holder based on a certain degree of merit," said Bryant, "And while the seats aren't necessarily hereditary, some of the criteria for selecting a new seat holder have been manipulated so that a blood heir is the most likely to gain such a seat. That being said, a lot of the traditions of the Wizengamot come from when we were a hereditary body. For example, Daphne is my Successor Designate, a position which allows her to speak in front of the Wizengamot in my place if necessary. Not that I would put her up there until she is older."

"So it isn't democratic at all," said Harry disappointed.

"Well, the Minister is elected as are about 10 of the seats," said Bryant, "But you are essentially correct. The Malfoys, for example, originally got their seat about 70 years ago for making a donation to the Minister for Magic's personal bank account. What is important is that the Pureblood faction holds about 15-20 seats in the Wizengamot currently. Not enough to exert policy without support from the minister. What I am telling you is that it is vital to stay on the minister's good side! He is capable of causing you immense problems."

"That being said," Bryant continued, "you must constantly be on guard. Many of the other members of the Pureblood faction wish you harm. And being a Wizengamot member can be powerful protection, even for someone as clearly corrupt as Lucius."

Harry nodded. Then a thought occurred to him. "Do you know of a way to protect against having your mind read?"

Bryant narrowed his eyes. "Did someone try to read your mind?"

Harry shrugged nonchalantly, "Yes, when I confronted Quirrell."

Bryant stopped and thought for a moment. "There is a discipline called Occlumency," he said reluctantly, "Most wizards and witches of a certain caliber are versed in it to some extent, though few are much good at it. It can repel Legilimency attacks, or what is commonly called mindreading."

"Can you teach it, or have a book that does?" asked Harry.

Bryant nodded, "I do have some books," Bryant seemed to hesitate before he continued, "I will give them to Daphne when you go back to school, you and your friends can learn together. Still, be careful! The books I will be giving you are full of other magic, some of it quite dark. Occlumency isn't dark, and I honestly don't have a problem with the more benign dark magics anyway, but some at Hogwarts won't see it that way."

Harry nodded.

"Now off to bed with you. I have a feeling my daughter is going to want you to get an early start."

Harry made his way back to his guest room. After washing up, and getting dressed for bed, he climbed into the bed. It was the most comfortable bed he had ever been in. In a way it was almost distracting. He'd never get to sleep with this much…

And with that thought he drifted off to sleep.

**Author's** **Note:** Bryant Greengrass may be a piece of garbage, but at least now he's a useful piece of garbage. Bryant's big problem is that he's selfish, and he thinks he knows best at all times, at least until he's proven wrong. Are these bad traits going to keep coming back to haunt Harry? Who knows? (The answer is yes, yes they will)

Originally the summer between first and second year was supposed to be one chapter. It is three chapters long now. Or rather they head back to Hogwarts at the end of chapter 10.

Oh and Luna's in the next chapter, so look forward to that!


	9. Trouble Ahead

**Chapter 9: Trouble Ahead**

**June 28th, 1992**

"So, what do you have planned for today?" asked Harry after breakfast the next morning.

"Well, I needed to pick up a few things from Diagon today, and I heard that you might need a few things as well," said Philomena knowingly.

And that was how, only a few minutes later, Harry found himself in front of a fireplace about to use the floo network for the first time.

"Be sure to speak clearly, and don't try to physically resist the pull of the floo network's magic," said Daphne, "Try to harness the magic mentally, like riding a broom. It's all about confidence."

Surprisingly, that advice worked. Though Harry stumbled a bit, he managed to stay on his feet when he emerged in Diagon Alley.

Harry and Daphne parted ways with her mother at that point, who told them to meet her back at the floo by noon. Their first stop was Gringotts. Harry again presented his key politely, and he and Daphne were quickly led back to the carts.

"I've never been down to the vaults," said Daphne, "My father says he doesn't trust the goblins with my life, whatever that means. I think it's just his pureblood bigotry kicking in, but you didn't hear that from me."

"Hear what?" said the goblin who was escorting them down, whom Harry suddenly recognized.

"Griphook, good to see you again," said Harry with a friendly nod.

The goblin initially looked surprised, then nodded in return. "And you as well Mr. Potter."

Harry and Griphook were soon making small talk as the cart whipped through the vaults. Daphne felt a bit queasy, but she listened with interest as Griphook began talking about the Muggle Protection Act.

"I take it your father is opposed to this bill Miss Greengrass?" asked Griphook.

Daphne seemed taken aback by this then shrugged. "Officially, yes. Unofficially he wishes the other purebloods had done something about this ages ago. I don't really see what he sees in his political allies."

"Other than money and power?" said Griphook sarcastically.

Daphne nodded, "Other than that, yes."

When they reached Harry's vault, he and Daphne had a quick discussion about how much he should take. Harry wanted to buy some new clothes and a broom, but had to admit he wasn't familiar with the prices for those things.

"How much do you have here?" asked Daphne.

"I'm not sure," admitted Harry, "Does the bank have some sort of count of my money here?"

"It _can _be counted," said Griphook, "though such action isn't taken without the permission of the vault-holder."

"Does Harry have any other holdings?" Daphne asked.

Griphook paused, "I do not know. When we return to the surface we can inquire."

Having collected what Daphne thought was a sufficient sum of money, Harry and Daphne followed Griphook back to the cart. Soon they had returned to the bank proper, and Griphook brought them to the office of a personal banker.

"Hmmm, the Potter account has been relatively inactive for a while," the goblin (whose name was Brokgut) said, "It will take time to get a full accounting of everything. Apparently, the goblin who did handle the Potter finances previously died about three years ago. Our apologies, we will send you this information as soon as we can. Do you wish the full account details, or just to have a summary sent?"

"Uhh, just a summary for the moment," said Harry to a disapproving frown from Daphne.

Brokgut however, nodded approvingly. "No point overwhelming yourself with details until you have a better grasp of what is going on."

Harry and Daphne soon made their way from the bank. Daphne led Harry to an upmarket clothing store called Twilfitt and Tattings.

"The things here are going to be more expensive," said Harry.

"You can afford it, plus I think you'll find some styles here you can't get elsewhere. At least not in Diagon," said Daphne.

And indeed, the store did have a wide selection. Most importantly it had a good selection of muggle style clothes as well as wizarding robes. As Daphne explained it, most wizards went to the muggle world to buy muggle clothes. But some places in the magical world catered to those who did not wish to mingle with the muggles, for whatever reason.

"Hmph," said Harry to that.

"It's not _all_ bigots," said Daphne, "Some wizards are just really bad at blending in with muggles."

There were also a lot of what were called contemporary wizarding clothes, which looked like muggle clothes, but with capes and cloaks attached. Almost-robes Daphne called them.

"Wearing them can be a political statement," warned Daphne, "A sign you have no use for pureblood traditions."

"Perfect," said Harry, which elicited a laugh from Daphne.

Soon they were on their way to their last stop, Quality Quidditch Supplies. Inside they saw a new broom had just hit the market, the Nimbus 2001.

"That looks nice Harry, and you can definitely afford it," said Daphne.

Harry however wasn't so concerned with the price. Looking over the display, he looked at its specifications. It had an impressive speed advantage over the 2000 model, but Harry remembered Tracey talking about the new Nimbus brooms. He walked up to the shopkeeper.

"Excuse me sir," said Harry, "I'm trying out for seeker for the house team this year. Did the Nimbus 2001 ever fixed the yaw problems it had over the 2000?"

The shopkeeper gave him a strange look, "Going for the house team? Which house?"

"Slytherin," said Harry.

The shopkeeper smiled, "My old house. In that case, I'll tell you, no they didn't. As a result, the 2001 is an excellent chaser broom, but terrible for seekers. The enchantments were sloppily done you see. I still have a few 2000's, for certain customers. Such as young Slytherins who are clever enough to do their research."

Soon enough Harry had his new broom and was looking at a few other odds and ends when he heard a familiar and very unwelcome voice.

"Look at that, the new Nimbus 2001, it simply blows any other amateur broom out of the water," said the voice of Draco Malfoy.

"I am reluctant to buy you a broom of that quality, given your less than stellar record at school last year, unless you think your position on the Slytherin team is a certainty," said an older male voice that Harry didn't recognize.

Daphne on the other hand hissed. "Lucius Malfoy," she whispered.

"Well I was thinking," said Draco, "If we bought seven of these, and gave the other six to the Slytherin Quidditch team, they'd have no choice but to put me on."

Lucius' voice was not heard for a moment. "That would be an expensive bribe."

"It would help put Potter in his place though," said Draco.

Lucius was silent for a moment again. "Very well, we will speak of this again. It may be that we can do this for you, son."

Harry looked at Daphne. She seemed to take this all-in stride, though Harry was inwardly seething. Yet maybe this could be worked to his advantage.

"Well that plan will make things tough on you," said Daphne.

Harry shook his head. "Actually, it gave me an idea…"

XXXXX

After returning to the Greengrass home, Harry and Daphne spent the afternoon flying over the Greengrass property, which was quite large. The Greengrasses owned farms that produced potions ingredients, including a small unicorn herd and some rare high end bubotubers. It was all very profitable, Daphne insisted. The trees on the outskirts of the property were all quite old and magical as well, and one or two would be cut down each year for wand components and magical wood for other purposes.

Harry was quite satisfied with his new broom, and his new clothes, which fit better than anything he had worn before. His school robes had fit, but were rather bulky all the same. Daphne promised to teach Harry a spell that would let his clothes grow with him, at least for a bit.

When they returned her father was waiting for them, a stern expression on his face. "Flying in regular robes? Might as well invite someone to look up them." he said to his daughter.

She laughed. "I'm wearing jeans underneath," she said as she pulled her robes up to reveal that she was indeed wearing jeans.

Her father rolled his eyes in exasperation, but Harry laughed, "I guess you do pay attention to me and Hermione."

"This is rather convenient," admitted Daphne.

"Well dinner is in 10 minutes, so the two of you get changed," said Bryant.

Both ran into the house, eager to get eating.

XXXXX

"Father," said Daphne towards the end of dinner, as she had agreed to Harry earlier in the day, "We wanted to broach a matter with you."

"Yes?" said Bryant, who was clearly intrigued.

Harry smiled. Bryant was a naturally curious man, and he couldn't resist indulging his daughter's brainstorms. In this case, Bryant would be ensnared by his own curiosity.

"Well we ran into the Malfoys today, or rather we heard them," explained Daphne.

"Hear anything interesting?" asked Bryant.

"Well, not about their house elf," admitted Harry, "But apparently Draco is trying to bribe his way onto the Quidditch team."

Bryant smiled, "Bribery is a time-honoured tradition in Slytherin."

Harry shrugged. "I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't," he said nonchalantly, "That being said, I'd rather not give Malfoy any more victories over us than I have to. Small victories give way to big ones after all."

"You have a plan?" said Bryant, now hooked on the intrigue.

"I propose that both of us buy three position appropriate brooms, and donate them to the Slytherin team, with no strings attached," said Harry, "That way Melody doesn't have to feel beholden to choose anyone but the best seeker."

"Why not leverage them against you being seeker yourself?" asked Bryant.

"Two reasons, which are linked," said Harry, "First, If I demand a spot, it makes the gesture less valuable for my overall influence. Simply put, most of the goodwill I earn by donating the brooms is spent getting the seeker spot. Second, I might not be guaranteed the seeker spot, but if it comes down to me and Malfoy, I'll definitely get it. He's just not as good as me."

"That's a fact," said Daphne.

Bryant smiled. "Very good Harry," he said, "Not everyone would see things so clearly. I see no reason not to help you."

Harry shot Daphne a triumphant grin. Of course, Bryant was probably operating under the assumption that Daphne was likely to be prefect along with Harry if all this scheming paid off. That Hermione was probably the actual leader had likely not occurred to him. Though the way Harry saw it, Daphne was likely to be a prefect, just in her seventh year when Hermione inevitably made Head Girl.

Astoria had been quiet all throughout the meal. Daphne had whispered earlier that this was suspicious, and that the younger girl was likely to cause trouble. And seeing the measuring look in Astoria's eyes now, Harry realized that she was about to do just that.

"How did things go today?" Astoria asked her father.

"Ugh, it was committee work today. Griselda Marchbanks tried to insert some language which would have prohibited discrimination against muggleborns into the MPA," said Bryant.

"While I certainly would approve of such language, I suspect that it might cause some problems with the passage of the larger bill?" asked Harry.

Bryant nodded, "Even in the best-case scenario it would be at least one vote short. And Fudge won't swing his support unless it is a certainty."

Harry inhaled sharply. Not because he was surprised that Bryant was essentially admitting that his vote could have gotten that language into the bill. That was utterly unsurprising. But he knew Daphne would see that as well, and her reaction was not likely to be measured.

"So, you mean to say that if you had supported it, it could have become law," said Daphne in a chilly voice.

"Daphne, you know I can't support something like that," said Bryant chidingly.

"And why not?" demanded Daphne, "Are our friends not important enough to have the protection of basic human rights?"

"Daphne!" said Philomena sharply.

"I understand your concern Daphne, but you must understand, I maintain my alliances for the good of our family, for you and Astoria most of all," pleaded Bryant.

Harry winced. That was the wrong thing to say.

"Well, I DON'T WANT IT!" shouted Daphne as she stood up and stormed out.

Harry suddenly felt quite awkward. He noted that Astoria looked a bit shamefaced. She probably hadn't intended things to go that far. After all, she had just brought up her Father's day. All she knew was that Daphne disapproved of her father's position. Harry wondered if Astoria understood why.

Philomena seemed scandalized, while Bryant looked apologetically to Harry.

"I am sorry, we should not have had that discussion in front of you," said Bryant.

"I am not offended by the discussion," said Harry, "though I hope you'll forgive me if I tell you I agree more with Daphne than you. But I don't think you understand exactly what you said that set her off."

"Oh," said Bryant, a chill entering his voice.

"By telling her that you are voting this way for her sake you're making her complicit with your vote," Harry shook his head, "You are telling her that not only are you going to vote against her friends, but that it is partially her fault."

Bryant's eyes widened as he realized the truth in that.

Harry stood up. "Your vote is your vote, and a matter of your conscience," noted Harry, "And I'm only eleven years old, so I'm certainly not going to tell you how to vote. But I think Daphne wants to be able to keep a little distance from your political dealings as a matter of her own conscience. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find her."

And he walked out of the room to look for Daphne.

XXXXX

Finding Daphne proved to be impossible, at least for Harry. After an hour of fruitless searching, Harry returned to his room and changed into his pyjamas. Daphne knew where he was if she wanted to talk.

And eventually, he did hear a knock on his door. When he opened it, Daphne was standing there. She had changed clothes, into muggle outdoors wear. She'd clearly been crying but Harry made no mention of it as he invited her in.

"I go talk to the unicorns when I get upset sometimes," she said. "Sorry I didn't wait up. Astoria found me. She was very sorry about it, I guess she didn't realize I'd react like that. She told me what you said. Thank you."

Harry smiled. "No problem."

"Were you going to bed? I kind of do want to talk," she said, looking at his pyjamas.

Harry laid down across the bed, patting next to him, "Make yourself comfortable, I'm all ears."

Daphne giggled a bit as she lay down next to him. "If my parents see this, they'll have a fit."

Harry smiled. "Serves 'em right."

Daphne leaned on her side so that she could look at Harry. "You realize I've had a bit of a thing for you recently."

Harry nodded. "It was pretty obvious."

"Part of it was that I felt guilty for not acknowledging my life debt to you," Daphne admitted, "Now that I've done it…"

"You didn't have to do that," said Harry.

"I know," said Daphne, "but doing it helped a bit. I know I don't have a shot with you."

"Daphne, I haven't made any choices about that. I can't make any choices about that. You, Hermione, all of you, you're all just my friends. I don't want you to think…"

Daphne shook her head. "I know, you're telling yourself that you are too young to get attached romantically, and to a certain extent it's true. But I can see who you want to spend your time with the most. It isn't me."

Harry didn't have a reply to that.

"And I don't deserve it…" started Daphne.

"Like hell you don't!" Harry said forcefully, "Whatever choice I make it has nothing to do with whether you are 'worthy' of me,"

Suddenly Harry found himself being hugged tightly by Daphne. "Thank you, Harry. But I abandoned you to Malfoy the first week of school. Maybe I deserve your friendship for what I have done. But not..."

Harry returned her hug, with interest. "We all have our reasons. You did the right thing eventually. And you've continued to do it with your father. Just because you made a mistake, it doesn't mean you aren't worthy of love."

Daphne sighed, "I'm sorry you're leaving tomorrow, Harry. It's nice to have someone on my side," she said sleepily.

"Anytime," said Harry, as he squeezed her a little tighter.

After a moment he patted her lightly on the back of her head. She didn't respond. Looking down he saw her eyes were closed. She'd fallen asleep. Harry shook his head. This had been her plan all along. Well he could wait a moment for her to wake up and then…

XXXXX

**June 29th, 1992**

The next day, Harry finished getting everything into his trunk as he prepared to leave. Daphne entered through the open door. When they'd awoken together, Daphne had panicked, thinking she was in trouble. But apparently Astoria had been the first person to go to wake Daphne, and she'd covered for her as an act of contrition for the previous night.

"If I…" she started, but Harry raised a hand to stop her.

"It's fine," he said, "I honestly didn't mind. My friends don't need to apologize for things like that."

Daphne nodded. "Well we better get you on your way," she said, "And thanks. I'll see you later in the summer."

Flooing over to the Burrow with his trunk in tow was a bit more difficult than flooing with a package or with empty hands, but Harry managed to stay on his feet as he emerged at the Weasleys' hearth.

And this house couldn't have been more different than the home he had just come from. Where the Greengrass residence was clean, the Burrow was cluttered. Where the Greengrass residence was upscale, this place was rustic. Yet somehow, everything seemed to fit. Everything seemed to be in its place, even if it seemed totally chaotic.

"Harry!" said an excited Ron who ran over to help him with his trunk.

"Good to see you again Harry," said Molly Weasley, "We're absolutely delighted to have you over for the summer."

Harry noticed Ginny standing alone near the stairs. She was looking at her feet nervously.

"Hey Ginny!" he said in a friendly tone, "Good to see you again."

Ginny looked up with a smile. "Good to see you too," she said.

"This way!" said Ron as he led Harry to his room.

XXXXX

Things at the Burrow were lively, which was a big change for Harry. Even at Hogwarts, the Slytherin dorms kept relatively quiet. The Weasley home had constant activities, from a ghoul banging on the pipes in the attic, to small explosions coming out of the twins' bedroom. But most of all the Weasleys were boisterous with each other, but in a way in which it became obvious to Harry that this was a family. Simply put, they were happy. It was a totally new experience for Harry. One he determined to relish.

That evening Harry finally met Arthur Weasley, who was a well-meaning, but somewhat silly man. He had an obsession with muggles, yet seemed to know very little about them. Still, he understood that Arthur's mistakes were the result of an ignorance that came from his isolation from the muggle world, not malice.

"I do wish we could have put some of the protections for muggleborns into the MPA," said Arthur, "But we came a vote short." He glanced at Harry momentarily.

Harry nodded sadly, "Daphne had a fit when she learned her father's vote could have changed things."

Arthur looked genuinely surprised. "Daphne supports the MPA?"

Harry nodded. "Most of the people in our group in Slytherin do. Maybe not Blaise, though he probably does just because it would annoy his mother."

"That's surprising," said Molly, her voice uncertain.

"That's become our main goal," said Harry confidently, "We're trying to make Slytherin a place where you can oppose a lot of the pureblood supremacist bigotry without being ostracized. And so far, we're winning."

"That's very admirable Harry," said Arthur.

"Is Slytherin that bad?" asked Ginny quietly.

"It's not all bad," Harry admitted, "There's a lot of scheming and the like, but for the most part you are free to just be another student. We take it a bit more seriously because we're trying to correct some very old prejudices. Well that and the time those older students tried to beat us up."

"That ended up with those students getting killed by a troll though, right?" Ron asked, "Sounds like they got what they deserved."

"Ronald!" said Molly angrily.

Harry shook his head. "No, they didn't deserve that. They were headed for a beating before the troll showed up but…" Harry trailed off.

"Oh, we didn't mean to bring up a bad memory Harry," said Molly.

Harry shook his head. "I'm fine. Part of me is still very angry at them for what they tried to put Hermione and I through. But they more than paid for it, so I feel it best to just let it be."

"Do the other Slytherins still give you trouble?" asked Ginny.

"Funny thing, after we defeated the troll, everyone became very nice to us," said Harry, "Slytherins respect power, even if they don't like the way that it's used."

Harry shrugged, "I wasn't really prepared to be sorted into Slytherin, but I adapted. And I have friends both in and out of the house. That's the important part, not letting the sorting define us."

"Well said," said Arthur enthusiastically.

XXXXX

**June 30th, 1992**

Harry awoke early in the morning. The cot that he had slept on in Ron's room had been infinitely preferable to sleeping in his cupboard, but by this point he was rather used to sleeping in a proper bed. Especially after getting spoiled at the Greengrasses. It was, he noted, rather early. The sun had barely started to peek over the horizon. Outside he was surprised to see a small figure zooming by on a broom. _Ginny,_ he thought as he recognized her.

With a smile he quickly changed into some muggle athletic wear he had acquired, and then pulled out his broom. He opened the window and flew out, making sure to shut the window behind him. He soon caught up with Ginny, who had so far failed to see him.

"Good Morning!" he said. Ginny started, nearly falling off her broom.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked.

Harry shrugged, "I saw you flying, thought I'd join you. What about you?"

Ginny shrugged back, "The boys never let me play Quidditch with them, so I have to sneak the brooms in the early morning if I want to fly."

Harry shook his head, "That doesn't sound very fair."

Ginny nodded, "It isn't, but Mum always takes their side when they complain. I think she doesn't think Quidditch is ladylike."

Harry grinned, "Maybe not, but it's fun. Wanna throw a Quaffle a bit?"

Ginny beamed. "Sure."

The two of them took turns throwing a rather beaten up Quaffle between two trees. Harry quickly saw that Ginny was a natural Chaser.

"I'd tell you should try out for the house team," said Harry, "But you look like you're a shoo-in for Gryffindor. We don't need that competition."

"Thanks," said Ginny warmly. "I better check the hens; I usually use that as a cover for going out and flying."

"Next time we do this you can use my broom," said Harry, noting the beat-up status of her broom.

Ginny looked at his broom closely then started again. "That's a Nimbus 2000!"

Harry smiled again. "As I said. Next time."

The flush of happiness that went to her face was impressive. Harry couldn't tell if she was happier that he'd said there would be a next time or if she was happier that she'd be able to ride his Nimbus.

Walking back into the house he saw Molly in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

"Harry!" she said with a start of her own, "What have you been doing?"

"I got up early, so I went for a quick morning fly," he said truthfully.

"You do know there are muggles not far away?" asked Molly worriedly.

"I was careful," said Harry.

Molly nodded, "Did you see Ginny out there?"

"I saw her with the chickens," Harry said (a little lamely he had to admit).

Molly gave a knowing nod. _She knows!_ thought Harry. His opinion of Molly Weasley had gone up again he thought as went back up to Ron's room.

XXXXX

**July 1st, 1992**

Arthur Weasley was sitting and enjoying a cup of tea when Harry Potter came down the next morning. Percy had almost finished, while Fred and George had just sat down to breakfast. Ron was still sleeping.

"You said you were off work today?" Harry asked him.

"We actually have some guests coming in about an hour. I'm sure you'll be excited to see one of them," said Arthur, trying to be a bit mysterious.

"Oh, stop teasing him dear," said Molly, "The Grangers are coming over so we can show them how a magical family lives."

The transformation on Harry's face was obvious. He now wore an enormous smile, and his eyes seemed almost to gleam with excitement. "I think I should wear some of my casual robes then," he said, before he ran back upstairs.

"Don't forget breakfast dear!" shouted Molly after him as the twins sniggered.

"Well that wasn't obvious at all, was it boys?" asked Arthur pleasantly. The twins nodded. Percy just shook his head.

XXXXX

Harry was waiting in the kitchen for the Grangers to appear. Soon enough, Robert and Helen Granger came tumbling out of the floo. Harry doubted they had the capability to control the floo network enough to not do that. Moments later Hermione came through feet first, but on her back.

"Hermione," said Harry as he leapt forward to help her to her feet, "It's like riding a broom. Your intent drives how you can control it."

"Harry?!" shouted a surprised Hermione, who once on her feet, immediately wrapped him up in a big hug, "I've always been rubbish on a broom."

"What are you doing here?" asked Helen.

"Well," said Harry thoughtfully, "Daphne sent her father to check on me, and when he got there the Malfoys' house elf was also there, so they pulled me out of there real quick. Anyway, I'm spending the summer with the Weasleys."

"Well that's good," said Robert.

"Why don't you kids show Hermione around, while Arthur and I give Helen and Robert a tour?" said Molly.

"Follow me!" said Ginny.

XXXXX

Hermione was impressed with all the ways the Weasleys used magic to stand in for places where muggles used technology. Seeing the way normal wizards lived had Hermione finding it far less foreign than she had originally thought. Within minutes the twins and Ron were clamouring for them to play Quidditch.

Harry had a shrewd look on his face. "Maybe we should play something everyone can enjoy," he said.

"Oh, come on Harry," said Ron, "Just for a bit mate,"

"Oh, all right," said Harry exaggeratedly. Hermione realized that Harry was planning something, but had no idea what.

When Harry returned, he had a broomstick in his hands. "Blimey," said Ron when he saw it, "that's a Nimbus 2000!"

Fred and George came over, very impressed. Soon they were asking Harry all sorts of questions about his new broom.

"Is that a good broom?" Hermione asked.

Ginny nodded, "It's probably the best amateur seeker broom on the market. Though it really isn't on the market anymore since the 2001 came out."

Soon Harry was teamed up with Fred, while Ron was teamed up with George. Hermione gestured to a shady spot where she and Ginny could sit.

"So," said Hermione once they were seated, "you seem to have gotten over your shyness around Harry."

"It was a little silly," admitted Ginny, but Hermione noticed her blushing a bit.

"I know you like him a bit," said Hermione, "That's fine. Just remember he's an eleven, almost twelve-year-old boy. He really doesn't know how to deal with girls at all, except as a friend. He does seem to think well of you, though."

"I noticed," said Ginny.

"Don't be afraid to show him some affection either," suggested Hermione, "Trust me, after the life he's had, he needs it."

Ginny gave Hermione a quizzical look. "You seem to have a 'thing' for Harry as well. I appreciate the advice, but why are you helping me?"

Hermione smiled. "I just want Harry to have friends. I…." Hermione paused, "I don't know what my feelings are, but he is my best friend. So, I'm looking out for him."

Ginny nodded, "I suppose I get that, and it's not like he's really into girls right now anyway."

Hermione nodded, "Boys are babies about those sorts of things."

Suddenly Harry swooped down. "I'm tired of playing," he shouted, "Ginny, take my place."

Hermione saw Ginny's eyes widen in gratitude as she grabbed Harry's broom over the Weasley boys' insistence that Ginny couldn't fly. Which Ginny immediately proved wrong by flying circles around Ron.

Hermione laughed, "That was very nice of you Potter," she said wryly

Harry shrugged. "The way they didn't let her play didn't strike me as right."

"I agree, but Ginny's brothers have a serious case of wrackspurts," said a dreamy voice from behind them.

Harry and Hermione turned to see a girl about Ginny's age with blonde hair and a dreamy expression on her face to match her voice.

"Hello there," said Harry, "Who are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Luna," said the girl, "Luna Lovegood."

"Hermione Granger," said Hermione.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

Luna gave him a strange stare. After a moment she nodded. "I guess you must be, though you could be Minister Fudge in disguise."

Hermione was utterly confused by that, but Harry laughed. "Merlin, I hope not," he said.

Luna nodded. "Me too."

"What's a wrackspurt?" asked Hermione

"They're creatures, they mess with people's heads and make them do stupid things. I'm surprised you haven't heard of them."

Hermione strongly doubted such creatures existed. Harry just nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Are you friends with Ginny?" asked Harry.

"Yes, we play together sometimes, though she is the only other magical girl in the neighbourhood."

Harry nodded.

"Hello there Luna," said Molly who was walking up with Arthur and the Grangers in tow.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley," said Luna.

"Did you come by to play with Ginny today?" Molly asked.

Luna shook her head, "I was wandering by and I saw you had company, so I stopped by to say hello."

Molly smiled, "Would you like to stay for lunch?"

Luna nodded, "That would be great Mrs. Weasley."

Molly smiled. "Good, now that that is settled," she said as she turned to Harry, "I see you have been giving my daughter some encouragement."

"Of course, when I saw her fly yesterday, I knew I had to help her out," said Harry.

Arthur watched his daughter as she flew by, a look of pure joy on her face, "Well, she certainly seems to be enjoying herself."

"That was a very nice thing you did Harry," said Robert.

"Well, I did owe her one," replied Harry.

"One what?" asked Luna, to Hermione's annoyance.

"One moment of profound truth," said Harry glibly.

"Oh," said Luna, who paused and then said, "Those are rather rare."

Hermione nearly ground her teeth, but Harry just laughed.

XXXXX

Harry had decided to bring up his new concern over lunch.

"So, I earlier I mentioned Dobby, Lucius Malfoy's house elf," Harry said, uncertain of the reception this was going to get.

"When you say Lucius Malfoy's elf, you mean he works for Lucius?" asked Helen.

Arthur and Molly gave each other significant looks. Harry shook his head sadly. "I wish I did. No, house elves are magically bound to their masters. The truth is, I think they're slaves."

Hermione nearly dropped her fork. "Even the house elves at Hogwarts?"

Harry pondered that for a moment. "The house elves at Hogwarts aren't paid, I know that. But at the same time, they do receive free room and board, and seem free to leave at their own discretion."

Arthur nodded seriously. "Harry is right, the bulk of house elves are magically bound. Most families that own one treat them well, but that doesn't excuse owning them in the first place, at least in my opinion. I do believe that given enough encouragement house elves would want pay or benefits, but the problem is that house elves have been enslaved so long that they no longer truly understand that they aren't free. They see their masters as their family. Convincing them that they deserve better is… difficult."

"Headmaster Dumbledore did say he would pay any house elf who asked for it," said Harry, "But that doesn't excuse anyone else. That includes Daphne, who didn't even understand what I was asking about."

Hermione's eyes flashed. "That's… That's monstrous!"

"Slavery?" said Robert, who seemed stunned, "Wizard society has slavery?"

Molly shook her head sadly, "I'm afraid so. I grew up with a house elf and never even thought about it until I met Arthur. It's a tremendous blind spot that most major pureblood families have. That being said, I don't think it's wrong for a family to have a house elf in itself, because they really do have no other place to go."

Luna nodded, "Minister Fudge would never let the house elves be free, for fear that they would take the side of the goblins and overthrow him."

Hermione gave Luna an angry look. Harry laid a hand on her arm to calm her. "Luna's right," he said calmly, "Fudge would definitely see any attempt to free house elves as a direct political threat."

Hermione looked surprised, but Arthur nodded. "He's only behind the Muggle Protection Act because it's popular. Fudge isn't interested in rocking the boat," he said.

"He has enough problems with the goblins given that he bakes them into pies," said Luna.

Once again Harry was impressed. Luna seemed to have a sharp grasp of the situation, and was able to analyse it effectively. Which she then covered up with completely nonsensical babbling.

"Luna, you're brilliant, and if you end up in Slytherin I guarantee you'll have at least one friend," said Harry.

"I've always wanted to be in Ravenclaw," said Luna, "It seems to have the fewest wrackspurts."

"Well if you just want to avoid wrackspurts sure," said Harry, "In Slytherin we could work to destroy them."

Luna looked thoughtful. "That does sound interesting."

Harry grinned, "And you definitely have the cunning for it,"

"Thank you," said Luna simply.

Hermione was staring at them as if she couldn't understand what had just happened.

"And the house elves? What do we do about them?" she asked.

"The only thing we can do," said Harry, "We research it, and try to figure out what course of action would best help them."

Hermione brightened up at the word research. "That's a place to begin, I guess."

Robert and Helen looked at each other sadly. Molly noticed that. "I know things look bad for the magical world here," Molly said, "But there are people, like us and Dumbledore, who are trying to make things better. Before You-Know-Who showed up, things were getting steadily better. Things… changed after the war though. Progress slowed. People became afraid to lose what they had."

"Then it's up to us to get things moving again," said Ginny.

Hermione nodded, "Well said."

Harry thought about telling them what Dobby had said to him, about a threat at Hogwarts, but decided against it. He didn't need to worry them.

XXXXX

Molly looked out the window as Harry was talking to Luna. The girl was about to head home, but Harry had insisted on one last chance to talk to the girl.

"Why is he trying to get her to join Slytherin?" wondered Molly.

"That surprised me as well," said Helen who was sitting and drinking a cup of tea, "Neither Harry or Hermione has had much good to say about Slytherin."

Hermione was putting the dishes in the sink, where they were washing themselves. She stopped and looked at Molly appraisingly.

"I think that Slytherin isn't necessarily bad," said Hermione, a bit reluctantly, "especially if you are a pureblood. I don't understand why Harry is trying to convince Luna specifically. If you ask me, she seems unsuited to it. But there definitely are people that do best in Slytherin. Cunning and ambition are useful traits, for those who wish to use them for good as well as for bad purposes."

Molly nodded, "That sounds reasonable." Still the entire thing still seemed a bit unsavoury to Molly's sensibilities.

Hermione looked at Molly shrewdly. "Were you planning anything for Harry's birthday?"

"I thought we might throw him a surprise party," said Molly, "if you'd be able to come…"

"I'm sure that can be arranged," said Helen.

"I would suggest that you let Harry know you're throwing the party actually," suggested Hermione. "He's never had one before, it would be good for him to have something to look forward to."

There was something in Hermione's voice, as if it wasn't really a suggestion. Molly almost objected, but then she paused. Hermione had clearly taken the lion's share of the responsibility towards Harry's emotional well-being. She knew him better. Perhaps she knew best.

"That's probably true," said Molly. Still Molly had to wonder, just how badly had this boy been damaged?

XXXXX

Hermione was sitting next to Harry outside by the garden later that afternoon. She was still troubled by how Harry had acted towards Luna.

"Harry, why did you try to convince Luna to join Slytherin?" she asked worriedly, "Why her, and why not Ginny?"

Harry laughed. "Ginny Weasley is the most Gryffindor person I have ever met. I'm sure Slytherin could teach her something but it wouldn't be easy for her, even if the other Slytherins accepted her. Which is never a given. I like Ginny, I wouldn't wish that on her."

Harry's laugh faded from his face. "Luna is different however,"' he said, "See, I have a book. I never actually finished it actually, it's called _Common Magical Abilities and Their Uses._ I read up through 'O' though. But as I saw Luna give cryptic but apt answers about people, I realized she was showing signs of being an aura reader."

Hermione barely managed to keep herself from gasping. "She can see people's futures?"

Harry shook his head. "No auras show the present," he said, "They show confusion or confidence. Whether someone is lying or telling the truth. Whether they are in love or full of hate. They're a sort of barometer of the soul, you might say."

Hermione frowned, "So you want to use a girl who is completely unsuited to Slytherin for your own ends? Half the things she was talking about weren't even real." Hermione stopped herself, "No that can't be it. You have more reasons"

Harry smiled, "Did you know that Luna's father runs a newspaper? _The Quibbler._ Full of stories about impossible creatures, insane political conspiracies, and half true secrets. Most people don't take it seriously."

Harry closed his eyes and leaned back as Hermione felt a breeze sweep over them. "No," continued Harry, "She lives her life seeing things that no one else sees. Who is she to say that her father is wrong and everyone else is right? See Luna doesn't have a problem of intellect or cunning, but of perspective."

"She doesn't see the difference between her father's crazy ideas, and the things she sees every day," said Hermione, "But doesn't that mean she doesn't understand her talents?"

Harry shook his head again. "She isn't stupid. She knows that what she sees reflects the people she is looking at. Yet she manages to hide this behind a tangle of nonsensical chatter. I know, I asked her. It doesn't matter that she believes the things she is using as a cover."

Harry smiled wryly, "What matters is that no one suspects her of having any depth, so no one makes any demands of her."

Hermione looked at Harry sceptically, "And you want to make demands of her?"

Harry sighed, "No, Hermione, I want to give her the perspective that allows her to move beyond being just a novelty. She acts the way she does, she hides the way she does, because she's damaged. I want her to heal. I want her to grow."

Hermione looked at Harry for a moment then smiled, "You see a bit of yourself in her?"

"She is cut off from the world as surely as I was. And she lost her mother not so long ago."

Hermione's smile broadened. "You want a protégé," she said.

Harry shrugged. "Maybe I do. You're too far ahead of me for it to be you."

Hermione laughed. How had she ever doubted Harry?

Harry sighed, "Your Mum's coming over. Time for you to go."

Hermione realized that the thought of leaving made her sad, even though she'd be back before the end of summer.

"Come on," said Harry, "This time try to remember what I taught you about brooms! At least you might impress your parents."

XXXXX

That evening Harry picked up _Common Magical Abilities and Their Uses. _He hadn't read it in months really, he was surprised he'd remembered a detail as obscure as aura reading. Still he was determined to finish the book. He opened it to the letter _P._

Minutes later he set the book down abruptly as he struggled to come to terms with what he had just read. Finally, he spoke.

"Oh _shit._"

**Author's Note:** So, the Hogwarts school calendar. It makes no sense. On June 5th, Harry has completed his final exams. And almost a month later, he goes home. What do the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th year students do during this time period? Nothing. They sit around and watch the 5th and 7th year students take tests. Obviously, they would go home. Except… they don't. No wonder Hogwarts goes to shit at the end of every year, the students are basically unsupervised and running amok while the staff deals with O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s.

So, I made the deliberate decision to retool each school year to eliminate one to one and a half weeks off of the end. This doesn't actually fix the issue; it just makes it less bad in a way that remains more or less consistent with how things worked in the books. The only year that it caused an issue for me was 4th year, which has a built-in excuse. "Because of the Tri-Wizard Tournament…" 7th year the new schedule actually made my life easier.

Also, on the pairing. This story is solely Harry/Hermione, though there will be a brief period where they try to date other people (unsuccessfully). That being said, this story didn't start as a solely Harry/Hermione story, so you will definitely see points where it is obvious that the story could have veered in other directions.

That being said, one thing to keep in mind about this story is that Harry and Hermione are eleven/twelve years old, and they are in a situation that they are extremely ill-equipped to deal with. Their decision making so far has been very questionable. Events are moving forward as they normally do, but Harry and Hermione are rocking the boat, and each year they're going to rock it a little more, so who knows what will shake loose?

I have fixed a bunch of stuff from previous chapters, including that horrible blunder where I had Hermione call McGonagall just by her name. At least she didn't do it to her face, that would have been a mortifying mistake.

Finally, I have a beta reader! Thanks to Nobody knows PJ like me for going over my terrible typing (seriously, I am an awful typist).


	10. Expectations

**Author's Note: **I didn't intend for people to take the last chapter as a cliff hanger, honest! Apparently it was less obvious then I thought. It isn't a huge spoiler to say that Harry just discovered what a Parselmouth is, and the connotations it has in Wizarding society. I only mention it here because Harry doesn't really reflect on it again until it becomes relevant.

**Chapter 10: Expectations**

**July 31st, 1992**

The summer moved quickly after Hermione's visit, but Ginny had to admit, so far this summer had been a good one. Ginny had often felt alone in the Weasley household, especially since Bill had left. She realized that this was not particularly fair to all of her brothers, as the twins got along with her well enough. But the truth was that she had spent previous summers trying to spend as much time with Luna as possible, away from home. Not that she was unhappy, but it had always seemed as if she was outnumbered there.

All of that had changed this year. Harry was friends with Ron, but it quickly became clear that the two of them weren't so close that Harry wasn't willing to tweak him a bit. Harry had soon found himself staying in Bill and Charlie's old room instead of with Ron just because of that. But one positive from the whole thing had been that Harry had started taking Ginny's side on a regular basis.

At first this had annoyed Ron, but eventually he'd come to the conclusion that Harry just liked to mess with him a bit. Not a lot, Harry wouldn't do anything that approached bullying, but just enough to get Ron wound up. Ron was used to that from the twins, and to be fair to Harry, his pranks were always very mild. One day Ron had woken up to find his toothpaste replaced with cake icing, while another day he'd discovered that Harry had scattered magic dust in his room that turned every orange surface green. It had been temporary of course, but that incident had prompted Harry moving into Bill's room.

Still, for the first time in a long while, Ginny felt like she had an ally among the other children at the Burrow. Luna, when she was around, never seemed to get involved in arguments, at least not so that other people could understand. Ginny's mum was a big help of course, but Ginny hated running to her over every little thing. Harry had allowed her to give as good as she got, and it had felt so good. She still owed him for showing her brothers she could fly a broom. Her mum, of course, hated that she was flying so much now, though Harry insisted that Molly's attitude was at least partially an act to get Ginny to be careful.

And so, things went for most of July. But as things approached the 31st, Ginny noted that Harry was getting excited for his birthday party. More excited than she would have expected from him. When she had asked him why he was acting that way he simply told her that no one had ever thrown a party for him.

"You poor thing!" she'd practically yelled as she hugged him. Harry had seemed a bit embarrassed, but he'd returned her hug all the same.

The truth was that Ginny was worrying about Harry, though not in the way she had expected to. She still remembered the old woman's prophecy, and the words still haunted her a bit. Yet Ginny wasn't unduly worried about Harry falling for some other girl. Harry was just not interested in anything other than friendship. With anyone. Ginny realized that Harry did seem to be especially close to Hermione, but that was to be expected. The truth was that Harry had become a friend to Ginny, and in doing so, had largely dispelled the myth of Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived. She still had a bit of a crush on him, she realised, but it was a crush on the real Harry Potter, and was quite different than what she had held before.

Ginny's worries about Harry had more to do with the secrets that he obviously had. He hadn't explained what that house elf had been doing at the Dursleys for one, and sometimes when she asked him routine things about his life at Hogwarts Harry would quietly redirect the topic. There was something thoroughly unpleasant going on in Harry's life that Ginny didn't understand, but she also understood that he wasn't about to open up to her yet.

The day of the party came before she knew it. Luna came over early to help set up. Justin Finch-Fletchley arrived first with Neville Longbottom. The two weren't close, but Justin lived near Neville so it made sense for Justin to use Neville's Floo. Next to arrive were Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis. Ginny had met Daphne a couple of times, but she had never met Tracey, and she was curious to make the acquaintance of two of Harry's more mysterious friends.

Daphne was beside herself with an apology though. "I'm sorry Harry, I couldn't convince Madame Zabini to let Blaise come. Though she did say she'd let him meet us to buy school supplies."

Ginny had to admit she had wanted to meet Blaise. According to Harry he had a foul mouth and a biting sense of humour. Ginny suspected he would send her mother into fits. Hermione came last, without her parents this time. Harry's face lit up when he saw her. Ginny couldn't blame him for that, Ginny herself had come to like the older girl in the brief time they'd met.

Harry looked at everyone, "Did anyone think to invite Millie?' he asked.

Tracey nodded, "She couldn't come, but she sent this." Tracey handed Harry a letter.

Daphne gave an evil little laugh. "I've been talking to Pansy. Apparently, Draco realized Millie was corresponding with us, and he ordered her to stop. Very abrasively. Millie really hates him now."

Ginny had no idea what this was about, but from what she had heard of the Malfoys anything that was bad for them was probably a good thing.

Soon the party was in full swing. Ginny joined her brothers (sans Percy) as well as Harry and Tracey in a quick Quidditch game. Ginny, Harry and George went versus Ron, Fred and Tracey. Tracey, Ginny noted, was a skilled flyer with excellent team skills.

Afterwards Harry, Hermione and Daphne had gone off to talk about the recent passage of the Muggle Protection Act. Ginny found herself talking to Tracey. It was pretty rare for her to discuss Quidditch with another girl, as Luna had no interest in the sport and her mother seldom paid attention to it. Tracey was also a fan of the Harpies and they soon were talking about the latest from one of the more dominant teams in the league.

A few minutes later, Harry and Daphne walked up. "Tracey, we need your expertise about Beater brooms," said Daphne.

This surprised Ginny, as Daphne had not seemed interested in Quidditch earlier. Tracey gave Ginny a wary look. "Are you sure this is the place?" she asked.

Harry shrugged. "There's nothing anyone can do about it, and the twins will figure it out when we buy the brooms anyway."

Ginny gasped in realization. They were getting top quality brooms for the Slytherin quidditch team!

"The only reason we're doing this," said Daphne, clearly noticing Ginny's distress, "is because Malfoy intended to do it to bribe his way onto the Slytherin Quidditch team."

"That makes sense," said Ginny. And it did. Better for them to take advantage of it after all.

Tracey had gone lost in thought. "The thing with beaters is that sometimes they need to get the long bludger, and other times they need to get close ones. Nimbus 2001 is obviously the best for the long ones, but I'd go with a Cleansweep 7 for the short ones. Maybe one of each?"

"Sounds good," said Harry. Hermione had walked over.

"Oh!" said Harry suddenly, "I got my information from Gringotts." He dashed upstairs, and moments later came down with a small stack of papers. Hermione immediately grabbed it out of his hand, and she and Daphne began studying it.

"You have over 100,000 Galleons in the bank!" said Hermione.

Ginny gasped again as Harry looked stunned. "That's over 500k in pounds!" he said, astounded.

Daphne laughed. "That's not all! You have five times that in investments, plus 200k in some other account called the PH trust. All told you have nearly a 1 million galleon net worth!"

"That's… crazy," said Harry, "I have investments?"

"Looks like they are administered by Gringotts," said Hermione, "The initial investment was…"

"100k," finished Daphne, "Merlin! They over quintupled your money."

Ginny was stunned by this revelation. Harry wasn't just a national hero; he was moderately wealthy. Suddenly she realized just how much of a target this made him for young women looking to marry into wealth.

"This will require some thought," said Harry, "I guess having Gringotts administer things was a good idea though."

Soon everyone else was talking about getting back to school. While Ginny was excited by this, she couldn't help but also feel left out. She hadn't actually been to Hogwarts yet. And a lot of their talk revolved around being in Slytherin.

After a moment, Ginny left to look for Luna. Ginny didn't fully understand why Harry was trying to recruit Luna into Slytherin and not her. Harry had said Ginny was too "open and straightforward." Ginny thought it was a cop-out.

Not for the first time, Ginny considered asking the Sorting Hat that she be sorted into Slytherin. That way she could be with Harry, could be with his friends, whom she was starting to like. It was obvious that they were the true frontline of the fight against the blood supremacists. And she remembered the prophecy. Could Slytherin house be the narrow, twisted path the old seeress had spoken of?

Ginny shook her head. Harry was right. She wasn't up to all the sneaking around she'd need to do to be in Slytherin. And she didn't want anything more than maybe having the boy she had a crush on returning her feelings. No, best to be sorted into Gryffindor.

XXXXX

**August 19th, 1992**

Harry's second trip to Diagon by Floo was rather uneventful. He had arranged to meet with the goblins to discuss the report they had sent him, and Hermione and Daphne had both insisted they be there. Harry had to admit they both knew more about managing money than he did. Daphne had made several helpful suggestions about how to direct the conversation, and while Harry wasn't sure he needed more money, he supposed it wouldn't hurt to look to the future.

The girls were waiting for him at Gringotts. After brief greetings, they made their way to Brokgut's office.

"Mr. Potter," said the goblin, "it is always good to see you. You had some questions about the summary we sent you?"

Harry nodded, appreciating that the goblin wasn't wasting time with small talk. The goblins were quite professional.

"Hermione and Daphne had some questions that I think might help me understand where I'm at financially," Harry said.

"I'd be happy to answer any questions," said Brokgut.

Harry sat down, and the girls took seats beside him across the desk from Brokgut.

"First," asked Daphne, "What is the PH trust?"

"Ah!" said Brokgut with a somewhat embarrassed look on his face, "I should have enclosed an explanation of that I suppose. It was a fund set aside by your father to fund the attempts to restore Potter Hall."

"Potter Hall?" asked Harry.

The goblin nodded. "Potter Hall was the ancestral home of the Potter family until the second world war. While it was not a target of the Germans, an errant load of bombs did hit the residence during the German bombing campaign in 1940. Luckily no one was home at the time. Still, the Potter finances at the time were a little strained, so rebuilding never occurred. Your father was more successful financially than his father and grandfather, largely due to his willingness to invest in muggle businesses, so he finally had the funds to rebuild. He set the money aside, but decided to put the project on hold when he had to go into hiding."

"So, all I have to do is give the go-ahead, and Potter Hall would be rebuilt?" asked Harry.

"It's been over twelve years since the original contracts were negotiated," said Brokgut, "the entire project would have to be restarted. Still he left authorization to pull more money to fund the project from the main account, so we could certainly go ahead and start doing that if you wanted. As a matter of fact, prices are probably less inflated now than they were during the war."

Harry thought about this for a moment, "I'll have to give it some consideration."

"Of course," said Brokgut.

"Gringotts's administers Harry's investments," said Hermione matter-of-factly, "Does it do so independently or under the supervision of his guardian?"

"Independently," said Brokgut, "Unfortunately, because Harry is a minor, he cannot directly manage the accounts without there being some oversight. However, rest assured that the money in the investment accounts is completely inaccessible to the Headmaster, if that is what you are asking. Though he hasn't touched your main account aside from some very minor withdrawals, which we allowed because they were related to your schooling and living arrangements."

That was actually good to know, thought Harry. It eliminated any financial reasons Dumbledore might have had to place Harry in Slytherin. Not that Harry could think of such a reason, but it never hurt to check these things.

"I am primarily invested in bonds and low volatility markets, is that correct?" asked Harry.

Brokgut grinned without teeth. "It would be inappropriate to be making risky financial ventures with the money of a minor without even asking him."

"If I had assembled a list of potential companies for you to vet for investment, would you consider moving some of Harry's money into those companies?" asked Hermione.

Brokgut's eyes were clearly twinkling. "If we thought them appropriate ventures we might indeed do so, so long as we have Mr. Potter's permission. Why not legally necessary, we do like to maintain good relations with our clients."

Harry grinned. "I am interested in pursuing more lucrative investments. Hermione has some suggestions," he motioned at the girl who handed over a list of companies, "I think I'd like no more than 200k of my investments to be moved to higher risk areas for the moment."

Brokgut nodded as he examined the list, "A wise precaution. And this is a very interesting list. Very well, we will look into it. Is there anything else?"

"Anything else you can tell me about the limitations on my account? Has my guardian set any withdrawal limits?"

Brokgut frowned, "Well, Dumbledore can't set withdrawal limits. He does not have that power."

Daphne frowned as well, "I thought that a magical guardian could set such limits?"

Brokgut's eyes widened, "I see you don't understand. Dumbledore's guardianship was granted by the bank on an interim basis because of the incapacity of your actual guardian. However certain circumstances prevent us from fully recognizing his status."

"So, you are saying someone else is my actual magical guardian?" asked Harry.

"Your parent's will assigns your guardianship to Sirius Black," said Brokgut.

The name meant nothing to Harry, but Daphne inhaled sharply. "Sirius Black is in Azkaban," she said angrily, "How is there any possible circumstance that would give him even partial authority over Harry?"

Brokgut narrowed his eyes, "The Ministry never sent us notice of his conviction. Since this is usually done automatically, I have to assume there is some reason they did not, but it means we cannot fully authorize Dumbledore to Harry's accounts. He has a limited ability to withdraw money, and the right to receive reports on the accounts, but he cannot administer them."

"Who is Sirius Black?" asked Harry.

"I do not believe it is my place to discuss such a personal matter," said Brokgut, not unkindly.

"We'll discuss this on the way to your vault Harry," said Daphne. "Thank you for your help Brokgut."

"It has been a pleasure, Miss Greengrass. Miss Granger. Mr. Potter."

Daphne stormed out of the office with Harry and Hermione behind her. "Daphne," said Harry anxiously, "who is Sirius Black?"

"All I know," said Daphne, "Is that he was the scion of one of, no THE oldest pureblood family in Britain. He was supposedly your father's best friend for years. Then when You-Know-Who targeted your family he gave their location to him. He then murdered another of his 'friends', Peter Pettigrew, along with ten muggles."

Harry's blood went cold. Suddenly something began to roar in his mind an anger that seemed to consume everything else. Hermione put a hand on his arm, which calmed him a bit, but not much. "He's in Azkaban?" asked Harry, barely trusting himself to speak.

"For life," said Daphne adamantly.

Harry exhaled slowly as Hermione moved her arm onto his shoulders. "Good," he said. He reached his arm around Hermione's shoulders for a moment in thanks, then he pulled away.

"Let's get some money," said Harry.

XXXXX

As the three of them left Gringotts they saw a small gathering at the foot of the steps up to the bank. Hermione's parents were there, as well as the Greengrasses and the Davises. Also walking up was Blaise and his mother.

Harry ran up to Blaise and extended his right hand while gripping Blaise's shoulder. "Good to see you again," he said.

Blaise laughed, "Yeah, it's good to be seen. My summer's been a bit… frustrating."

His mother seemed annoyed at this, which Harry felt was probably Blaise's intention.

"Well try to stay out of trouble, you missed a lot of Quidditch this summer," said Harry, letting go.

Daphne walked up and gave Blaise a hug. Blaise looked a bit embarrassed by this. "Keep your head Blaise," Daphne said simply.

"We're supposed to meet the Weasleys at Flourish and Blotts," said Harry. He noticed Madame Zabini's nose crinkle when he mentioned the Weasleys.

"We have one stop to make though," said Daphne.

"What's this?" asked Blaise.

"Malfoy's trying to rig the selections for the Quidditch team," said Harry, "We're going to spike his wheel."

XXXXX

There was a big crowd when the group got to Flourish and Blotts. Much larger than there normally would have been. It was clear there was something going on. Once inside they realized that there was a book signing in progress.

"Gilderoy Lockhart!" said Hermione excitedly, "He wrote the entirety of our Defence against the Dark Arts textbook list."

"I've heard a lot about Lockhart," said Blaise, "He might just be the best monster hunter in Britain."

Harry found that to be quite suspicious. Harry pulled one of his books down from the shelf. They looked more like adventure stories than textbooks to Harry. Watching Lockhart, Harry got a strange feeling from him. Lockhart was clearly trying to sell his books, of course. That was understandable. And he was undeniably a handsome man, a fact that seemed to be reinforced by the sheer number of middle-aged witches practically swooning over him. Yet there was something else in his demeanour. Harry couldn't quite place it, but it made him very uneasy.

And then Lockhart locked eyes with Harry.

_Oh bugger,_ thought Harry.

"Harry Potter!" said Lockhart excitedly as he started to make his way towards Harry. He grabbed Harry by the arm and pulled him to where he had been signing books.

"I'd really rather not," said Harry.

"Nonsense!" said Lockhart with a smile as a photographer advanced to take a picture, "together, you and I rate the front page!"

Harry gritted his teeth. "I really need to get back…"

"Just a moment!" said Lockhart, as he turned to the crowd, "When Harry Potter came in today to purchase my autobiography, _Magical Me, _little did he know that he would be leaving with my entire collected works, free of charge."

Harry found a huge pile of books being forced into his hands. He beat a hurried retreat. Lockhart was a glory hound, decided Harry. He was extremely sceptical as to how useful these books would be.

"Here," he said as he approached the Weasleys, "You can have these," as he put the books in Ginny's cauldron.

"Harry…" started Molly.

"I can afford my own," said Harry, "and I owe you for taking care of me this summer."

"Well…" Molly tried to respond.

Ginny grinned wryly. "Thank you, Harry, that really helps us out."

Harry turned, only to come face to face with Draco Malfoy, and an older blond wizard. _Lucius,_ thought Harry.

Bryant gave Lucius a nod. "Doing Draco's Hogwarts shopping Lucius?"

Lucius nodded. "I did not realize things would be so crowded. I usually avoid… riffraff." he looked at the Weasley's significantly.

"Lucius," said Arthur, attempting to put himself between Lucius and his family, but not able to do so because of the crowd.

"I see that you have not moved up in the world Arthur, despite the passage of your Muggle Protection Act." said Lucius as he pulled a battered used textbook out of Ginny's cauldron, "What use is it being a disgrace to the name of wizard if it doesn't even pay well?"

Arthur looked to be about to respond when Bryant grabbed Lucius' arm. "What is this accomplishing Lucius?"

Lucius gave him a look, "You're right, not worth my time." He dropped the books in his hand back into Ginny's cauldron.

"Come Draco!" he said.

As Lucius left Bryant looked confused. "That was damn bizarre," he said as soon as Lucius was out of earshot.

"What do you mean?" asked Arthur.

"That was deliberate," said Harry causing Arthur to look at him in surprise, "Malfoy did that on purpose."

"Oh Harry, I'm afraid the Malfoy and Weasley families have a long history of animosity." said Arthur.

"No, Harry is right," said Bryant, "Lucius is capable of being civil to people he doesn't like. He planned that, and did it deliberately, but I can't for the life of me figure why."

Ginny seemed to be lost in thought. "Why did he come after me," she said so quietly that Harry suspected no one but him heard her. It was a good question.

XXXXX

Once they returned home, Daphne immediately asked her father for a moment alone.

"What is going on Daphne?" her father asked.

"Gringotts informed us that Albus Dumbledore is only registered as Harry's guardian on an interim basis. This is because the Wizengamot never forwarded proof of the conviction of Sirius Black to the bank. What is going on there?"

"So Black is still Harry's guardian?!" said her father in disbelief.

"Yes," said Daphne, "at least as far as Gringotts is concerned."

Her father seemed to think about this for a long time. Finally, he shook his head.

"I don't like this Daphne," he said, "Those notices go out automatically. That Gringotts didn't receive one is a big deal."

He looked her directly in the eyes, "I will look into this, it won't do to have Harry under the guardianship of the man who betrayed his parents."

Daphne smiled, "Thanks!"

But Bryant's frown didn't disappear.

XXXXX

**September 1st, 1992**

Harry had to admit that this had been the best summer of his life. Ron and the twins were good friends, and he'd made new friends in Ginny and Luna. Still he also had to admit that he was glad to be getting back to school. In the months since he had been there Harry felt that events had continued to run in his absence. He wasn't sure exactly what those events were, but he wasn't going to get caught unprepared. He'd managed to buy a large number of books on many topics from magical customs to basic magical housekeeping spells. He might not have as much knowledge of the magical world as some purebloods, but that would change this year!

The Weasleys got off to a particularly late start, as they intended to take Arthur's enchanted car to King's Cross station. A number of different delays kept them from leaving on time, with Fred and George forgetting 'homework' that Harry was pretty sure was actually a prank, and Ginny realizing she'd left behind her diary.

Still the car made good time. Harry couldn't believe they made it to King's Cross from Devon in such a short amount of time, so he figured Mr. Weasley must have cheated somehow, but couldn't really figure out how. Still time was short, and Harry gathered his things quickly.

"Thank you for everything!" he shouted at Arthur and Molly as he went ahead to join his friends.

Making his way into the station he found his way to the entrance to Platform 9. Making sure no one was watching he pushed his cart into the barrier. And nothing happened. A few moments later the Weasleys showed up.

"Go on through Harry," said Molly as she approached.

Harry shook his head. "I can't, someone's sealed it!"

Arthur walked up and pushed against the barrier. Nothing. "One moment," he said as he walked away for a moment. Just a few moments later Arthur came through the barrier.

"There was a house elf sealing it!" said Arthur quietly but urgently.

"Dobby!" said Harry, which got him quizzical looks from the Weasleys.

"The Malfoy House elf who thinks I'm going to be killed horribly at Hogwarts this year," he reminded them, before realizing he had not told them the part about him dying.

"Well, go on through!" said Arthur, who looked a bit worried.

Harry made his way through, followed by the twins. Harry saw Bryant Greengrass talking to the Davises. He waved at them.

As Bryant waved back at him Harry saw something flying towards the Greengrass patriarch, from the direction of the twins. Suddenly Bryant's wand was in his hand and with a twist of his wrist whatever was hurtling towards him was suddenly hurtling towards Fred Weasley. Moments later Fred had a red face with what looked like a lion displayed on each cheek.

"Were you behind that Harry?" asked Bryant curiously.

"No." said Harry, "Though I know that I think of it, they did say they were going to do something after they heard you had forced Daphne to apologize to Malfoy."

"Oh," said Bryant, "well I'm glad it was righteous indignation that motivated them and not a baser motive."

Harry shrugged, "It wasn't a very good prank," he said loudly enough that the twins could hear him.

"You try to come up with something better without using magic!" said Fred.

"Well, without using much magic," said George.

"FRED! GEORGE!" shouted Molly who clearly had heard them.

"Bye, see you at school!" shouted Harry as he boarded the train hastily.

He made his way through the train and found the compartment his friends were in quickly. Hermione of course had arrived early enough to get the compartment right in the middle of the train.

"Cutting it a little close Harry?" asked Hermione, but there was no bite in her voice.

"Blame the Weasleys," said Harry, "I love 'em, but they are very disorganized. Oh, also blame Dobby, who tried to keep us from entering the platform."

"That elf is becoming a problem," noted Daphne.

"What is this?" asked Blaise, "You all have to remember I'm out of the loop because of the fucking bitch."

"Blaise!" said Hermione disapprovingly.

"That might be going a bit far Blaise," said Harry, "Not that I approve of your mother."

"She certainly doesn't approve of you!" said Blaise angrily, "Luckily, even she won't order me to not spend time around the guy who looks like he's taking over Slytherin."

"Try to at least hide your contempt," said Daphne.

"No promises," said Blaise.

Suddenly the trains whistle blew for the last time, and moments later the train was off. Everyone spent a lot of time catching Blaise up on things. Blaise was suspicious of Dobby's appearance at Privet Drive, but then admitted it was unlikely that the Malfoys would send a house elf to do their dirty work.

"My guess is Dobby's warning is accurate, but who the hell knows what Lucius is up to these days," Blaise concluded.

After Blaise was brought up-to-date Daphne raised a finger. "Harry, my father has been looking into Sirius Black's guardianship over you."

"Has he found anything?" asked Harry.

"That's the thing, he hasn't. He's been stonewalled at every turn," Daphne's face looked worried, "He can't find any record of the trial having taken place. Either it has been tampered with or…"

"Black didn't get a trial," said Hermione, shock clearly written over her face.

"So what if he didn't get a trial?" asked Blaise, "He deserves what he got."

Harry sighed deeply. "Much as I want to agree with you Blaise, I can't," Harry said reluctantly, "If Black didn't get a trial, that would be the reason my guardianship is in legal limbo. And I think everyone should have a trial for their crimes. Even Black."

"That's a very mature attitude Harry," said Hermione approvingly.

"We're a society of laws Blaise," Daphne said chidingly, "Just because your family routinely violates them…"

"You can't prove a goddamned thing!" said Blaise, but his grin belied his tone.

Suddenly the door to the compartment flew open and Draco Malfoy walked in, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy and Millicent were behind them, but neither looked interested in being there.

"If it isn't Potter and his band of mudbloods, half-breeds and blood traitors," said Draco haughtily.

"Those words still aren't insults Malfoy," said Hermione casually.

"Shut up Mudblood!" said Draco angrily, "I tried to give you a chance to serve your betters last year, I won't be so merciful this one."

Harry sighed. "Malfoy, we aren't scared of you," he said calmly, "If you try anything, we'll make you pay for it. It's as simple as that."

"This year won't be the same as last Potter," said Draco, "And stop trying to convince my servants to turn against me!"

Millicent's eyes flashed. "I am not your servant, or your friend apparently," she said angrily, before she turned to Harry and his friends, "Thank you all for the very kind letters you sent to me this summer. I look forward to getting to know all of you better."

And then Millie walked out.

Pansy rolled her eyes at Malfoy, "I told you so," she said as she walked out as well.

Malfoy made a dismissive noise as she left, but when he turned around, he was looking at the tip of Tracey's wand. In fact, all of the occupants of the compartment had drawn their wands. Suddenly, Tracey let the point of her wand drop, till it was pointed right at his crotch.

"Leave," said Tracey, "Or I'll cut your bits off."

Malfoy's eyes widened. "Let's go," he said nervously to his goons.

Hermione looked at Tracey disapprovingly. "You'd cut his bits off?"

"I figured it would get his attention." said Tracey.

"It got _my_ attention!" said Blaise as her rather exaggeratedly crossed his arms across his lap.

"I bet you'd have threatened to blow up his kneecap," said Daphne.

"Maybe," said Blaise.

"Gangster," teased Daphne.

XXXXX

As they left the train to the bellowing of Hagrid yelling "Firs' years this way!" Harry and his friends made their way to the carriages that took the older students to Hogwarts. Harry suddenly realized they were pulled by something that looked like skeletal horses, covered in hair, but no flesh. With wings. He stopped and stared; Hermione clearly saw it as well.

"What is that?" asked Harry.

"What is what?" asked Blaise.

"Those things pulling the carriages," said Hermione, "I saw them the last three times I saw these carriages."

Left unsaid was the fact that Harry had somehow missed them when they were last here.

Daphne looked in front of the carriage. "There's nothing there," she said.

"I can see them too," said Tracey, "They're thestrals. You can only see them if you've seen death. I guess you two didn't see quite enough of the carnage in the girls loo to see them."

"I've heard of thestrals," said Daphne dubiously as they moved to one of the carriages.

XXXXX

Arriving at the castle, Harry and his friends made their way towards the Great Hall. Before they'd left the Entrance Hall however Snape appeared in front of them.

"A word with you Potter," said Snape evenly.

"Of course, Professor," said Harry who followed Snape to the side of the hall.

"I have heard you are trying to bribe your way onto the Slytherin Quidditch team," said Snape.

"Did Melody put it that way? I just bought three brooms for the team," replied Harry.

"You bought six brooms," corrected Snape.

Harry shook his head, "No _I _bought three brooms. Bryant Greengrass bought the other three. And we bought them to prevent Malfoy from bribing his way onto the team. I specifically wrote Melody and told her not to show favouritism towards me because of this."

"Why wouldn't you use this to gain advantage?" said Snape contemptuously.

"Because I don't need to bribe anyone to get on the Quidditch team," said Harry, "And because a gift freely given is worth more goodwill than a bribe."

Snape looked at Harry for a moment, his expression unreadable. "Thank you for your time Mr. Potter, you may head up to the Great Hall."

Despite being held up Harry arrived in the Great Hall before most of Slytherin had. Most of them were probably milling around outside. Still his friends were already seated.

As he sat down, Daphne suddenly spoke up. "I nearly forgot! My father was appointed to the Board of Governors last night."

"Really?" asked Harry suspiciously.

"Apparently one of the more conservative members had been resisting retirement until someone whom he considered appropriate was willing to take his place," explained Daphne.

"Does this mean he is taking Dobby's warning seriously?" asked Hermione.

Daphne nodded. "He thinks Lucius might be making a power play of some sort against Dumbledore. My father doesn't like Dumbledore politically, but he does seem to at least partially approve of his administration of Hogwarts. Still I think he's more worried that Lucius will go too far in trying to remove the Headmaster than anything else."

A flood of students suddenly rushed into the Great Hall, as the older students moved to take their seats before the first years arrived. Draco was among the last to be seated, and only managed to do so moments before the doors opened again and the first years walked in.

A lot of them definitely looked nervous, though Harry saw Luna, who looked completely calm, and in fact seemed as if she wasn't noticing anything that was going on around her. Ginny waved to her brothers, then waved at Harry. Harry returned the wave.

"Want to take bets on where Luna gets sorted?" said Harry.

"Your hard work will all be in vain," said Hermione, "No way she ends up in Slytherin."

"Would you care to make a wager on that?" he said smugly.

Hermione shook her head. "No way."

"Good idea," said Blaise.

"Is that... Lockhart sitting at the staff table?" said Hermione.

"Really?" said Blaise, "Well I'll be damned, it is. He must be the new defence professor."

This sorting seemed to go on forever. Finally, it was Luna's turn. The hat was set on her head. And it stayed there for a long time. Luna gave no sign of there being anything wrong, but the Sorting Hat seemed to be contorting in consternation. After almost 10 minutes even McGonagall seemed to be losing patience when suddenly the hat shouted "FINE, SLYTHERIN!"

Harry was immediately up on his feet applauding, and all his friends followed suit, (including Hermione, who was shaking her head). Soon most of the Slytherins were applauding as Luna took a seat next to Harry.

"The hat seemed to think I would do well in Slytherin," said Luna, "but kept trying to put me in Hufflepuff. It said I'd enjoy all the friends I'd make there. While I have no doubt that that would be true, I already have friends here."

Harry threw an arm around her shoulders. "That's right Luna, you do." Harry looked up and saw Ginny rolling her eyes at him. He just stuck his tongue out on an impulse, causing her to nearly break out laughing.

"So, what are you most interested in learning about," asked Daphne politely.

"Oh, magical creatures definitely. My father and I always went looking for rare species and I would love to learn more about them."

"We saw some thestrals today," said Tracey, "They pull the school carriages."

Luna's face brightened. "I'd love to see them."

"Would you?" asked Hermione.

Luna looked at her. "Well it isn't like I won't see them when I see the carriages. I was there when my mother died you see. A spell she was working on backfired a few years back."

Hermione hung her head, "I'm sorry Luna, I didn't know you were there."

Luna smiled, "It's all right, I was sad about it for a long time, but not anymore. Now I just like to think about the good things. Aside from Harry, she's the only person who understands about the things I see."

"Wait," said Hermione quietly, "You _are_ an aura reader?"

Luna nodded, "My mother explained it to me once. She knows all sorts of things like that,"

"Wait," said Blaise, "I thought you said she was dead."

"Just because she's dead, it doesn't mean she isn't still with me," said Luna.

"I agree," said Harry, "I feel the same way about my parents. Somehow, I carry a piece of them in me that will continue on, no matter what happened to them."

"Weasley, Ginevra," read McGonagall.

"Poor Ginny, the last sorted," said Tracey.

"Having the Weasley name can be rough like that," said Blaise, "but as a Zabini I can relate."

"Be nice," said Harry, "They were very kind to me."

"Uh, Harry?" said Hermione, "The hat hasn't sorted her yet."

Ginny was squirming under the hat, clearly arguing with it. She seemed almost on the verge of tears. Finally, the hat shouted "SLYTHERIN!"

The Great Hall was silent for a moment. Then Harry, shocked as he was, leapt to his feet and began applauding, his friends quickly followed suit, though their applause was strained (except for Luna's).

"While I'm glad Ginny will be in my house," said Luna, (as the rest of Slytherin house reluctantly began to applaud) "this doesn't seem right."

Harry watched a shell-shocked Ginny make her way towards the Slytherin table. He noticed Hermione giving him a serious look. No this didn't seem right at all.

**Author's Note:** Ginny joining Slytherin isn't really a twist; I think I foreshadowed it pretty solidly. It does _lead_ to the biggest twist though, so it is pretty momentous. Luna in Slytherin is just fun.

Now that I am in year 2, I do want to talk about what thos story actually is. The Twisted Path was the result of my initial foray into reading Harry Potter fanfiction, about two years ago. Since then I have read a lot of good fanfiction, a lot of bad fanfiction, and some awesomely terrible fanfiction that was just a joy to read because of how earnest it was. The Twisted Path is my love letter to fanfiction. It is my way of giving back to a community that has entertained me to no end.

This is not to say that I am being uncritical here. These are my takes on those tropes that I am using and sometimes I will be inverting them completely. I prefer Harry/Hermione stories because it makes the most sense (it made the most sense in the original novels). That being said, I may use other pairings in other stories as appropriate.

Actually, this story began as sort of a harem story, but as I planned it out I slowly removed all the other serious relationships for Harry. All that's left now of that older concept is a few bumbling dates in fourth year and a major subplot that actually is much stronger without a romantic component. But rest assured that none of this is angsty 'will they, won't they,' stuff. As Daphne noted, it's always pretty obvious who Harry is choosing. In this story at least, it's alway Hermione.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the next chapter. A lot of little moments, including Ginny becoming Blaise's sidekick, and finding out what happens when Blaise and Seamus team up.


	11. Building a Better Slytherin

**Chapter 11: Building a Better Slytherin**

**September 1st, 1992**

Ginny seemed rather rattled as she walked up to the Slytherin table, "The Hat… it said…"

"It said it had no choice," finished Harry quietly, "My sorting had the same thing happen. Dammit, I knew it wasn't Quirrel."

He looked up at McGonagall. She seemed very concerned. He just shook his head at her.

"Wait," asked Ginny meekly, "someone rigged your sorting?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah. I probably should have been sorted into Gryffindor. You definitely should have."

"Was your sorting rigged as well Hermione?" she asked, "I mean since you're a muggleborn…"

Hermione blushed. "Actually, I asked the hat to put me in the same house as Harry."

"Oh," said Ginny.

"What can I say? He was the only person here I knew," said Hermione.

Harry stopped and thought for a moment. He really, REALLY didn't want to have to explain his living situation to Ginny, but it looked like that ship had sailed. But maybe McGonagall could do something.

When he turned back to Ginny, she was muttering to herself. "...the narrow-twisted path to its end," she said barely audibly.

"Hmm?" he asked.

Ginny just shook her head anxiously, "Oh, never mind, I was just musing," she said, then her voice dropped into a mutter again, "Maybe Tom has some advice."

Harry didn't know any Tom, except Tom the barman at the Leaky Cauldron, and Harry didn't think that was who she meant. Still he wasn't about to pry. Merlin knew, he had enough secrets he didn't want other people prying into.

The feast went fairly well all in all. Luna seemed to have put Ginny's odd sorting behind her, and that seemed to put Ginny at ease. Soon they were chatting with Blaise and Tracey.

As the feast wound down, McGonagall came up to Harry and Ginny. "Would the two of you come with me for a second?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Come on Ginny, I told Professor McGonagall about my problem."

They went to one of the rooms off the Great Hall. It was filled with portraits. Harry had never been here before. He made a note that he'd have to explore the castle better.

"I take it that this was another erroneous sorting?" inquired McGonagall.

"I think so," said Harry.

"The hat said it had to sort me into Slytherin," said Ginny.

McGonagall closed her eyes, "Well, we'll have to do something about this."

"Do what?" said the familiar voice of Snape. Harry narrowed his eyes. Snape had entered the room, with the headmaster along with him.

"Do you really have this big of a problem with my house Minerva?" asked Snape.

"I am merely doing my duty as Deputy Headmistress," said McGonagall, "If the Sorting Hat has been compromised…"

"That does seem a bit unlikely," said Dumbledore.

"It happened to me," said Harry, "The hat told me. The only reason I didn't request a transfer was that I wasn't about to leave Hermione alone in Slytherin."

"Do you actually keep that close of a watch on the Sorting Hat?" asked Minerva, "It would only take a moment to do something like this. I asked Filius."

"Headmaster, she is clearly trying to undermine the legitimacy of Slytherin House!" protested Snape.

"Now Severus," said Dumbledore chidingly, "that accusation is unfounded. It seems that she has a clear reason to be suspicious, even if her information is suspect."

"I'm telling the truth!" shouted Harry.

"Oh, and I'm sure she believed you! Just like she believed your father! Every time!" shouted Snape.

"Severus!" said McGonagall angrily, "I punished the Marauders many times for things that they did to you! That was wholly uncalled for."

"Your war against my house has completely consumed your good sense!" yelled Snape.

"Professor McGonagall is the fairest teacher in this school!" retorted Harry.

"Miss Weasley was sorted into Slytherin, and I won't have you filling her mind with silly doubts!" roared Snape.

"I won't have her sorted into a house she isn't suited for!" yelled McGonagall.

"STOP IT!" shouted Ginny. Everyone turned to her. She looked back defiantly.

"No one is asking the most important question. No one is asking what I want," said Ginny, suddenly looking a bit nervous.

"You are quite right," said Dumbledore, "What do you want?"

"I want to stay in Slytherin," said Ginny, which caused Snape to give a grin of triumph, "But I want to be clear. The hat told me my sorting was rigged. I want to stay in Slytherin because it's MY choice."

Harry took Ginny's hand, "Are you sure?" he said as he looked her in the eyes.

Ginny smiled at him, "Yes, I am. And no, it has nothing to do with that. Look, I know there's some sort of trap here for me, so I'm going to spring it!"

"You have no idea why they want you in Slytherin!" protested McGonagall, "For all you know simply being there is the trap."

Harry shook his head. "She's made her choice."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement. "Yes, she has."

Harry grinned at her, "Well, I guess me and my friends will have to keep you out of trouble."

"Pfft, as if you could," said Ginny dismissively, "Also if Hermione was here, she'd kill you for that grammar."

Harry laughed. "You do need to speak to your brothers before the feast ends," he said, as they left the three teachers behind.

"Oh, bollocks," said Ginny, "They're going to give me so much trouble. And what am I going to write to mum?"

XXXXX

As Harry had thought, Ginny's brothers had not been amused by her decision to stay in Slytherin. Ron, of course, had gone ballistic, and Fred and George had been little better. Luckily Percy was a bit more level-headed about the whole thing, and he'd browbeaten his brothers into accepting what had happened, as well as extracting a promise that they'd let Ginny notify her mother of what had happened. By that point the feast had come to an end, so Ginny came back over to Harry and his friends.

As the students left the Great Hall to head to their common room, Harry made sure to intercept Melody.

"Harry, I haven't had time to set Quidditch try-outs…" she started.

"That's not what this is about," assured Harry, "If Wood doesn't ask for permission to recruit from the first years, you should."

"We have a prospect?" asked Melody intently.

"Ginny Weasley," he said, "She'll make a damned brilliant Chaser."

Melody nodded. "Thanks for the tip," she said, "You're trying for Seeker then?"

Harry grinned. "You better believe it."

"Well Wood's already asked permission, so just make sure she shows up at try-outs," said Melody.

Harry returned to his friends.

"What was that about?" asked Hermione.

"I was just giving Melody a tip on a potential Chaser," said Harry.

"You didn't!" said Ginny.

"Just try-out. No one will think anything of it if you don't make it," said Tracey.

"You'd best get with the other first years Ginny," reminded Hermione.

"Oops!" she said as she ran after the line of first year Slytherins leaving the Great Hall.

XXXXX

When Harry and his friends got to the Slytherin common room, Snape was giving his speech.

"...of the great Salazar Slytherin. He was one of the most misunderstood wizards in history, and we share that misfortune. How you behave and perform in your schoolwork will gain or lose you house points. I would...suggest that you not lose too many house points, otherwise you will be answering to me, as well as your well-motivated housemates. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the House Cup. It is a meaningless accolade, but we will be winning it because we ARE the best."

All of the new first years nodded.

"In addition to the school rules, Slytherin house has a number of special rules just for it. Rule number 1: Never bring shame or disparagement onto Slytherin house. Rule number 2 is similar: If you have a conflict with another member of this house, do not air it publicly. Either deal with it privately or come to me if that isn't feasible. But remember, the master rule," Snape paused as he waited for the inevitable question.

"Don't get caught," said Luna absently.

Snape smiled at her. "Just so," he said. Then he began to go into the living arrangements in Slytherin.

Harry sighed. Hermione looked at him. "Something wrong?"

"Yeah," he said, "Ginny's about to find out about...us."

"Oh, poor girl," said Hermione, "She's probably not going to take it, well, is she?"

With Snape done, Ginny walked over to the entrance to what was now the second-year dorms with Luna in tow.

"Well I only have to room with Luna, so that isn't so bad," said Ginny.

"That should be fun," said Hermione.

"Yeah I think…" Ginny stopped as she saw the list of room assignments for the second-year dorms. Specifically, she was looking at the listing for room #5.

"Wait, how are you two rooming together!?" she demanded her eyes hard as diamonds.

"It was a loophole in the rules," said Harry.

"Harry did it because I'm muggleborn." said Hermione, "You know the magical protections on the rooms? They don't work for muggleborns. The very first night I had Draco break into my room with his goons."

Ginny's eyes softened. "So, you moved in with her to protect her? A girl you barely knew?"

Harry shrugged. "I knew she was my friend."

Ginny opened her mouth as if to speak then just shook her head. "All right Potter, you're off the hook this time. For a second I was afraid that you were taking advantage of poor Hermione here."

"Harry is a perfect gentleman," said Hermione.

Luna smiled at them. "Well, we need to get our own room," she reminded Ginny before adding, with an innocent smile, "But I hope the two of you have lots of fun." And then she was gone, with Ginny running behind her gritting her teeth.

"Well, at the very least, Luna has a wicked sense of humour," said Hermione.

Harry nodded as they walked to their room, "I told you there's more to her."

Entering their room, both of them sat on their beds. "Strange, this feels almost like we're coming home," said Harry.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah." She reached into her trunk, grabbed her sleep clothes, then took them behind the screen to change. While Hermione was behind the screen, Harry changed his own clothes. Soon enough they were both changed and in bed.

"Goodnight Harry," said Hermione.

"Goodnight, Hermione."

XXXXX

**September 2nd, 1992**

The next day, Harry got up early. There was a lot to do today, not counting his classes. First thing first, he would try to talk with as many of the new first years as he could. Obviously, Ginny and Luna would be on his side, but the others needed to be set straight. A lot of them probably were getting some very skewed information about him.

Unfortunately, Malfoy had managed to get there first. He was bragging about his accomplishments, which, as far as Harry could see, were all made up.

"Next you can tell them about the time you fought a flobberworm!" he said, "It was an epic battle, but unfortunately the flobberworm was too powerful, and Draco had to retreat."

Ginny laughed. "Flobberworms can be very dangerous," said Luna. The other first years giggled as well.

"Go away Potter, no one asked you about anything," said Malfoy irritated.

"I'm just introducing myself," explained Harry, "Harry Potter is the name, not that I think you didn't know that. I am not in the habit of underestimating my friends. If any of you need any help with anything, feel free to ask."

"Did you really kill a teacher?" asked one of the boys. Harry really wished they hadn't asked about that.

"Unfortunately, yes," said Harry, "He tried to hurt my friend Hermione. No one threatens my friends and gets away with it. My friends and I also took down a mountain troll."

"Brag all you want Potter," said Malfoy, "But this year's going to be different. I've got plans this time."

"Well, I have plans as well," said Harry, "They mostly involve making you look like an idiot, so I think only one of us is getting their way. But I'm not here to brag. Everyone will see that our actions are what's important, not words."

And with that he left. With Ginny and Luna in that group, he had a feeling that most of them would be siding with him.

He waved hello to Millicent as he passed through the common room, then left into the dungeons, heading for the Great Hall. He had invitations to give out.

He was pretty early for breakfast, but he wanted to keep as low a profile as possible, so that meant getting to people before they entered the Great Hall. Sue Li and Padma Patil were already in there however. _Trust a Ravenclaw to be early._

Walking in, he handed the two of them small invitations. "Hermione and I are having a gathering of a few people for lunch. We have some things to discuss with you."

Soon the first year Hufflepuffs were coming in. Harry handed notes to Justin, Susan and Ernie. Ernie was a bit suspicious, but he was apparently that way with anything he didn't understand. Justin and Susan were at least friendly about it.

The last two invitations went to Ron and Neville. Hermione had wanted to invite Parvati, but Daphne had objected on the grounds that Parvati told Lavender everything. It wasn't that Harry didn't trust Lavender, but she was probably worse than Hagrid at keeping secrets.

Hermione was surprisingly late. "You got up early," she commented.

"I've already had a productive day," Harry said with a smile.

"Can't wait for lunch then," said Hermione.

XXXXX

Everyone showed up for the meeting. Harry had decided to keep the Slytherin contingent low, only asking Daphne and Blaise to accompany Hermione and himself. He felt that Tracey, Ginny and Luna all deserved to be here, but he didn't want to make this first meeting too Slytherin centric.

This meeting was going to be far more important than Harry had initially thought. McGonagall had made clear that Snape was becoming more and more of a problem into her attempts to figure out what had happened to Harry and Ginny's sorting. She'd hoped she would be able to continue the investigation, but Snape seemed to accuse her of anti-Slytherin bias when she tried. Dumbledore sided with Snape of course. Harry had noticed that Snape was far more hostile to him this year as well. Not in public, at least not yet.

"So, I guess you are all wondering why I asked you all here," he opened, "Well simply, we want to continue what happened last year, with all the students reporting bullying. But we want to be a bit more organized about it this year."

"I'm sure there's something in this for you Potter," said Ernie.

"Of course," said Harry, "If we play our cards right, we'll be weakening the hand of the Death Eater faction in this school. Isn't that a worthwhile goal?"

Everyone seemed on board for that logic.

"What we are proposing is more than an anti-bullying measure," said Hermione, "What we're proposing is that we form a council, just us here. Together we'll bring the problems each house is having with the others to the council, and deal with them. Maybe we'll be able to deal with something internally. But if we can't, we'll be in a position to bring people from all the houses to bear against the problem."

"You understand that most of those complaints are going to be against Slytherin?" said Ron.

Harry grinned evilly. "Oh yes."

"The idea has merit," said Padma as Sue Li nodded.

"I agree," said Susan.

"I'm with you Harry," said Justin

Ron looked at Neville for a second, "Well I guess we can give this a try," he said, "though I already have an issue. My sister…"

"Ron," interrupted Harry, "Your sister made her choice. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wants to be in Slytherin. We just have to respect that."

Ron nodded glumly. He wasn't happy about it, but he knew that Harry had deliberately not tried to recruit Ginny into Slytherin. This was clearly a set-up.

"We're not so bad," said Daphne, "I mean it's not like she's in the same year as Malfoy."

"I can teach her how to swear properly," said Blaise.

"Why would you do that?" asked Ron.

"It'll annoy the adults," said Blaise.

Ron had nothing to say to that.

"Well if everyone else is willing to give this a chance..." said Ernie, going back on topic.

"You won't regret this Ernie," said Daphne.

XXXXX

**September 3rd, 1992**

"I didn't even vomit when I saw a troll disembowelled, but you two morons just had to top that!" screamed Hermione at Blaise and Seamus Finnigan outside the Great Hall, who were both looking rather shamefaced.

While Harry did agree with her, it was funny seeing the two of them get chewed out by Hermione. Daphne and Tracey were both standing behind her, adding their disapproval to everything she said. Though Tracey looked more amused than mad.

"What's this about?" Ginny asked him as she walked up.

"Lockhart thought that the best way to teach us about Cornish Pixies was to set a whole bunch of them loose on us," explained Harry, "They went nuts, of course. Most of the class ran out. Not the five of us of course, and Ron, Neville, and Seamus stayed as well. Anyway, Hermione gave us all a spell to freeze the pixies in place, but Seamus and Blaise decided to use their own spells."

"That sounds ominous," said Ginny.

"Seamus set one on fire, and Blaise blew it up," confirmed Harry, "There were little chunks of pixie gore everywhere."

"Little chunks of flaming pixie gore," corrected Tracey, with a glint in her eyes.

"Ewww," said Ginny, "You know, there have been times that I've regretted not being in your year, but you know what? I'm fine with it now."

"So, what have you learned from all this?" demanded Hermione.

"Hey it isn't my fault every spell I cast has a chance of setting things on fire!" protested Seamus.

"Yes, it is," said Daphne and Tracey in unison.

"It really is," muttered Harry to Ginny, "He really needs more self-control."

"I promise not to use the Reductor on living things that aren't threatening me with great bodily harm," said Blaise.

"Thank you, Blaise," said Hermione.

"What I don't understand is why Lockhart thought that this would be a good lesson," said Tracey.

"Well everyone can have a bad lesson," said Hermione.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"I bet he was just trying to see what we could do if left in a bad situation," said Blaise.

Now that was uncharacteristic of Blaise, thought Harry. Usually, he'd be the first to pile onto an incompetent moron.

"That's why he immediately ran away?" asked Harry incredulously.

"Well, I'm sure he came back later to make sure we handled it," said Blaise defensively.

"And I want to know how impressed he is by the burned, exploded pixie corpse," said Daphne.

"You don't think he knows I blew it up, do you?" asked Blaise.

"Ummm, well it's rather perfectly obvious," said Harry, "so no, he's far too thick for that."

Hermione blushed and Blaise scrunched up his face as if he was pouting.

Harry had to wonder what was going on with Blaise. Hermione clearly had a crush on Lockhart, which was fine. He was a handsome man after all, even if his personality seemed a little fake. The fact that Harry was constantly telling himself that it was fine and normal probably didn't mean much. Nope there was nothing to examine there. But why was Blaise defending him so much?

There was one possible explanation, but Harry wasn't quite sure he was ready to make that leap yet. Still, Harry was beginning to suspect that there was more to the story of Blaise's mother offering the Greengrasses a marriage contract than he had suspected.

XXXXX

**September 9th, 1992**

Hermione was beginning to think that Harry had gone a little power hungry in regards to Luna and Ginny. Well, that wasn't entirely fair. Blaise was the one causing trouble with Ginny, but Harry was definitely not moderating Luna's… weirder tendencies.

The issue with Luna _was_ that she was just weird. The other Slytherins saw it right off. So, Harry's advice had been for her to double down on the weird. "Make them think you _want_ them to think you are crazy," he had said.

Hermione wasn't so sure she wasn't crazy, but Harry's advice had resulted in Luna acting positively deranged. Harry seemed to think that this was brilliant, but Hermione wondered if Luna had been filtering her crazier thoughts all along. But often, out of the blue, Luna would make a positively insightful and relevant comment. Despite her doubts, Hermione had to admit that Luna was far cleverer than her everyday actions would indicate. And as she spent more time around the girl, it almost seemed as if her completely random observations were more on point than Hermione had first thought. For example, Wrackspurts tended to show up in Luna's vocabulary when someone was noticeably confused.

Despite Hermione's reservations, she had to admit Luna was just acting like she had previously acted, only more so. Ginny's personality was undergoing some radical shifts. Ginny had, for some reason, decided to emulate Blaise's blunt aloofness. And while it seemed to be working, Hermione couldn't approve of just how blatantly Ginny was manipulating her persona.

Blaise, of course, thought that having his own little apprentice was fantastic. He gave her a lot of little lessons like "never be sincere when you can be sarcastic," and "profanity sells the 'don't give a fuck' attitude." The result had been that Ginny's language had deteriorated. Rapidly. But even worse was the fact that it was working. Most of the other Slytherins in Ginny's year seemed to approve of it!

So, Hermione did what she usually did when something wizards did confused her. She asked Daphne.

"Hmmm," said Daphne, "That's actually a hard tactic to pull off, but with Ginny… hmm, yeah it's a solid one."

"I don't get it though. She's being rude and sarcastic all the time!" protested Hermione.

"Not to us," said Daphne.

"That's...true," said Hermione, wondering about the significance of that.

"She's a pureblood in Slytherin Hermione, she doesn't have to explain herself," said Daphne, "Hell, she's from one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight! Now we aren't impressed by that, so she doesn't try to play it up with us. But to the rest of the house, acting as if she doesn't care what people think of her makes her look powerful."

Hermione shook her head. "Pureblood politics are crazy."

"Still," said Daphne, "maybe we should warn her about Blaise. He can be a bit...angry sometimes."

So that was how Hermione found herself outside the door of Ginny's bedroom. She knocked politely, and Ginny opened the door.

"Hermione?" said Ginny, "What are you doing here?" Ginny sounded puzzled rather than anxious, which made Hermione feel a bit better. She was worried that the girl's jealousy would get the better of her some time. It hadn't yet, but Hermione was decidedly wary.

"I just wanted to have a quick word with you privately," said Hermione, "You've been acclimating to Slytherin well, but I just wanted to make sure that you understood some things."

Ginny nodded and motioned Hermione in. Luna wasn't in, which was good. Ginny shut the door behind her.

"I'll get right to the point," said Hermione, "Blaise is a great guy, and he's been a big help to Harry and I. And he doesn't hold any personal animosity towards muggleborns, but he does think that established magical families should run wizarding society. Not necessarily purebloods mind you. It's just that he sees the Death Eaters as being a bigger threat to wizarding society than anything else. So just remember, he means well, but a lot of the advice he gives you is going to be based on the idea that you have a right to act in certain ways, just because of your heritage. Now I'm not saying we can't use your heritage to your advantage, but I just want you to understand that we aren't trying to create that type of society."

"So why does Blaise go along with you?" asked Ginny.

"Because there is no 'equal rights for muggleborns except when it comes to the Wizengamot faction," said Hermione, "the same reason Bryant Greengrass aligns with the Death Eaters."

"Doesn't that make you angry?" asked Ginny.

Hermione sighed and shook her head. "No. It makes me sad," she admitted, "I'm hoping, that as he grows up, Blaise will see how much that line of thought hurts me."

Hermione shook her head. "But there is more. Just...try to stay out of any altercations he has with his mother. He hates her, and to some degree she deserves it, but his hate isn't entirely rational. By all means give him a sympathetic ear if he complains, just try not to get sucked into his plans to get back at his mother. She's a very dangerous and vindictive woman."

"I can see why that would be a good idea," said Ginny.

"Good," said Hermione.

"No lectures on my language?" asked Ginny.

Hermione laughed. "Don't worry, I'll still tell you off for swearing. But that's a personal choice for you. I mean it's a bad one…"

"Aw, get fucked," said Ginny, but with a smile.

Hermione sighed. Baby steps.

XXXXX

**September 13th, 1992**

And so, the big day arrived. Quidditch try-outs. Malfoy still seemed to be acting as if his big plan was going to make Harry look like a fool. Harry had to wonder, had he not talked to Melody at all?

The stands by the Quidditch pitch were filled with students from Slytherin. Pretty much everyone was there, which made sense. Anyone from another house trying to approach the pitch would get a rather painful and nasty surprise with this crowd around. Snape was also watching.

So that was how everyone in the house got to see Malfoy absolutely freak out when Melody told him that Harry and Daphne had already donated brooms to the team.

"But I have Nimbus 2001's!" shouted Malfoy.

"And? I'd rather have good brooms without strings attached than great ones with," said Melody, "Now Harry made me promise not to take this into account as far as who makes the team, so if you want to try out you have as much chance as anyone else."

Malfoy walked off steaming. Apparently, his father had already bought the brooms. Harry really hoped the store had a no refund policy.

Try-outs started with the Chasers, which made sense. There were a number of older students trying out for chaser. Most of them were decent flyers, but they all seemed to lack the killer instinct in their solo flights. Tracey and Ginny were both trying out as well. Tracey did relatively well in her solo trial, and Ginny was brilliant. She was the clear standout of all the fliers. She made every shot, and did it well. Harry was a bit worried at how she'd do with the partner try-outs. Luckily, she ended up teamed with Tracey.

That was a revelation. Tracey seemed to have an instinct for all the teamwork elements of playing chaser. She knew when to pass the Quaffle, when to get open, when to push for the score. Ginny on the other hand seemed to trust Tracey enough to follow her lead. She passed when Tracey indicated, and when she had a clear shot, she took it. They made an incredible team.

Melody walked over to Harry as they finished their last run. "You were right Potter, that was something else."

"Now_ I_ just have to make the team," said Harry.

The next try-outs were Keeper try-outs. It immediately became clear that there weren't very many good candidates. Surprisingly, Millicent Bulstrode had pushed to try out for the position. While not the most adept flier, she seemed best able to keep her eyes on the Quaffle, and made the most stops, even if they lacked the flair of some of the other stops others had made.

The beaters came up next, and that was a more interesting contest. The old beaters tried out again for their positions, but it immediately became clear that Melody despised them. Crabbe and Goyle tried out, and they had some skills, but Melody was also wary of them. However, the day was saved by Blaise and Nott trying out together. Both showed off their individual skills quite well, but flying together they seemed to form a team. Blaise had a lot of power, and hit the bludger hard from the outside, while Nott played closer to the action placing his shots carefully. They weren't up to the standard of the Weasley twins, but they made up for it by having clearly defined roles that they excelled at.

Finally, there were the Seeker try-outs. Word seemed to have gotten around that Harry and Draco were both trying out, and so there weren't any other hopefuls. The test was simple. The snitch would be released three times, and Harry and Draco had to catch it.

The first snitch almost proved Harry's undoing. Malfoy saw it first, and the superior speed of his broom got him to the snitch faster than Harry. The snitch juked a bit at the last minute, causing Malfoy to try to correct his Nimbus 2001. The yaw sent it vastly off course, giving Harry time to sweep in and pick up the snitch. The second time Harry saw the snitch first, and he managed to grab it before Malfoy even saw that it had been spotted. The third snitch was the most embarrassing for Malfoy, Harry snagged it from right behind Malfoy's head.

"I demand another try!" shouted Malfoy over the cheers of Harry's friends. Most of the first years seemed to be cheering him on as well.

"You had your chance Malfoy," said Melody.

"What am I going to do with seven Nimbus 2001's?" he demanded.

Melody stared at him. "Not my problem."

Snape smirked slightly from the sidelines. Harry hadn't really thought about it, but Malfoy really had made the Potions Professor's life difficult. Harry almost thought he would like the man, if only he didn't seem to absolutely loathe Harry.

XXXXX

**October 10th, 1992**

Harry hadn't had a lot of encounters with new first years outside of Slytherin, but one meeting had been memorable.

"Harry Potter!" an excited young voice had shouted.

Harry had turned around, only to be blinded by the flash of a camera.

"Give a man some warning!" he said somewhat angrily.

"Sorry!" said the boy, "My name's Colin Creevey by the way!"

"Hello Colin," said Harry as he extended his hand, "Good to meet you."

"Can I get another picture?" asked Colin, and before Harry could answer he was blinded again.

"Look, Potter has a fan club!" shouted Malfoy who was walking by, "Or is it a boyfriend?"

"You're just jealous that someone wants to take my picture," retorted Harry, "the only person who ever wanted to take your picture was a sculptor who wanted a model for his gargoyles."

Malfoy sputtered, but ran off without making a retort.

"That was incredible!" said Colin excitedly.

"Eh, Malfoy's all talk, and even that he can be outwitted at," said Harry, "Nice to meet you Colin, but I've got to get to class!" And with that he took off, almost, but not quite running.

"Wait Harry," shouted Colin after him, "WAIT! IT'S SATURDAY!"

XXXXX

**October 31st, 1992**

As the year ran on, Harry began to feel comfortable. Things were going rather well. The Slytherin First years had largely divided into two camps. One group was uninterested in getting involved in Harry's power struggle with Malfoy, the other (larger) group had aligned with Harry.

Harry had taken to visiting Hagrid again. Despite everything, he liked the giant man. Hagrid, on the other hand, was having a lot of problems. For one thing, something was killing his roosters. "They were all strangled, I've never seen ought like it," said Hagrid, "A wild animal wouldn't jus' leave their corpses like this."

Hagrid also noticed that the centaurs were getting a lot more restless than usual. " Can't understand why they're acting so rowdy recently," he said cagily. There was clearly something behind his eyes that showed he DID have an idea what the centaurs were angry about, but he clearly didn't want to talk about it.

Other than that, Harry was doing well in his classes. In fact, he was doing better than the year before. Hermione really was rubbing off on him. He'd even gone to her study group with the Ravenclaws a few times. Blaise had made fun of him a bit for that, but Harry didn't mind.

Beyond that Harry was coordinating the 'war council' as they were calling it. They'd stopped a lot of Slytherin house members from terrorizing younger students, some of them from Slytherin. Snape could say what he wanted about Slytherins not turning in other Slytherins, but as far as Harry was concerned, that rule was dead. Harry and his people absolutely delighted in turning in the bullies to Flitwick and McGonagall. Some of the bullies weren't from Slytherin though. Some of the Ravenclaw girls had gotten into trouble for calling Luna "Loony Lovegood," while a few Gryffindors had gotten into trouble for trying to trick some of the Slytherin first years into jumping off the second floor of the Grand Staircase. The only house that didn't seem to have a substantial bullying problem was Hufflepuff.

Luna herself had rather famously started to become Harry's protégé. When neither of them was in class, she had a tendency to follow him around, taking notes about the people he interacted with. Harry felt that this was a bit weird, but he really couldn't ask her to stop. The truth was that her observations were helpful. Harry was starting to trust Luna almost as much as Daphne or Tracey. But Harry also recognized that Luna wasn't quite as adaptable as Daphne and Tracey. Despite his earlier reading of the girl, he'd come to realize that she viewed morality as a far more black and white thing than most of Harry's other friends did. Harry wasn't disappointed by this however. It was refreshing to have a friend who didn't see everything as a moral grey area.

The line-up for the Slytherin Quidditch team had been released, and Harry had obviously been made Seeker. Millie was the Keeper, and Blaise and Nott had obviously made Beater. And Ginny and Tracey had been the new Chasers. All in all, Harry thought it would be a strong team. Gryffindor likely wouldn't be expecting them to have so completely retooled, so their first match would be a good chance to get some licks in.

Ginny had been ecstatic on making the team, but in general she was keeping to herself more and more. Both Harry and Blaise had taken to asking her to do things with them and their friends. Harry also noted Ginny wasn't talking with her brothers very much. She hadn't even told her parents that she had made the house team. Combined with her new aloof personality, Harry was also very worried that she wasn't making friends with other people in her year. Even Blaise had begun to worry about her a bit.

Still, by and large, things had been uneventful. Lockhart, of course, continued to be incompetent, and even Hermione was finding it difficult to continue defending him. Harry was starting to come to terms with the fact that he might be a bit jealous of the attention Hermione was showing Lockhart, though he insisted that it was only because Hermione deserved to have a crush on someone better than Lockhart. When he'd said that to her, she'd actually kissed him on the cheek without another word. Blaise on the other hand wasn't backing off on his Defense of the DADA teacher.

On Halloween, Harry was looking forward to this year's feast. There wasn't going to be a murderous attack by other students, or a troll this year. Ginny on the other hand wasn't feeling well all day. After classes she said that she wasn't going to be at the Feast.

"Neither will I," said Luna, "I received an invitation from that dear Ghost, Sir Nicholas. He's having a Deathday Party. It sounds very interesting."

"Why did he invite you?" asked Hermione.

"None of the Gryffindors wanted to come," said Luna.

"That surely isn't ominous," said Ginny.

"Well I'm sure the party won't be meant for the living," said Luna, "But I'm certain it will be fascinating."

Harry smiled. "Well, have fun Luna. I hope you see some gross ghosts."

"So do I," said Luna.

So that was how Harry found himself eating at the Halloween feast with just his second-year friends. It was a good time of course, the food was good, and the Great Hall was spectacularly decorated. Still, something was nagging him. Somehow it didn't feel right to be celebrating on this day, the anniversary of his parents' deaths. This dampened his spirits a bit. Hermione seemed to notice, and she seemed to be working overtime to keep Harry distracted. Harry appreciated her concern of course, but he wasn't actually upset. He was just a bit sad.

As the feast came to an end Harry stopped for a moment. He heard a voice, a hissing voice, but couldn't understand it over the din of the crowd. His eyes widened as he thought back to the book on magical abilities he'd read over break. This was his Parselmouth ability working! He was hearing a snake. Which, all things considered, was not something that he wanted to broadcast to the whole school.

As they walked out of the Great Hall, Harry saw water flowing down the stairs from the first floor. That was strange. Largely as a whole, the entire student body began to climb the stairs to see what was up. Coming to the floor above, they saw Luna standing over Mrs. Norris in the flooded hallway, poking her with her wand. She looked up at them.

Unfortunately, it was at this exact moment that Filch arrived. "What have you done to my cat, girl?!" he roared.

"I was poking her with my wand," said Luna, "She seems to have been petrified."

"Petrified!" shouted Filch, "You petrified my cat?!"

"Argus!" shouted the voice of the Headmaster. He marched in flanked by Snape and McGonagall.

"This girl has petrified Mrs. Norris!" yelled Filch.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Snape, "Miss Lovegood is a first-year student. She couldn't petrify a fossil."

"Why were you up here Miss Lovegood?" asked McGonagall in a kind voice.

"I was walking Myrtle back to her bathroom," said Luna, "She was at Sir. Nicholas' Deathday party, but no one was being very nice to her. I felt sorry for her, so I told her I'd keep her company on the way up here."

"Myrtle?" Harry whispered to Hermione.

"She's a ghost, she haunts the bathroom right over there," replied Hermione.

"Where is Myrtle?" asked McGonagall.

"She ran off when she saw Mrs. Norris," sqaid Luna.

Dumbledore's eyes seemed to grow sad for a moment. "So, you know nothing about this writing then?"

Writing? From Harry's perspective he couldn't see writing. Straining his neck, he saw words on the wall, seemingly written in blood.

_The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir... beware._

Luna looked at the words on the wall. "I'm sure I don't know anything about that," she said.

Harry suddenly realized that this was almost certainly related to his brief Parselmouth experience moments ago. He pushed his way through the crowd.

"Headmaster!" he said urgently, "I may have some information."

Dumbledore's eyes widened for a moment, then he nodded. "I will speak to you momentarily." he said before turning to Flich.

"Do not worry Argus, Mrs. Norris will be revived. Our second-year students have been growing Mandrakes, which is the primary ingredient in the potion to cure her."

Draco was looking at the scene with a self-satisfied smirk. "Who wants to bet Lovegood did this on Potter's orders," he said smugly, "Everyone knows she's his errand girl."

"You better hope Harry isn't behind this Malfoy!" said Daphne, "You'd be his first victim."

Dumbledore waved Harry into a nearby classroom. McGonagall and Snape followed them in.

"So, what do you know Harry?" asked Dumbledore.

"I heard a voice in the Great Hall, just before we left the feast." said Harry, "It...it was a snake. I couldn't hear what it was saying, but it was definitely a snake."

"Potter, are you a Parselmouth?" asked McGonagall.

"That would not be a surprise." said Dumbledore, who seemed unfazed by this turn of events, "The mark Lord Voldemort left on Harry is more than a scar. It is entirely possible that some of his abilities were passed on to Harry. And Lord Voldemort was a Parselmouth."

"And the Chamber of Secrets was the personal sanctuary of Salazar Slytherin," said Snape.

"It would stand to reason that his monster was some sort of snake," said McGonagall.

"Thank you, Harry," said Dumbledore, clearly dismissing him.

As Harry left the room, Lockhart ran in. "I just heard!" the man said, "If I had been here, I know just the spell that could have saved poor Mrs. Norris."

Snape and McGonagall looked at Lockhart with complete contempt. At least they hadn't taken leave of their senses.

As Harry headed towards the Slytherin Common room, he decided to keep the fact that the voice he had heard was a snake to himself. If the rest of the school found out that he was a Parselmouth, everyone would probably believe that he did it. He didn't really need that.

XXXXX

**November 2nd, 1992**

Bryant Greengrass was very, very concerned about the situation at Hogwarts. The Chamber of Secrets was no laughing matter. The moment he heard about the strange message on the wall of the castle he'd made his way to the ministry, to have a look at the Wizengamot inquiry that had been conducted after the last time the Chamber had been opened. The report had been sealed, but as Fudge wasn't stonewalling him on this at least, it was easy enough to get around that. That made it very different from his attempts to find information on Sirius Black, where Dolores Umbridge had very nearly threatened him if he looked into things further.

The account was grim. Seven students petrified. One killed. The culprit had been identified as Hagrid, who had supposedly brought an acromantula into the school. That sounded very wrong. Hagrid did have a love of creatures, even dangerous creatures. But as far as Greengrass knew Acromantulas couldn't petrify people. He supposed it could be some modified variant, but that seemed a bit unlikely.

Worse was the information on the person who had identified Hagrid. His name was Tom Riddle, a student from Slytherin. He'd later been Head Boy. He'd seemed to have had a promising career coming. But all inquiries that Greengrass had made had ended almost immediately. A few years after leaving Hogwarts, Riddle had simply vanished.

Did this have something to do with Lucius? His house elf had warned something horrible was going to happen. Greengrass hoped not. Their alliance was already being put to the test. Lucius had been angry that Bryant had helped Harry humiliate Draco. Draco had been so angry over the whole thing he'd told his parents that Daphne hadn't in fact apologized to him, but had blackmailed him to say so. However, when Lucius had told this to Greengrass, it hadn't received the response Lucius expected. Greengrass was actually proud of his daughter, and had outright told Lucius that Draco had made his deal with her and now had to live with the consequences.

But if this was all part of a plot to take down Dumbledore, Greengrass wanted no part of it. He was not about to put the safety of the students of Hogwarts at risk. That still left him at a loss about what to do with the information he had found about the Chamber. He decided to send copies to Daphne. She and her friends would be in an excellent position to try to find out more, and he had to admit they were rather intelligent. Meanwhile he'd continue to look for more information on Riddle.

For a moment he thought of asking Dumbledore for more information. He had been at the school at the time, after all. But Greengrass put it out of his head. Dumbledore would surely brief the board on anything they needed to know.

**Author's Note:** So for those of you who were expecting Ron to go ballistic here, well, that was the original intention. But I wanted to slow down the suspicion of Harry a bit for this story. If Ron is angry at Harry, there is no way he doesn't jump on the Harry is the Heir train. The other issue was that making Ron the primary face of Gryffindor anti-Harry sentiment would have required him to win a fight with Blaise later. Which, uh, isn't likely.

Also, McGonagall wasn't upset at the Sorting because of the amount of time, it was Luna's attitude. She thought Luna wasn't taking it seriously. Luna was taking it seriously, of course.

Anyway, 3 more chapters until this story goes off the rails and into the abyss screaming.


	12. Things Always Get Worse

**Chapter 12: Things always get worse…**

**November 6th, 1992**

"Sorry it took so long," said Harry to Hermione as he left Greenhouse 3, "Sue is a bit of a stickler about cleaning up after ourselves. I didn't want to act as if I was making her do everything."

"It's not a problem," said Hermione.

"I wish we still had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs," said Harry, "Sue is a better student, but I had a lot more fun with Justin."

Hermione patted Harry on the back. "Poor Harry," she said, not quite mockingly.

Harry suddenly stopped as he saw two figures approaching the Greenhouses. Four legged figures. Big ones.

"Centaurs," he said quietly.

"This could be our chance!" said Hermione. Harry nodded. Ever since Bryant Greengrass had sent them copies of the Wizengamot inquiries, they had been looking for a way to confirm that the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest were not able to petrify people. This might be their chance.

Harry walked up to the centaurs and gave a polite bow. "Good afternoon! Were you looking for Professor Sprout?"

One of the Centaurs nodded, "We have been collecting some seeds for her from the forest. She pays us with seeds from the more exotic magical plants in these Greenhouses. Normally we would not labour for humans, but Pomona is a friend."

"I'll go get her," said Hermione. She walked back towards the greenhouse.

"My name is Harry Potter," Harry introduced himself.

"I am Firenze," said one of the centaurs, "and this is Ronan. We have heard of you Harry Potter."

"Have you heard about the recent troubles at our school?" Harry asked.

"You mean the Chamber of Secrets being opened again?" asked Ronan, "Yes, we were informed."

"I hope this time we don't get another infestation from it," said Firenze, "Yet my examinations of the stars tell me otherwise."

"You are referring to the Acromantula infestation?" asked Harry.

Ronan nodded. "You are aware of how that started?"

"I know an acromantula was driven from the castle 50 years ago," said Harry.

"Hagrid's acromantula," said Ronan.

"There is no point in blaming him now," said Firenze, "He has already been punished for that transgression. Now we must find some way to deal with the infestation."

"They're just normal Acromantula though right?" asked Harry, "I mean they can't petrify people can they?"

Ronan shook his head. "No, they cannot."

"So Hagrid definitely didn't open the Chamber of Secrets," said a relieved Harry.

"The creature Hagrid had was named Aragog," said Firenze, "He has more wit than most Acromantula, but once he dies his offspring will begin an assault upon our people that may carry us away."

"Why isn't the Ministry taking action on this?" said Harry, "I mean, Hogsmeade and Hogwarts are right here!"

"A good question Harry Potter," said Firenze, "Pomona has arrived."

"Well, thank you for your answers Ronan, Firenze," said Harry as Hermione approached with Professor Sprout, "I'll see what I can do in regards to your acromantula problem. I do know a few people on the Wizengamot. Maybe they can put a bounty on them or something."

"That'll make Hagrid thrilled," said Hermione, "To him they're just 'misunderstood creatures.'"

Harry walked away at a brisk pace. "We definitely need to find out more about Riddle," he said.

Hermione nodded her understanding that he had received the confirmation that the acromantula could not petrify someone. "Should we spread the word?" she asked.

Harry pondered this. So far only Harry, Hermione, Daphne, Tracey and Blaise knew about Riddle. Well, Harry was sure Dumbledore knew as well, but he didn't count. They hadn't told the war council. They hadn't even told Luna and Ginny.

"I have a feeling that if we start telling people, it will get around that we are looking for Riddle," said Harry, "That could drive our vandal into hiding."

"Do you think it's Malfoy?" asked Hermione.

Harry pursed his lips anxiously. "I'm not sure about that. Seems to me that he wouldn't be taunting me if he was. It draws far too much attention to him."

Hermione sighed, but nodded along. There were still far too many questions about what was going on for Harry's liking. He'd have to keep his eyes open.

XXXXX

**November 7th, 1992**

Harry and the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team stood with their brooms just inside the locker rooms. Most of the team was new, so they all had nerves, though Ginny seemed to have the most. Due to not wanting to alert the Gryffindor team to the new Slytherin roster, Ginny hadn't told anyone that she was one of the Slytherin chasers. That had included her mother and father. As a result she was absolutely terrified of what the reaction she was going to get from her brothers would be.

Harry himself was anxious, but not overly so. It would happen how it would happen.

"Let's go!" said Melody and they left the locker room and mounted up on their brooms. Harry let off the ground and was soon flying above the pitch. The crowd had gone crazy, as the Gryffindors had emerged at the same time. He saw that the line-up of the Gryffindor team was more or less the same, except at Seeker they had… Colin Creevey? Harry wondered if this was another gimmick. He guessed he'd just have to keep his eyes open.

Ginny had flown over to her brothers. "Ginny, what are you doing?" asked Fred with wide eyes.

"Mum's going to have a heart attack!" said George.

"I don't know what business it is of Mum's, seeing how she let Ron play last year," said Ginny, "And what I'm doing, is getting ready to kick you're arses."

The twins grinned. "That's our sister."

The two teams lined up, with Lee Jordan yelling excitedly about the new Gryffindor Seeker. It was rather typical actually, he'd barely mentioned the new Slytherin line-up. Harry grinned. The Gryffindor team was actually smirking. They thought they'd have an experience advantage, and maybe they would. But the Slytherins had a few surprises in store for them.

Madame Hooch quickly gave her pre-game speech to the teams, then released the snitch, bludgers and finally the Quaffle. With the Quaffle thrown up both teams surged into motion. Ginny had the quickest reaction, and she snagged the Quaffle, then with two quick cuts she blew past all three of the Gryffindor chasers and made a beeline for the goals. The twins had managed to get to one of the bludgers and tried to hit it towards their sister, but it curved away, forcing one of them to go try to intercept it again. Blaise managed to get to the other bludger and with a mighty swing he sent it towards Wood. Wood had no choice, he ducked, and as he ducked Ginny threw the Quaffle through the center hoop.

The Slytherin stands went crazy.

Harry quickly began to search for the snitch. It was hard, because he wanted to watch the rest of the game. Lee Jordan was rather biased, but he did give good commentary.

"Alicia Spinnet to Angelina Johnson, Johnson to Katie Bell, Bell to Johnson. Angelina Johnson shoots! WHAT A SAVE BY BULSTRODE!" Jordan shouted.

Harry grinned. Things were going according to plan.

On the second Slytherin drive Ginny pushed out ahead. Fred Weasley was still trying to wrangle his bludger, which refused to head towards the Slytherin chasers, and kept shearing off in the other direction, towards Harry. The three Gryffindor chasers moved to intercept Ginny, but she suddenly passed the Quaffle back to Tracey. The chasers moved to cover the pass routes from Tracey to Ginny and Melody. Suddenly Blasie knocked the other bludger towards the group, but before it arrived Nott smacked it in the direction of Katie Bell. Katie dodged, and Tracey passed to Melody, who surged forward, faked out Wood, then scored.

Harry was going to cheer but suddenly he had other problems. Fred Weasley had finally got fed up with the bludger, and hit it as hard as he could. It curved around, directly towards Harry.

"Oh bloody hell," said Harry. That was very bad. Very, very bad.

He quickly dodged out of the bludger's way and flew forward. Looking back, he saw that the bludger had swung around and was coming for him again.

Suddenly the entire Slytherin section was on their feet screaming "RIGGED! RIGGED!"

Melody flew by, "What's going on Harry?" she shouted.

"Bloody bludger's chasing me, that's what!" he yelled back, "Who needs beaters when you can just enchant the bloody bludger to do your work for you?"

"You really think this is the Gryffindors?" asked Melody.

"I don't know who it is, but they don't mean me well," he said before he was too far away for her to hear him.

"Should we cover you?" shouted Nott, who was closing with Harry now.

"No," replied Harry, "I'm going inside, just stay away from me!"

Blaise and Nott both grinned as they realized what Harry was doing.

Harry flew right for the formation of Gryffindor chasers, flying as close to them as he could. The bludger tore their formation apart as they scrambled to avoid it. But the Gryffindors learned their lesson. From that point on in the match the Gryffindors only used loose Chaser formations.

With Harry acting as a wrecking ball through the Gryffindor formations, and the Weasley twins caught in a battle with Blaise and Nott over the sole remaining bludger, the tide turned decisively in favor of Slytherin. The Gryffindor team was caught on the back foot and soon Slytherin was up 60-20. Harry was finding it hard to look for the Snitch, so he just had to hope he got lucky.

Slytherin was up 80-30 when Harry saw the snitch. He did a loop to try and throw off the bludger and then pushed his broom to max speed. Colin had also seen the snitch and was closing fast, but Harry had the shorter distance. He reached out his hand to grab the snitch..

And the bludger hit it, making a loud snapping sound. Harry veered a little off course as he tucked his broken arm around the broom, then tried to grab the snitch with his other hand. But it was too late. Colin had caught up, and he grabbed the snitch.

"Colin Creevey has caught the Snitch! Gryffindor Wins!" shouted Lee Jordan, and all of a sudden pandemonium reigned. The Slytherin stands roared in anger, while the Gryffindor stands cheered. Most of the students in the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sections seemed to agree with the Slytherins. Harry himself had stopped paying attention, and the bludger hit him center mass, throwing him from his broom.

He hit the ground with a thud, but luckily he hadn't been all that high up. The bludger had continued to follow him after he'd fallen, and Harry rolled to avoid the bludger as it smashed right where his head had been. It flew back up, and began to come back down, but suddenly it exploded into pieces as Blaise flew by on his broom, his wand now drawn.

Harry sighed in relief, then waved at Blaise with his unbroken arm.

Melody was screaming at Madam Hooch, and McGonagall and Snape had come down from the stands to try and sort things out. Soon they were screaming at each other and then Wood arrived to start screaming at Melody. It was a huge mess.

"Hold on Harry," said the last voice Harry wanted to hear right now, "I'll fix you up in just a moment!"

Harry turned to Lockhart, and saw his friends running up behind him.

"NO! Anyone but you!" yelled Harry emphatically.

"Poor boy, hit your head harder than I thought," said Lockhart.

"I want Madam Pomfrey!" he said but it was too late again. Lockhart had cast a spell.

Harry's arm went limp.

Lockhart pursed his lips. "Well, sometimes that will happen…"

Lockhart had REMOVED the bones from Harry's arm.

"Get. Out." said Harry through gritted teeth in a remarkable display of self-control.

XXXXX

"Why didn't you come straight to me?" demanded Madam Pomfrey.

"I begged Lockhart not to do anything until after you'd seen me," said Harry, "But the bloody twat didn't listen to me."

Pomfrey pursed her lips at his profanity, but said nothing. She probably agreed with him. "Well we'll have to regrow those bones I'm afraid."

"I assume that this is not going to be a pleasant experience," said Harry.

Pomfrey laughed without any humour, "You assume correctly Mr. Potter."

She poured out a foul looking liquid out of a bottle marked "Skele-gro." Harry drank it, barely managing to keep the horrible tasting stuff down.

"Oh, that was vile," he said, "Oh, I am going to make Lockhart's life hell for this."

"I'd replace whatever he uses on his hair with something nasty," said Madam Pomfrey, "If I was the sort to do something like that. You'd best get as much rest as you can Mr. Potter."

XXXXX

Harry tried to sleep, but the bones growing in his arms were rather painful. Pomfrey was right, it was going to be a rough night.

"I don't even have a book," said Harry glumly.

"Here you go," said Hermione, appearing out of nowhere with a bag full of what appeared to be books.

"Whoah," said Harry, "How'd you do that?"

Hermione lifted Harry's invisibility cloak, "I know where you keep it remember."

"I'm surprised you're out after curfew," said Harry.

"Well, I figure my best friend is worth a little trouble," said Hermione. Harry had a sudden urge to hug her, which he was only able to resist when he remembered the state his arm was in.

"Melody was enraged by what happened," said Hermione, "she was saying all sorts of threats to Madam Hooch. Eventually Dumbledore stepped in. Gryffindor still got the win, but the point differential was wiped clean, so Slytherin will be at zero."

"Thanks Hermione," he said, "Now if we only knew who tried to kill me today."

"I never meant to kill you!" said a high pitched voice. Harry turned to see Dobby.

"Hermione, this is Dobby, the house elf of Lucius Malfoy," said Harry evenly, to Dobby's extreme dismay, "Dobby, this is Hermione Granger, my best friend."

"Harry Potter must not be angry," started Dobby.

"But I AM," he said furiously, "Why are you doing this? Why do you keep hounding me? Did your master put you up to this?"

"Harry Potter must flee Hogwarts. It is not safe," said Dobby.

"You mean the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked. Dobby nodded.

"Is the opening of the Chamber aimed at Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Not aimed at, no, not aimed at," said Dobby, "but no harm can come to Harry Potter. Before Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord, things were worse for house elves, so much worse. Harry Potter cannot come to harm."

Harry's heart sank. Of course the fall of the Dark Lord must have caused the more powerful dark families to be more circumspect about how badly they treated their servants. They had to look like model citizens now didn't they? But the house elves were still slaves.

"Dobby, I'm sorry that wizards haven't treated house elves as well as they should have, and I really would like to help you," Harry paused, wondering what _could_ be done, "But I can't do anything if I leave Hogwarts. Hermione here, my best friend, she's a muggleborn. I won't abandon her."

"That is very noble of Harry Potter, but…" Dobby started.

"No Dobby," said Harry, "There is no but. I will die before I leave this school. I won't go back to the Dursleys, I won't leave my friends. End of story."

Dobby looked at Harry with a pleading look in his eyes, Harry's stare gave him no respite. Finally Dobby shook his head sadly.

"Dobby knew Harry Potter would not want to go, but he did not know how far he would take it." said Dobby.

"Do you know how Lucius helped open the Chamber of Secrets?" asked Harry.

"Dobby cannot say," said the elf sadly.

"Do you know who Tom Riddle is?" asked Hermione.

Dobby shook his head.

Suddenly the door to the infirmary started to open. Dobby snapped his fingers and vanished, while Hermione threw the invisibility cloak over herself.

Dumbledore came in, with McGonagall right behind. They had a prone form levitating between them. Harry leaned forward. The prone form was holding a camera to his face.

"Colin!" he said reflexively. Dumbledore and McGonagall looked at him before laying Colin on another bed. Harry leapt to his feet.

"You should not be up Harry," said the Headmaster.

"Is he petrified?" asked Harry.

"I'm afraid so," said McGonagall.

"I do not believe it was a coincidence that this attack came so soon after the attack on Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore, "I think someone may be trying to frame you for the attacks. Maybe we can see…"

Dumbledore pulled the camera from Colin's hands. But when he opened it, the film in the camera exploded in a small poof.

"Of course," said Harry before he shook himself to his senses, "I had a visit from Dobby moments ago."

"Dobby?" asked McGonagall.

"Lucius Malfoy's house elf," said Dumbledore, "He's been causing trouble for Harry since the summer."

"I think he's been trying to warn me," said Harry, "I think he knew the Chamber of Secrets was going to be opened."

"That would suggest Lucius Malfoy's involvement!" said McGonagall.

Dumbledore nodded. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention." said Dumbledore, "And you can tell Miss Granger to come out, I know she's there."

Hermione took off the invisibility cloak. "I was just bringing Harry some things," she said as she lifted the bag she'd brought.

"Most thoughtful Miss Granger," said Dumbledore, "I will accompany you back to the Slytherin common room."

Harry realised that was not a request. Dumbledore was legitimately scared for Hermione.

Hermione nodded, but turned to McGonagall. "Professor, this is one of those things I think my parents need to know about." She looked significantly at Colin.

McGonagall nodded.

"Goodnight Harry," she said to him.

"Goodnight Hermione," he replied.

XXXXX

**November 8th**

Harry managed to meet up with his friends at breakfast.

"They let you out of the infirmary so soon?" asked Tracey.

"My bones are mostly regrown," said Harry, "Right now what I need is to eat. I'm ravenous."

And Harry went on to demonstrate, demolishing at least six large sausages as well as a fair bit of bacon and eggs.

Hermione arrived late. She sat down next to Harry sheepishly.

"You get in much trouble?" asked Harry.

"No," said Hermione, "but Dumbledore did tell me it was probably a bit dangerous for me to be wandering around at night alone with a creature hunting muggleborns."

"Why was Colin out anyway?" asked Harry, "I'd have thought the Gryffindors would have been celebrating."

"Ah, he wanted to get a picture of the Quidditch pitch as the sun set," said Ginny, "at least according to Ron."

Ginny suddenly looked seriously at Harry. "You should be prepared for some hostility from the Gryffindors. They think you petrified Colin."

"What?" asked Harry angrily.

"I mean Ron and my brothers, well the twins at least, don't," said Ginny, "And most of the people you know. So none of the second years believe it, and Fred and George have convinced the other fourth years, but everyone else seems to believe you did it out of revenge." Ginny looked especially glum as she said this.

"Just what I need." said Harry.

"Luckily, Justin's been a vocal proponent of yours with the Hufflepuffs," said Blaise, "they don't know what to think quite yet, but they aren't ready to blame you."

"The Ravenclaws haven't decided either, but the fact that your arm bones were missing will make it hard for them to accept that you had something to do with it." said Daphne.

"And the other Slytherins?" asked Harry.

"We all know you're soft on the question of Muggleborns," said Nott, who had apparently been listening in, "But Draco's attempts to convince people you are the heir of Slytherin have probably made you a little more formidable overall."

"Can he do anything right?" asked Harry.

"Yes, actually," said Nott, "Usually he's much smarter than this. But if you push him off balance he has a tendency to do stupid things."

"Malfoy will become dangerous the second he decides to stop one-upping you and tries to start legitimately undermining you," said Blaise, "To some extent this does reflect that. It doesn't hurt you in Slytherin, but it does with the other houses."

Harry nodded slowly. There was a lot to think about here.

"Anyway, good job on your play, everyone!" said Harry, "I hope you'll forgive me for not complimenting you yesterday."

Tracey and Ginny laughed. "I think it's okay," said Tracey.

"It's just a shame you didn't get the win," said Ginny, "you played so well."

"Ravenclaw might beat Gryffindor," said Harry, "I think from what I saw, which wasn't all that much, that Colin and Cho might be in the same league."

"So what you're saying is: we have to crush Hufflepuff." said Tracey.

"Definitely," said Harry.

"My mum was really angry I didn't tell her I was on the Quidditch team…" started Ginny.

After finishing his food, Harry got up and headed for the door. The Gryffindors were glaring at him as he walked by. Except for Ron, who gave him a strained smile.

Nodding to Ron, Harry left the Great Hall.

XXXXX

"So, I did something without your permission," said Hermione that night.

"Oh?" asked Harry.

"I asked my parents if you could stay with us for the holidays," she said.

Harry's eyes widened. "And they said?"

Hermione grinned. "Yes, of course!" she said happily, "You'll have to get permission from your aunt and uncle."

"They won't care," said Harry.

"And I'll see if we can get in a visit with Daphne," said Hermione, "I'd like to see her home."

"Sounds great," said Harry. Suddenly he impulsively hugged Hermione.

"Thanks," he said.

Hermione beamed at him.

XXXXX

**November 25th, 1992**

"I found it!" said Daphne, as she sat down at the table in the library. Harry, Hermione and Daphne been looking for information on creatures that petrified people. They'd had precious little luck.

"Found what?" asked Harry.

"The 1943 yearbook," said Daphne.

"What good is that going to do?" asked Harry.

"Who knows?" said Hermione, "But maybe there will be something in there that can help us."

The beginning of the book had a full listing of the staff.

"Whoah, wait!" said Daphne, "I knew Dumbledore worked at the school back then. But so did Slughorn!"

"Slughorn?" asked Hermione.

"Horace Slughorn was the Potions Master here at Hogwarts for decades, as well as the head of Slytherin. He wasn't much for standing up to the Death Eaters, but he never supported them either," Daphne shook her head, "I'm getting off track. What's important is that he's still alive."

Hermione flipped through the pages of the book. "And Riddle was a Slytherin," she said, "Which would make Slughorn his head of house."

"You know, if you guys are going to come over to my place over the holidays, I think we might be able to try and visit Slughorn," said Daphne.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. "I'm not sure my parents will want us visiting a strange man they don't know," said Hermione.

"My parents know him!" said Daphne, "I guess we'll have to get Daddy to vouch for him."

"That might work," said Harry, "But will he know anything?"

"Slughorn was a very observant man," assured Daphne, "He was known for cultivating the best and the brightest from amongst the school's students. He loved peddling his influence, which was simply massive in his later years. Virtually everyone who was anybody went through Slughorn's class. For Slughorn it was all a game of influence; he got to show off how he was friends with powerful people. Even today he still lives quite comfortably because of his connections."

"Sounds insufferable to be honest," said Harry.

"Maybe," said Daphne, "but when he could introduce you to virtually anyone of importance in magical government, or could serve as a recommendation to virtually anyone who might hire you, you stayed on his good side."

"Why did he leave the job of Potions Master if it made him so successful?" asked Hermione.

Daphne shrugged. "No one knows exactly, though my father suspects that You-Know-Who was starting to put pressure on him to openly support the Death Eaters. Slughorn disappeared for almost the whole last year of the war, so it's possible that he went into hiding."

"You've met him?" asked Harry.

"Oh yes, he's very nice," said Daphne, "So long as you have some connection or skill he finds interesting, I guess."

"Well it's a lead," said Harry.

"The only one we've got," said Hermione.

XXXXX

**December 3rd, 1992**

"Mr. Potter," said Snape after potions class in early December, "a moment if you would."

"Of course Professor," said Harry.

Everyone else filtered out of class, Hermione last of all, shooting Harry a worried expression.

Snape walked over to his desk and sat down. "You have yet to sign up to stay in the castle this Christmas."

Harry nodded, "You're correct sir. I don't intend to stay."

Snape gave Harry a sharp look, "You intend to return to your aunt and uncle?"

Harry couldn't help but laugh, "Sorry sir, but no." Harry rummaged through his bag and pulled out the letter from his uncle that he had received this morning.

"This is from my uncle. I'm going to stay with the Grangers over the break," he said as he handed the letter to his head of house.

Snape looked it over. "Have you told the Headmaster?" he asked.

"Do I need to?" asked Harry.

"I'm just not sure Headmaster Dumbledore would approve," said Snape, "he can be...odd sometimes about certain things, such as your security."

Harry wasn't sure he liked the direction this conversation was headed. "Will he try to stop me from going?" he asked.

"I don't know," said Snape, "But I suppose there is no harm in your going, so long as your uncle approves. As far as I'm concerned, Miss Granger has been a good influence on you. You've turned out far less like your father than I had feared."

Harry just nodded. "I wouldn't know," he said, "Though I've heard that the two of you didn't get along."

"That is an understatement Mr. Potter," said Snape, but his eyes seemed to harden just a bit, "Suffice to say that we had many differences of opinion, and one thing upon which we agreed. Ironically, it was the thing we agreed on that made us enemies."

Snape shook his head. "Anyway, I won't tell the Headmaster about you running off with Miss Granger."

Harry blushed at that characterization, which made Snape smirk. "You are dismissed Mr. Potter," he said.

XXXXX

**December 17th, 1992**

The last few days before break were rather uneventful, and with classes winding down, Harry and Hermione had finally take the time to consult Daphne about Occlumency. Blaise and Tracey had come along out of curiosity.

"Occlumency is really hard to learn without learning Legilimency," said Daphne, "You kind of need someone to test your defenses on."

"Well we can try and learn Legilimency I guess," said Harry.

Both Harry and Tracey were able to quickly get down the basics of Legilimency within an hour. Daphne commented that they must have some natural talent for the discipline. With two people able to do cursory tests, the rest of them decided it was time to start the basics of Occlumency.

Occlumency was a weird discipline. There were several stages to being a successful Occlumens. The first stage allowed you to detect someone intruding in your mind, but not to keep them out. The second stage allowed you to wall off a part of your mind, where you could store secrets. Only a limited number of things could be hidden this way. The third stage allowed you to obscure your whole mind, but a Legilimens who was trying to read you would know that you were doing it. The fourth stage allowed you to perfectly hide a limited number of things in your mind, so that a Legilimens wouldn't know they were hidden. And the fifth stage allowed you to create a fake compartmentalized mind for a Legilimens to wander through, unable to distinguish it from the true mind of the person being read. Fifth stage Occlumens were very rare.

Learning the trick of whether someone was reading your mind was easy. Your thoughts would suddenly turn to something completely unrelated to something you were thinking about before. Of course a good Legilimens would try to turn your thoughts that way beforehand in order to make it less obvious. But through the use of mental concentration one could 'see' the threads of control that the legilimens was using.

By the end of the session Harry thought he could feel every time Tracey pushed into his mind. Tracey was also testing Daphne and Hermione, while Harry was testing Tracey and Blaise. They'd sort of just divided things up that way, though Harry suspected Tracey had pushed things in that direction so that Harry didn't accidentally read Daphne or Hermione's mind. Tracey's mind had been full of Quidditch, as well as a bizarre crush she had on a former Quidditch player named Ludo Bagman. She also had some interesting thoughts about Ron Weasley of all people. Blaise's mind on the other hand..

After the session, Blaise had taken Harry aside, "So, uh, about some of the things that you saw in my mind."

"Blaise," said Harry reassuringly, "You don't have to worry. I already was starting to suspect, what with the way you were fawning all over Lockhart."

"I don't know about the muggle world, but this isn't something that is widely accepted in the wizarding world," said Blaise, "At least not in the UK."

"I won't tell anyone," said Harry, "As far as I'm concerned, it's none of my business. I won't even tell Hermione."

"If she asks you can tell her," said Blaise, "I trust her, and she's going to figure it out. And what do you mean I'm fawning over Lockhart?"

Harry put his hand on Blaise's shoulder, "I hate to break it to you mate, but Lockhart? He's an idiot. And normally you'd be the first to point it out. That you were defending him, like all the girls that had crushes on him, suggested to me that you also had a crush on him."

Blaise winced, "Was I that obvious?"

"Daphne knows right?" said Harry.

"Yeah," said Blaise, "She used to have a crush on me a bit. I hated to break it to her, but I didn't think it was fair to let her go on without any hope of me returning her feelings."

"You really don't mind?" Blaise asked.

"Not at all," said Harry, "You've been a good friend. That is all that matters."

Blaise nodded. "That means a lot Harry."

**Author's Note:** One of my big disappointments with this story is that because of the direction the story takes in some of the later chapters Harry and Blaise don't get a lot of scenes together. And they are really good friends, so it is something I regret a bit. That being said, they do get some good stuff right towards the end so I was able to rectify it a bit.

As for Ginny, the one thing to remember is that her personality overhaul is actually hiding the fact that she has the diary. If she acts weirdly, everyone assumes that it is because she is putting on a show for Slytherin. No one is going to be able to figure it out. But Tom's advice and a lot of the stuff she is learning from Blaise seem very similar, so Tom has a bit less of a hold on her mind overall, since he's not her only mentor in all things Slytherin.

On the subject of Ginny's profanity, there is more to knowing how to swear than just knowing the words. Blaise is teaching her how to swear properly.


	13. Holiday Interlude

**Chapter 13: Holiday Interlude**

**December 19th, 1992**

The Hogwarts Express slowed to a halt as it entered Platform 9 and 3/4. Harry and Hermione quickly made their way off the train as they said goodbye to their friends.

"I don't know if I'll be able to be there when you visit Daphne," said Tracey, "If not I'll see you next year!"

"I hope everyone has fun on their break!" yelled Blaise, "I sure won't!"

Daphne winced. Following her gaze Harry saw Blaise's mother. She was right there. Again.

"I'll see you two soon," said Daphne, and she headed towards her father who waved at Harry. Harry waved back.

Hermione's parents were only a little further on, talking to the Weasleys. Ginny ran up to her mother excitedly. Molly's expression was unreadable. "Something's up there," Harry whispered to Hermione.

Hermione nodded.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Mr. and Mrs. Granger," said Harry politely.

"Had a good year so far Harry?" asked Arthur Weasley.

"Fairly good, though with things as they are, I can't say much better," said Harry, "I'd be happier if we knew what was attacking students."

Molly's eyes narrowed. Someone had been carrying tales apparently, and unless Ron or the twins were lying to his face, Harry guessed it was Percy.

"Well, we have a fair way to go today," said Robert.

Harry waved goodbye to the Weasleys. Turning, at last, to Ginny, he gave her a wry smile. "Just take it easy on the Gryffindors Ginny." He'd already told her that it would be unwise for her new persona to get out to her family too quickly. He hoped she remembered.

Ginny laughed. "I'll be fine Harry," she said as she patted him on the shoulder.

Harry grinned and waved again as he and the Grangers headed off.

"What was the significance of that last bit?" asked Helen.

"Ginny had adopted a rather aloof persona at school," said Hermione, "We suggested that it might not play well with her parents."

"Ginny's having a rougher time in Slytherin than Luna, that's for sure," said Harry.

"Why did she get sorted into Slytherin then?" asked Robert.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. "That is a very good question," said Harry, "and one that I'm not sure we can answer."

"What do you mean?" asked Robert.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. They had decided to tell them the truth about this. "Uh, her sorting was rigged. The hat told her that someone had enchanted the hat to sort her into Slytherin. The same thing happened to me," explained Harry.

"Hermione, was your sorting rigged?" asked Helen.

"No!" said Hermione, "But ah… maybe I asked the sorting hat to put me in the same house as Harry." Hermione blushed a bit.

Robert seemed to not like that, but Helen seemed to smirk a bit. "Well that does explain a lot," said Helen.

"Why would someone try to force your sorting like that?" asked Robert.

Harry shook his head. "I don't know."

"Do you two have anything to add to what Minerva told us about this Chamber of Secrets thing?"

"Lucius Malfoy is causing it," said Harry, "That much I know. I just don't know how he causes it."

"Dobby was definitely trying to warn Harry that someone was going to open the Chamber of Secrets," said Hermione.

"Why?" asked Helen.

"He thinks if something happens to me things will get bad for House elves again." said Harry.

"Molly seemed to think that there was some connection between you and the Chamber Harry." said Robert.

"Ugh," said Harry, "Some of the Gryffindors think I arranged the attack on Colin Creevey because he beat me at Quidditch. Apparently, that includes Percy."

"Honestly, it's so stupid," said Hermione, "Harry was in hospital because Lockhart had removed all the bones out of one of his arms. How was he supposed to open the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Uh, he removed your bones?" asked Robert.

"Don't remind me," said Harry, "Regrowing bones magically is rather painful."

Robert looked at his wife in disbelief. Helen just laughed and shrugged. "I don't get it either," she said.

"What?" asked Harry and Hermione at the same time.

"You're awfully casual about losing all the bones in your arm Harry," said Helen.

"That's magic school for you." Harry replied. Helen didn't have a good comeback for that.

They finally reached the Granger's car, and soon they were on their way.

"It's a bit of a drive home Harry," said Robert, "We'll be at least two hours."

"Maybe we should get some food," said Helen.

"Hmm, we'll see, let's try to get out of London first," said Robert, "it's a bit of a trip to Norwich."

"I suppose the threat of being petrified has put a bit of a damper on the school in general," said Helen.

"Of course, it has a bit," said Harry, "but most people are handling it well. Of course, petrification is the good outcome if you run into whatever this creature is."

"What do you mean?" asked Helen, "All we've heard about is that some students have been petrified."

"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!" screamed Hermione, "They left out the most important part AGAIN!"

Robert gave Helen a pained look. "What else happens to people who encounter this monster?" he asked.

"Well, it hasn't happened this time," said Harry, "but when the Chamber was opened 50 years ago, a student died."

Harry could have heard a pin drop with how quiet Hermione's parents got.

"Why did one student die?" asked Helen after several moments.

"We don't know," said Harry honestly.

"You see fifty years ago, someone falsely accused Hagrid of being the Heir of Slytherin," said Hermione

"Wait, your current groundskeeper!?" asked Robert incredulously.

"Hagrid was definitely innocent," said Harry, "He was accused of unleashing an acromantula, but Acromantulas don't have the ability to petrify anything."

"Furthermore, he was accused by a boy named Tom Riddle," said Hermione.

"Riddle is a complete enigma, he completely disappeared from the magical world just a few years after he graduated," said Harry.

"So, you think Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets?" asked Helen.

"He's our only suspect right now," said Harry, "but we weren't there, so we don't have very good information."

"Riddle was in Slytherin," said Hermione, "And the Head of Slytherin from back then is still alive."

"Horace Slughorn," said Harry.

"You seem very well informed about this," said Robert.

"Well Daphne's father had Slughorn as his Potions Professor. The Greengrasses know him well," said Hermione.

"Oh?" said Robert, seeming to sense more was coming.

"Daphne plans to invite us over one day, and we're going to try to arrange a meeting with Slughorn," said Hermione.

"Don't you think Dumbledore will talk to him?" asked Helen.

"Sure," said Harry, "But the two of them aren't on the best of terms. I think Slughorn's much more likely to open up to three promising Slytherin students."

"Well…" started Robert.

"I suppose there's no harm in it," said Helen, "I mean it isn't as if you are going after the creature yourselves."

"I don't like this Helen," said Robert bluntly, "They didn't tell us the monster had killed before."

"Join the club," said Harry.

XXXXX

The Granger's car finally pulled into their driveway late that evening. They'd stopped to eat shortly after Harry and Hermione's revelation. Robert had really needed the distraction. So had Helen really. Helen was really worried about the fact that McGonagall hadn't mentioned that this creature had previously killed a student. She wasn't really fully aware of the time frame involved here, but it seemed to her that any creature left by Salazar Slytherin must be at least 1,000 years old! Any creature that lived that long had to be really powerful. This was getting worse and worse, and even Hermione had to admit that she was one of the most likely people to be attacked in the school.

She turned back to say something to Harry and Hermione, only to discover they had fallen asleep. Hermione's head rested on Harry's shoulder, while Harry was using Hermione's hair as a pillow.

"Robert," said Helen very quietly, "look."

Robert turned to look in the back seat, then smiled gently. "Well, I suppose she trusts him," he said, "that's a big thing."

Helen nodded. For years Hermione had been taunted and bullied, and it had left her a bit unwilling to trust people she didn't know. The turn around since she'd entered Hogwarts was amazing. Despite the fact that other students had tried to attack her, that she'd fought a troll, and that a teacher had tried to kill her, she'd found people that cared for her, and she'd come far outside her shell.

"Keep that in mind when you talk to Harry dear," she said.

"Who said anything about me having a talk with Harry?" said Robert over innocently.

"I know you," said Helen, "and I don't think you're wrong to want to do it. Just remember, he's not some horny teenager just trying to get laid. He's a twelve-year-old boy whom your daughter thinks the world of. You have a chance to influence him here, and give him some guidance on how you want your daughter to be treated, at an age when he might be receptive to that."

Robert grunted. "You're right. As usual."

Helen smiled.

XXXXX

**December 20th, 1992.**

Harry woke up groggily. The bed was unfamiliar. Softer than what he was used to. He opened his eyes. It took him a moment to recognize the Granger's guest room. He'd only really seen it for a few minutes last night as he dressed for bed and went to sleep.

The door to his room opened as Hermione ran in, still in her pyjamas. "Time to get up Harry!" she said.

"Already up," he said wryly, "I think my biological clock anticipated your arrival."

"Hermione!" said the voice of her mother, "Don't just barge into Harry's room."

"It's all right," said Harry, loud enough to be heard, "this won't be the first time Hermione has woken me up at the earliest possible moment. At least when she barges in, I get to grumble at her."

"Well if it wasn't for me, you'd be constantly late for everything," she said, "Honestly Harry!"

Harry sat up and threw his pillow at her. She caught it easily. "Oh, so that's how it's going to be, huh?"

She began buffeting him with the pillow repeatedly, while shouting, "Get up Harry, Get up!"

"Fine, Fine," he said as he finally managed to pull the pillow away from her.

Helen Granger poked her head into the room just in time to see Harry get up and head toward the bathroom. He handed her his pillow as he passed.

"I can't trust _her _with this," he said snarkily.

Helen suppressed a laugh. "No need to change out of your pyjamas for breakfast Harry," she said, "We typically have a pretty lazy breakfast."

After using the bathroom, Harry walked downstairs. He saw Hermione in the kitchen with her mother.

"Need any help?" he asked.

"No, but I think Robert wants to talk to you," said Helen.

"All right," said Harry as he walked into the living room. Robert was sitting in a chair, reading a book.

"Harry!" said Robert, "Sit down, please, I just wanted to have a private word with you."

"Of course, Mr. Granger," said Harry. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what this conversation was going to be about. Still, it would be useful to see what his best friend's father thought of him.

"So, first, I just wanted to say that I'm very grateful for the friendship that you've shown Hermione," said Robert, "It's no secret Hermione has never had a lot of friends, and you've been a good friend to her."

"I'm honoured to be Hermione's friend," said Harry honestly, but cautiously.

"Good," said Robert, "But I do want to ask, and I realize that it might be a bit premature, but where do you see your friendship with her going? I mean you'll be turning thirteen this summer, and as you get older, well things might start to change a bit."

"I…," Harry paused, not sure of himself. Where did he see it going? He had thought about it before, of course, but the truth was that he always assumed he had plenty of time to think about it. Well, he DID have plenty of time theoretically, but in truth his situation with Hermione was going to force them to find answers sooner rather than later.

"Hermione was there for me in a way that no one ever had been there for me before," he said, "I don't know where that puts us, I haven't really thought that hard about it. But I guess I am aware that it is something we'll eventually have to address."

"My concern is that if you decide to pull away from her, Hermione will be hurt," said Robert.

"That you don't have to worry about," said Harry, "Hermione and I are friends. I don't see that changing. Even if we end up dating other people, we won't let that get in the way of our friendship. I'm not going to give up a friend for a school fling."

"There is also the possibility that if you do have a… relationship with Hermione that it won't work out," warned Robert, "that could put a strain on your friendship."

"I know," said Harry, "It's one of the main reasons that we're being really cautious about this."

"There is one other concern I have," said Robert, "It concerns the fact that it seems that you have some enemies who very much want to kill you."

Harry just nodded. He should have seen this coming.

"If you and Hermione end up in a situation that threatens her life, I want to ask you, as a favour, that you forbid her from putting herself at risk," asked Mr. Granger.

Harry closed his eyes. He was tempted, so very tempted to just say yes right now. But no, that wouldn't do. It would be a lie.

"Mr. Granger, I will promise you that I will never _ask_ Hermione to walk into danger with me. And if she volunteers, I will give her the opportunity to back out."

"But," Harry continued with a sigh, "I won't order her to do anything. She's my friend, not my servant. If she insists on staying by my side, that is her decision, and I'll respect that."

Robert looked at Harry silently for a moment. Finally, he grunted, "Fair enough, boy. So long as you take into consideration that your actions might put Hermione in danger as well."

"That I can promise you," said Harry, "I won't put Hermione in any danger that I can avoid."

Robert smiled, "Good lad, I knew we'd get along well."

Harry laughed in spite of himself. Whatever test he'd just been given he'd passed.

XXXXX

**December 21st, 1992**

"Ginny can I talk with you?"

Ginny turned to her mum. She'd been expecting this of course. Tom had told her that Percy had almost certainly turned against her, and he was usually right about things like that. She supposed that Harry had been right after all as well. He'd been insistent that there could be severe consequences for ignoring her brothers, and while she'd made an effort with Ron and Fred and George, she just hadn't been able to with Percy. She wished she could ask either of her friends for help, but Harry was at Hermione's and she'd forgotten Tom's diary at school. Maybe she could pull a quick visit to Luna's. Luna could be surprisingly insightful.

"Of course, Mum," said Ginny.

"Things at school have started getting a little scary, haven't they?" asked Molly, "I mean with a student being petrified and all. I just want to make sure everything is all right."

"Well, until whoever does this is caught, I don't think anyone will be 'all right,'" said Ginny, "But I'm not specifically doing badly, if that is what you were wondering."

"I understand that," said Molly, "I really do. I am a little concerned though. I mean it would stand to reason that the Heir of Slytherin would be in Slytherin house."

Ginny nodded. "Probably," she admitted.

"I've heard reports that worry me," said Molly, "I've heard some people think that… well that Harry is behind this."

"He isn't," said Ginny abruptly.

"Now I know you have had a crush on him since you were a little girl..." started Molly.

"Mum," said Ginny, "that has nothing to do with this. First, let me start by saying that I do think this is partly my fault. I've been really distant from Percy so far this year. Harry was really insistent that I spend some time with my brothers, and in the cases of Ron and the Twins I have tried, but I did leave Percy out, and I think to some degree he blames Harry. But Harry isn't the reason I'm in Slytherin. Harry tried to help me get resorted, and when I turned down his help, he pushed me to stay close with my brothers. That I haven't is MY fault and no one else's."

"Of course, Ginny," said Molly warmly, "I'm glad you understand that. It really is important that you stay close to your family."

"All that being said, the fact is that some of the Gryffindors are being very unreasonable about this. I say some, because the second and fourth years have generally believed that Harry is innocent. That's because Ron and Fred and George have stood up for him, and they've been believed by their friends," said Ginny.

"But most of them suspect Harry," said Molly.

"And no one else," said Ginny, "Not the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws or Slytherins. Draco's trying to pin it on him, but that's just Draco. He doesn't believe it. And the reason they don't believe it? Because at the time Colin was attacked, Harry was in hospital wing, with most of the bones in his arm having been disappeared."

Molly blinked. "P… I mean no one mentioned that," she said in a somewhat subdued tone.

"Harry has been doing more to organize the students to look out for each other than anyone," said Ginny, "Everyone in Gryffindor is just mad that their fantastic new Seeker just got petrified. You know how the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry is."

"Of course," said Molly.

"And finally," said Ginny, "I've come to know Harry. His best friend is Hermione Granger. You know she's a muggleborn. He'd never target muggleborns. Never."

Molly looked at Ginny with a strange look on her face. Was it pity? "Are you okay with that? Him having another girl as a best friend I mean."

"Okay with it?" asked Ginny incredulously, "Well, I don't exactly have a choice now do I? But yeah, I'm fine with it. It's not like Harry's dating her or anything. Yes, they are very close. But you know what? Harry isn't my property. He can do what he pleases. I'm just glad to be his friend for the moment. That doesn't mean I'm giving up, mind you. But jealousy isn't going to win his heart. So, I just have to do my best."

And ignore the fact that they share a bedroom, thought Ginny. Tom understood. He thought she was being very clever by distancing herself from this. Even if things didn't work out, at least she wouldn't make a fool of herself. Tom was the one who'd suggested that she take on an aloof persona after all.

"Well, I hope that things work out for all of you," said Molly. Why was she so interested in this? It was just a childhood crush. Even Ginny knew better than to give too much weight to it. That was yet another mystery to be added to the pile. Who'd sorted her into Slytherin? Who was the Heir of Slytherin? Ginny had to admit, even Tom was a bit mysterious.

"Mum," said Ginny, "I appreciate your concern."

Her mother nodded, then got up and went into the kitchen. Ginny waited a full minute, then ran up the stairs and knocked on Percy's door.

"Come in," said Percy.

Ginny walked in and shut the door. "Harry Potter wasn't capable of petrifying Colin Creevey," she said, "I don't know what has gotten into you, but if you keep spreading that nonsense, I will have to do something about it."

Percy scoffed. "Do something? I'm a school prefect, what can you do to me?"

"I don't care what you think," said Ginny, "I know, I KNOW that Harry isn't behind these attacks."

"Who is it then?" asked Percy.

Ginny narrowed her eyes. Something about that question bugged her. After all, she couldn't remember where she had been at the time of the attacks. She shook the feeling off.

"Just not Harry," said Ginny.

And she stormed out.

XXXXX

**December 22nd, 1992**

"I have an idea about how we can practice occlumency on break." said Hermione.

"Oh?" asked Harry, "I can't cast the 'legilimency' spell."

"But you seem to have some natural talent for legilimency," said Hermione, "If we were touching and looking into each other's eyes, you might be able to test me without actually casting a spell. The trace doesn't detect magical talents after all. Only spell casting."

Harry considered this. "Are you sure you are comfortable with me using legilimency on you?" he asked.

"Yes," said Hermione, "The worst thing you'll find is that I kind of like you. Which, well, you already know that."

"Okay," said Harry, "We can give it a try."

Finding time to do it was another matter however. The Granger's house was in a flurry of activity preparing for Christmas. Still later that day the two of them managed to find time to go into Hermione's room. They sat on her bed with their legs crossed, and Hermione extended her arms out palm up, which Harry then grabbed by the wrists. Hermione's hands then closed around his wrists.

He looked her in the eyes. Wow, it was easy to get lost in there. For all their closeness he had never just stared into Hermione's eyes before. It felt intensely personal, so much so that he almost pulled away. But he managed to get control of himself, and continued to gaze into her eyes. Slowly, he felt her thoughts coming to the top of her mind, just beyond his reach. He could see them in a way, barely, if he concentrated.

"Okay, I can feel you just outside my mind," said Hermione.

"I'm going to probe a bit," said Harry, "I won't look at your memories, but I will be in your mind and will see your current thoughts."

Harry was suddenly inundated by feelings. He was gratified to feel that Hermione was just as embarrassed by staring into his eyes as he was. He tried to project a little of his own feelings into her, but he couldn't be sure it worked.

"I'm going to try to push you out," said Hermione.

Harry nodded, as he felt her mind press against his. Pushing an attacker out was a matter of willpower, so anyone could do it temporarily at least, provided they could win a contest of wills. It was also the first step towards creating a working Occlumency shield. Unfortunately, Hermione's attempt didn't seem to be working very well.

Hermione groaned. "I get it. The problem is that I don't mind you being in my mind. I can't muster up the necessary will."

Suddenly the door to Hermione's room opened. Harry couldn't really look to see who it was, but apparently Hermione could see a bit. It was her mother.

"Uh, what are you two doing?" Helen asked.

"I'm testing Hermione's mental defences.," said Harry, "I'm trying to read her mind, and she's trying to stop me."

"You can do that?" asked Helen.

"There's a spell that makes it easier," said Hermione.

"Unfortunately, I can't cast it right now," admitted Harry, "However, if I'm in physical contact with the person I'm trying to read, and I look into their eyes, I can do it without any spell casting. It's a talent I have, apparently."

"Oh, well that makes sense," said Helen, "But Hermione, aren't you worried that Harry might see something you don't want him to?"

"Like what?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know," said Helen, "like any other boys you've had a crush on,"

"I already know she's crushing on Lockhart," said Harry.

"Or what you look like naked," said Helen.

And for one second, that was exactly what Harry saw in his head. One second before Hermione threw him out of her mind unceremoniously. Harry broke eye contact and let go of her wrists.

"Sorry! Sorry!" he said apologetically.

"It isn't _your _fault!" yelled Hermione. She glared at her mother. "Mum, why?"

"What did I do?" asked Helen.

"Harry was IN MY MIND," said Hermione, "And someone had the bright idea of bringing up what I look like naked."

Helen blanched a bit, "Oh honey, I'm so sorry, I didn't even realize…"

"No, you didn't," said Hermione angrily. Suddenly her anger dissipated and a strange smile came across her face.

"But it worked!" she said.

"Yeah, you threw me out of your head real quick there," said Harry, "Umm I'm going to go get a drink of water, while you talk to your mum."

He got up and headed for the door.

"Harry," said Hermione, "I meant it. I don't blame you."

Harry nodded, and went down to the kitchen.

XXXXX

"I am so sorry," said Helen again after Harry had left.

"I know you didn't intend for that to happen," said Hermione, "Just try to be more careful, especially if someone says they are reading my mind."

"Did I screw things up for you badly there?" asked Helen. "With Harry I mean?"

Hermione didn't even know where to start with that. "He'll get over it. It isn't that big a deal."

"Oh," said Helen with a twinkle in her eye, "so you didn't mind."

Hermione was in no mood for her mother's teasing. "Of course I mind!" she snapped, "It's just… I can't do anything about it now."

Her mother decided to let it drop. "Okay honey."

"Oh, and Mum," started Hermione, "Don't tell Dad."

XXXXX

**December 24th, 1992**

Christmas Eve was a new experience for Harry. They spent the early evening at Robert Granger's parent's home. It was a fun get-together, and he met Hermione's aunt and uncle as well as her two cousins. _They'd _teased Hermione, saying she had a boyfriend. That hadn't really bothered her that much though, and she just laughed them off saying they were jealous. They had a nice dinner before returning to the Granger's home. Her parents lit a fire, and he and Hermione had sat next to each other talking until late. He'd started sitting a respectful distance from her, but as the night went on, he'd found that she had slid right next to him again. Without really thinking about it, he put his arm around her shoulders. After all, she was his best friend.

Her reaction wasn't quite what he had anticipated. For one moment she had grown tense, then she seemed to lean into his side comfortably. It was pleasant. They talked on, about school, and about other things. Hermione for once seemed to want to talk about her life before Hogwarts, which hadn't exactly been pleasant.

He slept well that night, and woke up to an enthusiastic Hermione dragging him out of bed. He hadn't thought that she'd be this enthusiastic about Christmas presents, but then he realized that she was probably more excited about him having a good Christmas than anything else. The thought was a bit embarrassing, but it made his smile nonetheless.

He got presents from most of his friends. Ron sent candy, Justin sent a wand holster, Blaise sent Harry a book on magical explosions, and Tracey gave Harry a set of excellent seeker's grips. Luna gave Harry a necklace made out of random shells painted a rather putrid green (to keep away the plimpies). Ginny's present was a small iron pin in the shape of a snake. It seemed to move when no one was looking at it. ("A simple, but clever, enchantment," said Hermione). Daphne had purchased Harry a wizard's cap. She had also sent him a note telling him that Slughorn would be willing to meet them two days after Christmas.

"The cap looks like it was designed to go with your modern style robes," said Hermione, "Even though they aren't typically worn with a cap."

"Trust Daphne to both get me a gift and criticize my sense of style," said Harry, "Still if she thinks that's going to stop me from wearing this, she has another thing coming!"

"All the best wizards do dress like unhinged lunatics," admitted Hermione.

Hermione had bought Harry books of course. But muggle books. Classics. He noticed Machiavelli and Sun Tzu among them. "Are you trying to tell me something here?" he asked.

"If you're planning on changing the world, I think these might help," said Hermione innocently.

"Your daughter is trying to turn me into a warlord," he said to Helen and Robert sarcastically.

"I always knew she'd try to take over the world," said Robert with a glint in his eyes.

"Thank you, Hermione," said Harry as he gave her a hug.

He'd bought Hermione a book as well. It was about history's greatest witches. "Of course, once you grow up, they're going to have to rewrite it," he said.

"Don't tease," she said.

"I don't think he's teasing you dear," said Helen.

"I'm not," said Harry, "I really do believe in you." Hermione didn't seem to know what to say to that.

XXXXX

**December 26th, 1992**

"This place is very… different from the Weasley's," said Helen to Hermione.

"That's an understatement," said Harry as he and Daphne showed them around the Greengrass home. Daphne giggled.

Helen looked a little mortified that Daphne had heard her, but Daphne laughed it off.

"Yeah we're pretty upper crust here," said Daphne, "It gets a bit annoying sometimes really."

"Remember what we told you," said Hermione.

"Also, remember, my father isn't personally prejudiced. Well, he's not very personally prejudiced. But he absolutely will not let that get in the way of his political agenda," said Daphne.

The Grangers would be spending the afternoon with Daphne's parents, while Harry, Hermione and Daphne would be visiting Professor Slughorn. The main reason for this was that Bryant believed that children would be more likely to elicit the sympathy they'd need to get him to really open up. They also hadn't told Slughorn that Harry would be one of his visitors. According to Bryant, Slughorn had always had a soft spot for Harry's mother, so his presence might further help things, especially if it came as a surprise to Slughorn.

"Harry and Hermione have rather thoroughly briefed us," said Robert, "Are you sure you'll be all right with this Slughorn character?"

Daphne just smiled. "Slughorn was the head of Slytherin for years," she said, "I think we'll be fine for one afternoon."

With the tour completed, the three kids took their leave, flooing to a place called the Old Hearth. It was an abandoned building in Herefordshire that some wizard had taken over and maintained as a public floo access, for those that didn't want to let people directly into their homes. Luckily, Slughorn only lived a mile away from here.

"Slughorn is really paranoid about his safety," said Daphne, "I guess he doesn't want to invite Death Eaters into his home, and I don't blame him. Apparently, he thought You-Know-Who put a death mark on him during the last war, but who knows if that's accurate."

Reaching the home they'd been told to go to, Daphne knocked on the door. There was a rustling inside, then a strange eye poked out from under the door. When it saw Daphne, it retracted. The door suddenly opened.

"Come in, come in," said the man who opened the door. He was short, fat, and had a rather elaborate silver moustache, which was the only hair on his head.

"Professor Slughorn," started Daphne.

"Please, just Horace, or Mr. Slughorn if you must. I haven't been a Professor in years," said Slughorn.

"May I introduce my friends, Hermione Granger," Daphne indicated towards Hermione, "and this of course is Harry Potter."

Slughorn's eyes widened. "Oh my! I did not know you had such a distinguished friend."

"Harry and Hermione are the frontrunners for our year in Slytherin," said Daphne, "Considering Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott are in our year…"

"Not bad, not bad at all!" said Slughorn.

"Not only that," said Harry, "But Hermione is a muggleborn."

"Really?" said Slughorn, "Now that is very unusual. Even a muggleborn in Slytherin is rather rare, but a muggleborn as a frontrunner for prefect? I bet you made some enemies who've made your life difficult."

"We did," said Hermione, "They've mostly learned better now though."

Slughorn chuckled at that. "Quite, quite, I'm sure."

He led them into his sitting room and ushered them into comfortable chairs around a small table. There was a pot of tea sitting there, waiting.

"Now I am always glad to meet new young Slytherin students," said Slughorn, "I must admit that I do miss being a mentor these days. I always felt proud to be ushering in the new generation of leaders for our society. I am glad that some of my former students still think to commend me to their children."

Slughorn looked at Harry. "Your mother, Lily, she was a particular favourite of mine. Such an excellent student, both at potions and charms. A prodigy. I was… well I was very saddened to hear of her death."

"Thank you, Horace," said Harry.

"Now, what brings you to seek my advice today?" asked Slughorn.

"Have you kept up on what is currently going on at Hogwarts?" asked Hermione

Slughorn shook his head. "I can't say that I have. A few people were miffed at me when I went into hiding during the war, you see. I understand, of course, but I really had no choice. Most of the other teachers don't correspond with me."

"Well, someone has opened the Chamber of Secrets again," said Harry.

Slughorn stopped dead. "Oh… Merlin. That's not good," he said weakly.

"I understand that you were a professor the last time the Chamber was opened," said Harry, "We want to see if we can figure out what is going on. Before…"

"Before someone dies, yes," said Slughorn, "Poor Myrtle. Well, I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'll gladly answer any of your questions."

"Do you believe the official story about Hagrid?" asked Hermione.

Slughorn shook his head, "Absolutely not! Hagrid was never one of my better pupils, but he'd never willingly hurt anyone. I knew right away that there was some kind of mistake. I am ashamed to say that I did not do nearly enough for the boy, but when the attacks stopped Headmaster Dippet put a great deal of pressure on us to let the matter drop. I acquiesced at the time, and I suppose there was very little that I could have done in any case, but I do _feel_ that I could have done more."

Harry leaned forward. "What do you know about Tom Riddle?"

Slughorn went silent again. His mouth had a bitter twist to it as he seemed deep in thought.

"You have no idea what you are asking me to do," said Slughorn quietly.

"Please, if this monster stays on the loose, it's only a matter of time before some muggleborn dies. Again," said Harry.

Slughorn looked into Harry's eyes. "You have your mother's eyes; did you know that?"

Harry nodded.

"As I said, your mother was special," started Slughorn, "I always thought that she would do great things. And then she died, and I realized how badly I'd failed her. How I should have taken a stand. I have been ashamed at how I failed her ever since. How I failed all that she could be."

"She did do great things," said Harry, "She sacrificed her life to save me and bring down Voldemort. _And it worked._"

Slughorn nodded. "It did a bit," he said, but then he shook his head, "it isn't enough though."

Slughorn seemed to set his jaw a bit, "But maybe I can make it enough," he said, "Maybe you can stop the Dark Lord's return."

Slughorn sighed, then walked over to a nearby cupboard. He pulled a small vial from it, and touched the top of the vial with his wand. A silvery light came out of the bottle and Slughorn brought it up to his head. The light leapt from his wand into his head.

"Tom Riddle," he began, "Was the most brilliant student I ever taught. His understanding of magic was almost beyond belief. Especially impressive coming from a half-blood who grew up in a muggle orphanage. He was so impressive, he practically ran Slytherin his entire time at Hogwarts."

"He claimed to have the blood of the Gaunt family, privately," noted Slughorn, "That would have made him the heir of Slytherin. At the time I didn't give it credence, but in retrospect, I think he was telling the truth. It was the sort of lie a climbing Slytherin might use, but he always seemed to believe it. When he accused Hagrid, I merely thought he was mistaken. Hagrid did have an acromantula after all."

"Your opinion of him changed over time?" asked Harry.

"Oh yes," said Slughorn, "as time went on and he grew, well, darker, I began to see that he had been the Heir of Slytherin all along. There was no moment when I said, 'Aha, it's him!' There was just the slow destruction of my belief in his integrity. Eventually I looked back and realized I never knew him. I just knew what he had wanted me to believe."

"I had helped him get his first job out of school, at a shop in Knockturn Alley. I thought the work was beneath him, but it was what he wanted to do. I suppose he was looking for magical artefacts of some sort. Then, he suddenly disappeared. For years. I didn't see him again until he applied for the position of Defense against the Dark Arts teacher years later."

That Harry hadn't known. Why hadn't any records mentioned this?

"Dumbledore turned him down of course. Funny thing, we never had a Defense teacher for more than a year after that. Or not funny," Slughorn shook his head, "Tom had changed, or maybe his true nature had come out. His appearance had completely changed, and he was harder, more unyielding. He'd even changed his name to the sobriquet he'd used among his followers back in school."

Slughorn's voice dropped to nearly a whisper as he spoke. "Lord Voldemort."

Harry's blood chilled. Of course. Of fucking course it was Voldemort.

"That… changes things," said Daphne.

"You have NO idea what You-Know-Who has done to himself!" said Slughorn. He stopped suddenly, and hung his head.

"This is my greatest shame," said Slughorn, "One day, Tom Riddle came and asked me about Horcruxes."

Harry looked at Hermione and Daphne, puzzled.

"I've never heard of a Horcrux," said Daphne.

"Neither have I," said Hermione.

"Good," said Slughorn, "They're monstrous things. They are containers in which a wizard stores a piece of their soul in order to make them immortal."

"How do you break off a piece of your soul?" asked Hermione.

"What damages your soul the most?" asked Slughorn, "Murder."

Harry clenched his fists, "You told him?"

"He did not want information on how to create a Horcrux. I now believe he had already created one," said Slughorn, "And in truth, plenty of wizards develop an interest in such magics. But precious few use them! For good reason. The boy had flattered me, so I did not see that he was one who would! I tried to answer his questions, but then he asked me something so horrible even I was disgusted. He asked me if it was possible to create multiple horcruxes."

"Bloody hell," said Harry.

"I should have done something," said Slughorn, "I should have told Dumbledore, or the Headmaster, or someone! But I did not," Slughorn hung his head.

"And now he is immortal, seeking the restoration of his body. If he returns the blood will spill again. And my failure will grow worse." Slughorn let out a heavy sigh, just short of a sob.

He turned and looked Harry in the eyes. "My hope is that you will stop him. Stop him from returning. Perhaps, this will help."

"How is he opening the Chamber of Secrets though?" asked Harry. "He snuck into the school last year while possessing someone, so Dumbledore adjusted the wards to prevent him from entering again."

Slughorn considered. "There is a possibility. His Horcruxes themselves could probably possess someone. You'd only have to sneak one into the school somehow, and plant it on someone, and it would slowly dominate them."

Harry inhaled sharply. "Lucius might have had access to a Horcrux as a Death Eater. That's how he did it."

"You think Lucius Malfoy is involved?" asked Slughorn.

"His house elf tried to warn us," said Harry.

"Troubling," said Slughorn, "Are you going to tell Dumbledore what I told you?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't entirely trust the Headmaster; he hasn't been forthright with me. Besides, he probably already knows most of it."

Slughorn nodded. "I am sorry I did not do more Harry. Please try to keep the other students safe. I feel that I still am responsible for them, in some small way."

And once again, Harry was at a loss for words.

XXXXX

Harry, Hermione and Daphne entered the sitting room where the Greengrasses were entertaining Hermione's parents.

Bryant saw them first. "Did you learn anything?" he asked.

"Have you ever heard of something called a Horcrux?" asked Daphne.

Bryant's eyes seemed to catch on fire, "What did he tell you about Horcruxes?" he said angrily.

Harry stepped in. "Apparently, Tom Riddle was Voldemort, and the Heir of Slytherin, and he created horcruxes, as in multiple horcruxes. Oh, and Lucius Malfoy probably set this in motion by sneaking one of those horcruxes into school, where it is almost certainly possessing someone."

Bryant's jaw dropped. "Well, fuck," he said.

**Author's Note:** So as you can start to see here, Percy is shaping up to be the Weasley who causes the most problems here, this year at least. I have big plans for Percy, but he needs his bubble burst a bit before he is useable.

I like the scene with Molly and Ginny, it was a really fun character scene to write. Ginny doesn't get to be that open with her mother that much in this story, so it was nice to just have a scene where Ginny talks to her mother and convinces her she is wrong about something. I want to emphasize: Ginny has actually convinced her mother that Harry can't be responsible here. It will be very important when next we see Molly.

I also kind of love Helen Granger. She is so sensible about Harry and Hermione's friendship, and she is very smart. Robert is smart as well, but his moment to shine is a bit later on in the story.

I know people will probably object to Slughorn just giving Harry the memory, but I think that without the pressure of the war Slughorn rightly believes that Harry and Dumbledore together could probably destroy the horcruxes before Voldemort returns. Of couse that all depends on Dumbledore cooperating with Harry, which, well, you'll see how likely that is. Knowing about Voldemort's Horcruxes is a shortcut for Harry, but it is one he can't really do much about yet.

Stuff is only going to really go crazy after Harry goes to the Chamber of Secrets.


	14. Before They Get Worse

**Chapter 14: ...Before They Get Worse.**

**December 26th, 1992**

It had taken quite some time to make Hermione's parents understand just what the significance of what Harry had said was, but once they understood, to say they were disturbed was an understatement.

"So, there is a… thing possessing someone at Hogwarts. And we have no idea who?" demanded Robert.

"We know it isn't Draco Malfoy," said Bryant, "The horcrux would be constantly trying to drain the life force of whoever used it in an attempt to bring its creator back to life."

"That assumes that Lucius knows exactly what he has," said Harry, "I'd be willing to bet that Voldemort didn't tell him what it was. I'm sure he wants those horcruxes kept secret."

"Surely he'd recognize what it is, wouldn't he?" asked Hermione.

Bryant shook his head. "Horcruxes are _rare._ Virtually the only people who know anything about them first hand are curse breakers. To most people, even dark wizards, a horcrux would seem to be just another dark artefact. I certainly couldn't identify one. The only reason I know anything about them at all is that one of my cousins was a curse breaker who ran afoul of one."

"It isn't Draco though," said Harry, "Millicent Bulstrode is still on speaking terms with him, and she assures us that he's clueless. He keeps coming up with more and more unlikely scenarios as to what is happening."

"It seems to me that we have a solid lead though," said Daphne, "We just need to look for someone who is acting oddly at times. If we can neutralize the horcrux, the attacks should stop even if we can't find the Chamber of Secrets."

"That is a good plan," said Hermione, "but this creature is dangerous, whatever it is. We can't just leave it in the bowels of the school, waiting to kill the next time someone lets it out."

"You don't even know the reason that it kills sometimes and petrifies at others," said Helen.

Harry scowled, "I hate to say it, but unless it strikes again, I don't think we'll be making any headway."

Nobody looked happy at that idea, but no one could really argue about it.

"I think I'll have a word with Augusta Longbottom," said Philomena, "given what's going on, I think it would be best if we did not sit next to the Malfoys at the New Year's ball this year."

"Well at least that won't be suspicious," said Bryant, "Augusta has a history of taking out petty grudges on her enemies. Lucius will just think we annoyed her in some way."

"So, we're just going to wait?" demanded Robert.

"What else can we do dear?" asked Helen.

Robert exhaled sharply, then shook his head defeatedly, "Not a damn thing."

XXXXX

**January 3rd, 1993**

The rest of Harry's vacation went by uneventfully. It was probably the best time Harry had ever had doing anything. Hermione, of course, forced him to finish his holiday schoolwork, but even she felt that by and large they needed a break. So once they had finished their work, rather than start studying ahead, the two of them just spent time together or with Hermione's parents.

Finally the new year came, and soon it was time to return to school. They went down to London the night before the train left, and spent the night in a hotel. Harry had his own room (which he had insisted on paying for) and it was yet another new experience for him.

The next day, Robert pulled Harry aside, "Do try to watch after her," he said, "I… I just have a terrible feeling about this."

"So do I Mr. Granger," said Harry.

Once on the train they met up with Blaise, Daphne, and Tracey.

"Have a good Christmas Blaise?" Harry asked.

"It was tolerable," said Blaise grudgingly.

"My Christmas was great," said Tracey as she then proceeded to let everyone in on everything that had happened.

Once Tracey was done, Daphne filled Blaise and Tracey in on what they had learned at Slughorn's.

"That's pretty fucked up," said Blaise.

"I think we should tell the war council that we think a magical artifact is possessing people," said Harry, "Here's the question, should we mention Tom Riddle?"

"It could help or hurt us," said Daphne, "On the one hand, if someone else started mentioning Tom our people would know something is up. On the other hand, if the possessed person hears that we are looking for Tom Riddle they might go to ground."

"That would stop the attacks though, so wouldn't it be a good thing?" asked Tracey.

"Until they start again," said Harry.

"Let's keep it under wraps for now then," said Blaise, "We can always change our minds."

"I agree," said Hermione as Daphne nodded.

"All right then, I think we're all in agreement," said Harry.

XXXXX

**January 27th, 1993**

The big news announced at dinner their first night back was a bit of a surprise. Lockhart announced that he was going to hold a special duelling club to help the students defend themselves. Harry was doubtful that basic duelling skills would keep whatever Slytherin's monster was at bay. Hermione agreed with him, though she did say that the skills might be useful in other areas anyway. Only Blaise of their little group thought that Lockhart's club would do any good for the current crisis, and even he admitted that it would be minimal.

Still, when Professor Snape let drop that he was going to 'help' Lockhart run his club, every Slytherin immediately signed up. Watching Snape make a fool of Lockhart wasn't the sort of entertainment you got every day.

The Slytherins weren't disappointed on the day of the first meeting. When he walked in Lockhart was a bloviating idiot like normal, but when he agreed to demonstrate disarming with Snape, every Slytherin's heart leapt. As expected, Lockhart was blown off his feet with Snape's first spell. Most of the students had by now realized just how useless Lockhart was, and most of the school let out a cheer when Lockhart landed on his bum. Snape gave a slight smile at this, it was unusual for Gryffindors to cheer the Potions Master, but he'd earned this one.

Soon the students were practicing disarming against each other. Of course, without sufficient supervision everything immediately went crazy. The members of the war council did what they could to break up the inevitable fights that started to break out, but getting older students to calm down was beyond them.

Finally, Snape seemed to realize that things had gone a bit too far. He cast a Finite Incantatem into the air and called everyone back together. After some consultation, Lockhart decided to teach the student how to block spells.

"What about Harry and Blaise?" suggested Lockhart.

"Please," said Snape suddenly, "Mr. Zabini is well known for his explosive aptitude. Let's not tempt fate here. Why not pair Potter and Malfoy?"

And that was how Harry ended up duelling Malfoy.

Lockhart gave Harry some advice on spells, which Harry immediately discarded as useless. Harry knew how to duel, or at least he knew the spells. He noticed that Snape seemed to whisper something to Malfoy. Harry had no patience for this.

The moment the duel began Harry went on the attack, "_Expelliarmus!" _Harry cast at Malfoy. The disarming charm barely missed as Malfoy dodged.

"_Serpensortia!"_ cast Malfoy sending an unknown spell at Harry.

"_Protego_," Harry cast preparing to intercept the spell with his shield.

Except the spell became a snake. A conjuration, and a rather dirty trick in Harry's opinion, but he didn't lose focus. "_Expelliarmus," _he cast again, causing Malfoy's wand to shoot out of his hand.

"I'll take care of the snake," said a clearly annoyed Snape. Harry shared his disdain. Was that really the best Draco could do even with a teachers' help?

"Allow me," said Lockhart as he cast a spell at the snake.

Which caused it to jump in the air and start slithering towards the nearest person. Which happened to be Justin.

Harry didn't hesitate, though he knew what it would mean. "_Leave him alone!" _he said in Parseltongue.

The snake turned to him quizzically. Harry levelled his wand at the snake and again said, "_Leave him alone!"_

The snake stood down, and seconds later, Snape vanished it, his face now ashen.

"You all right, Justin?" asked Harry.

Justin nodded. "I didn't know you talked to snakes," he said.

"Yeah, well being a Parselmouth isn't exactly the sort of thing you spread around," said Harry.

"What were you telling that Snake Potter?" asked Ernie suspiciously.

"Obviously he was telling it not to kill me," said Justin.

"Seriously Macmillan, you need to get your suspicions under control," said Ron.

Harry headed back over to his Slytherin friends.

"Well," said Blaise, "You just hit the Slytherin jackpot, unfortunately…"

"Everyone is going to think I'm the Heir of Slytherin." said Harry.

"I guess that's why you didn't tell anyone," said Hermione.

"Cat's out of the bag now," said Harry, "Let's just hope there aren't any more attacks for a while."

XXXXX

**February** **12th, 1993.**

Many of the Hufflepuffs seemed to view Harry suspiciously now, but none of them said anything. Justin had been too vociferous in his defense of Harry. Still, Harry sensed that the school's opinion of him was getting worse. The Ravenclaws at least were still waiting to see what would happen. In Slytherin the revelation that Harry could talk to snakes was making everyone step lightly around him. In a way that was good, as it meant that no one was thinking of causing trouble for him. But a lot of the first years were starting to fear him, which was not what Harry wanted at all.

Luna and Ginny of course were exceptions to that rule. Luna seemed oblivious to everyone's fears. She liked to taunt people by saying she would ask Harry about things she was arguing about, which showed that she was at least a little aware of how much everyone was reacting to him. Ginny publicly didn't seem to care but when she was alone with Harry and his friends, she seemed very worried about how everyone was treating him.

"It isn't fair!" she said once.

"When has the treatment I've received ever been fair?" Harry had asked.

Harry was more worried about Ginny. She was drawing further and further into her shell of sarcasm. She'd stopped talking to her brothers almost entirely. The only time she seemed to want to do something extra was Quidditch. Slytherin seemed to be taking its toll on her.

Finally, one day in the evening, as supper was just beginning, Percy came by the Slytherin table, angry. "Does anyone know where Ginny is? She was supposed to be eating with us tonight."

Harry scowled. "Dammit, I told her she needed to be there for that!" he said angrily, "I'll check the Slytherin common room."

Harry got up immediately, but then turned back to Percy, "Something is wrong with her, and I don't quite know what it is."

"What it is, is that she should be in Gryffindor with her family!" said Percy.

Harry's jaw set, "Fine, if that's how you're going to be. I think your sister needs some actual help, but if you're just going to curse fate rather than try to figure out what's wrong, I can't help you."

Percy flushed, "One point from Slytherin!" he shouted.

Harry's nostrils flared. "That's just pathetic. Take all the points you want; it doesn't make you right."

And Harry walked off. He quickly made his way to the dungeons and into the Slytherin common room. It was empty, as everyone was at supper. He went to Ginny and Luna's room and knocked on the door. There was no answer.

Now this was strange, thought Harry. Where was she? He thought about making his way up to the library, but he couldn't see her missing dinner just to study. Ginny wasn't a bad student, but she was not the overachiever that Hermione was either.

Harry wrinkled his nose. Was she hiding? What was eating her? Shaking his head, he made his way back to the Great Hall.

When he got there, the Great Hall was in an uproar.

"Mr. Potter, where have you been?" demanded Professor McGonagall, not accusingly, but not exactly warmly either.

"I was checking the Slytherin common room for Ginny. She was supposed to be eating with her brothers," said Harry.

"Did you see what happened to Mr. Finch-Fletchley? Or Sir Nicholas?" McGonagall asked.

Harry's eyes widened, "What? What happened to Justin?"

"Like you don't know," shouted Ernie as he rushed towards Harry. Harry didn't have time to react as Ernie charged him.

"_Protego!"_

Ernie crashed into a shield that appeared in front of him. Everyone stepped back to reveal Ginny Weasley coming up from the Slytherin table, her wand drawn. A good number of Hufflepuffs had formed behind Ernie.

"Stop this at once!" shouted McGonagall.

"He petrified Justin, and Colin!" roared Ernie. The other Hufflepuffs roared their support.

Ginny put herself squarely between Harry and the house of the badgers. Her mouth was curled into a sneer. "How pathetic. Supposedly a Hufflepuff is supposed to be loyal. But look how easily they turn on their friends."

"We're friends with Justin!" shouted Hannah, who was helping Ernie to his feet.

"Are you?" asked Ginny, "ARE YOU? Then TRUST HIM. He told you Harry was his friend and wouldn't hurt him. Why don't you believe him?"

"Betrayals have happened before," said Ernie.

"If Harry's a traitor, then prove it," said Ginny, "until then you're just acting out because you're afraid."

Then she took Harry by the hand, "Let's get out of here," she said, giving Harry's other friends a nod as she walked him out the door. Harry's other friends followed them out.

"Thanks for sticking up for me," said Harry after a moment.

"They just made me so angry," said Ginny, "acting as if they know what happened. They know nothing about what happened. They're just cowards."

Harry snorted. "You really should have been in Gryffindor," he said.

Ginny had the decency to blush.

"Anyway," said Harry, "I don't think they are cowards. They're afraid of a thing they should be terrified of. I just don't know what to do to help."

"It's worse than that Harry," said Hermione as his friends caught up.

"Nearly Headless Nick was petrified as well," said Tracey.

"What could petrify a ghost?" wondered Harry.

"I don't know," said Blaise, "But we need to figure this out fast."

"I should check on Myrtle at some time," said Luna, "this happened right outside her bathroom after all."

Something about that bugged Harry. It was nudging his memory, but not quite surfacing.

"Was Colin found near there?" asked Daphne.

"I have no idea," said Hermione.

"This can't go on," said Harry.

No one disagreed with him.

XXXXX

**February 20th, 1993**

Of course, there was another issue in front of Harry, and that was the resumption of Quidditch season. Ravenclaw had beaten Hufflepuff quite spectacularly, and they now were up 230 points. Which meant that the game with Ravenclaw would be essential. If Slytherin didn't win by over 150 points, they'd have a hard time catching up.

The morning before the match, Harry was a bit nervous at breakfast. Things had calmed down since the day Justin had been petrified. The Hufflepuffs were still hostile to him, but they had stopped accusing him openly. The Gryffindors on the other hand seemed more divided. Ginny's speech had caused a few of them to doubt his guilt, and so they were more willing to hear Harry's side of things. Still he was feeling down. Well beating up on one of the other houses should make him feel better.

"I still think we'd be better off if we knew what type of creature Slytherin had," said Hermione.

"Well, I mean it's a snake of some type," said Harry.

Hermione stopped cold. "What do you mean it's a snake? How do you know that?"

"I…" Harry started before he realized that he'd heard the voice before he'd told his friends about his Parselmouth ability.

"Oh bloody hell," he said, "I forgot I only told the teachers! I heard the creature on Halloween. It was a snake."

"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Daphne.

"I hadn't told you I was a Parselmouth yet," said Harry meekly.

Hermione held up her hand, "Oh Merlin, I have to go to the Library."

"I'm going with you!" said Daphne.

Both girls got up and began to run out of the Great Hall.

"Don't forget the Quidditch match," yelled Tracey.

Hermione turned around and gave Tracey a wry smile. "Fine, we'll be there!"

Ginny leaned in closer from where she was sitting with the other first years. "Where are they going?" she asked.

"I think they might have some idea of what Slytherin's monster is," said Blaise.

"Oh," said Ginny. She went back to eating. Harry finished his food. Then looked around to give Ginny some encouragement. She'd looked a bit nervous a second ago. But she was already gone.

XXXXX

"Where is Ginny?" demanded Melody as the Slytherin team, minus its star chaser, sat in the Slytherin locker room five minutes prior to match start.

"I last saw her at breakfast," said Harry, "I'm sure she'll be here."

"Really, well that's great!" said Melody sarcastically, "and your assurances mean what exactly?"

"No need to take it out on Harry," said Nott, "He was here first of everybody."

"Do I need to remind you that if we lose this match we are eliminated?" demanded Melody.

"Sooorry!" shouted Ginny as she rushed into the room and ran into the girl's section to change into her robes, "I lost track of time!"

"Oh, she lost track of time," said Melody, "That makes it all right!"

"Oh, cut it out," said Blaise, "She's here, we're good. That's all that matters."

"Let's tear Ravenclaw a new arsehole," said Tracey, punching her right hand into her left palm.

Ginny ran out dressed in her Quidditch robes. "Ready!"

"Okay, let's do this!" said Melody as the Slytherin team took to the pitch.

XXXXX

From his starting position, Harry had a good vantage of the stands, and he couldn't see Hermione or Daphne. It was possible that they were running late, or that they were behind an older student. And it was also possible they'd gotten engrossed in whatever they were looking at in the library.

Across from him was Cho Chang. She winked at him. He had to admit, she was kind of cute. He suddenly realized he was blushing a bit. Had she done that on purpose? Suddenly he was a lot more sceptical of her advances. He supposed Cho was a Ravenclaw, and that was exactly the sort of thing a Ravenclaw might think of.

Within moments he had to drop that idea as Madam Hooch released the Quaffle. This match didn't get off to quite the start the last had. The Ravenclaws were expecting a dynamic offense, and so they were better prepared. Despite all that, the Ravenclaw team just didn't have a very good defense, their beaters were terrible. As a result, Slytherin managed to get an early lead.

Cho was playing inside to Harry's long game, which meant that the match might very well come down to who was more manoeuvrable. Harry was confident that he could outfly Cho, but he wasn't sure he could out turn her. Harry tested this by moving into a tight turn feint. Cho went for it. She had the inside, but Harry was still a bit smaller than Cho. They turned at about the same rate. When Cho realized it was a feint, she pulled back angrily. She now knew she'd given up her advantage and pulled out to play a longer strategy.

The Slytherin beaters were dominating the match. They seemed to control both bludgers more often than not, and had covered several intense drives by the Slytherin chasers. The Ravenclaw chasers were pretty good, but they were facing long odds against the Slytherin defense. They scored occasionally, but the balance of scores was in favour of Slytherin.

When Slytherin had gone up 80 to 30, Melody signalled Harry. As long as they kept up this score, they'd take over second place in the cup if they caught the snitch. Obviously, they wanted to run up the score if they could, but Harry had the go-ahead to catch the snitch.

Every time he saw Cho, she was trying to catch his eye. It really was rather obvious, and he didn't fall for it for one minute. He was actually a little disappointed in Cho. He'd seen her fly before, and she didn't need to sink to this level to beat him.

Suddenly he saw the snitch, behind Cho. Harry considered his options. She hadn't seen it yet. So suddenly he turned his broom into a dive slightly away from the snitch, so that Cho wouldn't turn around if she followed him. It wasn't a steep dive, but it soon developed a sharp curve. Cho saw him and read his course, and turned towards the same destination. In a few short moments, he was heading directly towards the snitch, and she was now heading away from it. Cho looked for the snitch, but as Harry approached her instead of turning to level with her, he pushed his broom up into full speed, making straight for the snitch. It was only once he'd passed her that she realized her mistake.

Harry heard the bell that indicated another Slytherin score as he closed on the snitch. And then with a last burst of effort he reached out and snagged it from the air.

"Slytherin Wins!" shouted Lee Jordan's voice. The Slytherin section exploded in cheers. The other Slytherin players flew by and patted Harry on the back. They were still in this!

Cho flew by Harry. "That's what I get for trying to tease you I guess," she said.

"And for trying to shadow me," said Harry.

Cho laughed, "True. I guess next time I'll need to look to my own skills to win, and not rely on tricks."

Harry laughed as well, "I look forward to it."

Harry looked out over the cheering Slytherin students. He didn't see Hermione or Daphne. When he flew in for a landing, he saw Professor McGonagall running onto the field, a grim expression on her face.

And Harry knew.

"No," he said as she walked up to him, "NO!"

"I'm sorry," said Professor McGonagall, "but you need to come with me. Miss Granger and Miss Greengrass have been petrified."

XXXXX

Harry sat next to Hermione's bed in the hospital wing hanging his head. "I'm sorry Hermione," he said to her, "I will find out who did this to you."

"She can't hear you," said Madam Pomfrey.

"I don't care," said Harry stubbornly, "It had to be said."

Professor Dumbledore walked in hurriedly, with Snape close behind. "I am so sorry Harry, Blaise, Tracey. I know Hermione and Daphne were your friends."

Blaise and Tracey were sitting by Daphne. They nodded in reply. Harry didn't feel like doing anything.

"Both Miss Granger and Miss Greengrass dropped these," Dumbledore held out two small mirrors, both of which were broken.

"I don't know," said Harry, "But... "

"But?" asked the Headmaster.

"The last time I saw Hermione, she was heading towards the library. She thought she had an idea as to what the creature in the Chamber of Secrets was," finished Harry.

"Thank you, Harry," said Dumbledore. "I must admit, this is getting very bad."

Suddenly the doors to the infirmary swept open, and Bryant Greengrass rushed in.

"Daphne!" he shouted as he ran to his daughter's side.

"She's petrified," said Blaise.

Bryant nodded, his face a mask of pain. He turned to Dumbledore quickly.

"I have found an alternate source of Mandrake Draught,' he said, "I managed to locate it after Justin was petrified. My supplier is willing to give it to us in exchange for our entire crops worth of Mandrake draught once ours is ready."

Dumbledore smiled. "That is good news," he said.

"The Board of Governors very nearly voted to remove you minutes ago." said Greengrass.

"That was fast," said Harry.

"The news hit us while we were in a meeting," said Bryant, "I staved it off, but in one week's time there will be a hearing at the Ministry. We MUST stop Lucius from getting rid of you. I have a plan to do so, but we must be prepared."

Dumbledore smiled again. "I am grateful for your assistance Bryant."

"It isn't for you, but my daughter," said Bryant, "I am going to make Lucius pay for this."

"I think it's time to give the students some privacy," said Madam Pomfrey.

Harry stood up dutifully. "When can I come back?" he asked.

"There's no need for that," said Madam Pomfrey.

Harry blinked. "I think there is. Even if she can't hear me, I'm not going to just leave Hermione alone!"

"We will be walking all students to your classes from now on Harry," said Dumbledore, "It would be an imposition to ask a teacher to walk you up here."

"I will do it," said Snape, "If Madam Pomfrey will walk him down again when he is finished?"

"Severus," said Dumbledore warily.

"I understand how he feels headmaster," said Snape, "Let's not discourage him."

Dumbledore nodded. "Very well. I suppose Harry can do some of his homework here as well as any other place."

"Thank you," said Harry.

Harry turned to Bryant. "I'll keep Daphne company as well," he said.

Bryant smiled. "I appreciate it, Harry, and so will she, I'm sure."

Harry and the other Slytherins followed Snape back to their common room. Harry made his way to his room. To their room. He sat alone, barely holding back the tears in his eyes.

He had to figure this out. He just had to!

XXXXX

**February 21st, 1993**

The next day Harry called the war council together during lunch. Surprisingly Ernie, Susan and Hannah decided to attend.

"I'm sorry," said Ernie, "I was a prat. I know you'd never do anything to hurt Hermione."

"Same here," said Hannah.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Ernie." Suddenly he made up his mind.

"The boy who opened the Chamber of Secrets last time was named Tom Riddle, and whomever is opening up the Chamber is being possessed by something he used to own," said Harry.

Blaise and Tracey nodded. They couldn't deny that it was time.

"You know this how?" asked Ron.

"Horace Slughorn told us," said Harry, "The previous Potions Master. He was here when the chamber was opened before. We didn't say anything because we didn't want to give the game away, but…"

"Hermione and Daphne had just had what we think was a breakthrough," said Tracey, "We think they identified the monster before they were petrified."

"So…" started Ernie.

"Don't you see?" asked Harry, "Colin and Justin were petrified because it made me look bad. But Hermione and Daphne were attacked because they figured out what the monster was. These aren't random attacks. They're targeted somehow."

Everyone nodded.

"We have to get to the bottom of this NOW," said Harry, "because in a week Dumbledore has a hearing to determine whether he gets removed. That's Lucius' endgame."

Harry sounded confident, but inside he knew it was a lost cause. He wished Hermione had told him what she suspected.

XXXXX

**February 27th, 1993**

Just as Harry suspected, no one managed to find anything suspicious. It was a disappointment to him, but an expected one. The truth was that Hermione's petrification had almost petrified Harry. He had no idea where to go from here, but he knew that unless something was done very quickly everything would spiral out of control.

Every day he visited Hermione. He knew it didn't do any good, but somehow it felt wrong not to do it. He was desperate for any help, any inspiration. Nothing was forthcoming. Harry was beginning to feel trapped; caught in between forces that he couldn't even understand.

Finally, early on Saturday, he asked Professor Snape to take him up to the hospital wing. The Professor agreed without comment. He had to seem totally pathetic. How could anyone look up to him now. He just wanted… he just wanted…

As soon as Snape left him alone in the infirmary, he broke down. Tears streamed down his face as sat next to Hermione. "I really need you Hermione, I do. I don't know what to do. Dumbledore's at his hearing at the Ministry, we can't find the heir, we can't even identify the monster! Please, please wake up."

He looked down at her face, and one of his tears fell onto her cheek. He gently wiped it away. Suddenly he thought of all those old fairy tales where the prince woke the princess with a kiss.

_That's stupid_, he thought, but the idea didn't leave him. And without even thinking he leaned over and kissed her on the lips. They were hard as stone, yet underneath he could almost feel the life that was still in her.

She didn't wake of course. "I'm sorry," he said to her, "I just miss you." He took her hand.

Something crinkled as he touched her hand. Reaching in with his finger, he pulled a sheet of paper out of Hermione's hand. It had been torn from a book. Looking at it, Harry saw the word _basilisk._

His heart almost stopped.

XXXXX

Normally on Saturday Tracey would be trying to get a Quidditch practice in, or maybe play a game of exploding snap with Blaise or Daphne, or even try to do some studying if she felt really gung-ho. But she was not able to leave the common room, and without Daphne she wasn't in the mood for games. She had just wanted to read a book in the Slytherin common room.

But she couldn't help but think something was up with Ginny. Ever since she'd heard that Dumbledore had left for his hearing, she'd been pacing. Her lips moved occasionally, as if she was speaking to someone in her head. Eventually, Ginny gave up and left the common room. Tracey didn't fully know why, but she decided to follow her.

Tracey knocked on Ginny's door politely. "Ginny," she said, "Are you all right?"

Ginny opened the door, "I'm good, I'm just worried about Dumbledore," she said.

Tracey didn't quite buy it. There was something in her manner that belied her claim that she was fine.

"This whole situation is horrible, it's okay for you to be upset. Especially as you haven't been talking to your brothers," said Tracey.

"Thanks Tracey," said Ginny, "I've talked with someone about it though."

"Oh, who?" asked Tracey.

Ginny laughed, "It's silly."

"Not if it helps you," said Tracey.

"It's my diary," said Ginny, "It kind of has a mind of its own. He calls himself Tom."

Tracey gasped. "Tom _Riddle?_" she asked unbelieving.

"Yes…" said Ginny her face suddenly wary, "You've heard of him?"

"Tom Riddle is the childhood name of You-Know-Who!" yelled Tracey, "Merlin, he's been possessing you! You've been opening the Chamber of Secrets!"

"N-n-n-no," said Ginny, "its c-c-can't be!"

"We have to take that diary to Professor Snape NOW," said Tracey.

Ginny nodded. "Right," she said.

Suddenly her head jerked back and Ginny let out a scream. Tracey tried to draw her wand, but Ginny was faster. The last thing Tracey saw was a spell heading straight for her.

XXXXX

"So does Draco Malfoy have wrackspurts?" asked Blaise. Humouring Luna was a lot more fun than just about anything else he had to do right now.

"Draco always has wrackspurts," said Luna, "he's the most confused person I've ever met."

"What about me?" asked Blaise.

Luna shook her head. "No, you seem to understand what you want."

Blaise laughed bitterly, "Yeah, I guess that's true."

Suddenly there was a scream from the first-year hallway. Then there was a thud from one of the rooms, and suddenly Ginny ran through the common room and out the door into the dungeons.

"What the hell!" said Blaise. He ran down the first-year corridor. When he came to Ginny's room, he saw Tracey lying on the floor. He ran to her side and checked her pulse. Just stunned, for which Blaise let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh no!" said Luna who had followed Blaise.

"Ginny did this," said Luna sadly, as she bent down next to Tracey.

Blaise simply nodded, then yelled out, "PREFECT, WE NEED A PREFECT NOW!"

XXXXX

Harry was stunned by the paper he had found in Hermione's hand. The creature was a basilisk. It hadn't killed anyone because everyone had either seen it via a reflection or through some other filter. It was getting around via the pipes. A rooster's crow could kill it and someone had killed all the roosters. This was far worse than anything Harry had imagined. It was a miracle no one had died yet!

Suddenly the door to the infirmary burst open. Snape and McGonagall entered carrying an unconscious Tracey.

"What happened?" asked Harry.

"She was found unconscious in Miss Weasley and Miss Lovegood's room," said Snape, "Miss Weasley is now missing."

Harry's heart sank. "Ginny's opening the Chamber of Secrets," he said, louder than he had intended.

"Are you sure?" asked McGonagall, her face incredulous.

"She was late to the Quidditch match, I couldn't find her when Justin was petrified, and she wasn't at the feast on Halloween," said Harry, "She's been getting distant from her family. Oh, bloody goddamned hell, how did I miss this!"

"Harry…" said Snape.

"She had to have some item that was controlling her…" started Harry.

"It was her diary," said Tracey weakly.

Everyone ran to her bedside. Tracey had barely awoken, but she struggled to speak to them.

"It was Tom Riddle's diary," said Tracey, "It possessed her."

And then Harry remembered Lucius dropping the books in Ginny's cauldron, back at Flourish and Blotts.

"Tom Riddle?" asked Snape, "Who is Tom Riddle?"

"That's Voldemort's real name," said Harry, "Voldemort is the Heir of Slytherin."

McGonagall and Snape looked at each other in horror.

"Harry," said Snape urgently, "Stay here." And he rushed out of the room. McGonagall ran out right behind him.

Tracey looked at Harry. "You aren't going to stay, here are you? You at least need to tell Ron that his sister is missing."

Harry laughed, "Hell no, I'm not staying here. I do need to find Ron and tell him what's happened. And then I'll get Luna and Blaise. Maybe they know where Ginny's been running off to."

Harry made his way to the door.

"Harry!" said Tracey, "Good Luck!"

Harry nodded, and then left.

**Author's Note:** All right, we finally got here. I am going to keep this note short so I don't spoil the next chapter. I think I've managed to rule out any of the common ways that Harry might defeat the basilisk. He ain't going to be summoning Fawkes or getting the sword of Gryffindor, that's for sure! But in reality he isn't much better prepared for this than he was in canon.

Anyway the next chapter is short, but crazy. I pretty much knew exactly where it had to end, and I think you'll agree that it is my most wtf Chapter ending yet.


	15. No Going Back

**Chapter 15: No Going Back**

**February 27th, 1993**

Harry raced up to Gryffindor Tower as quickly as he could. Dammit, this was his fault. He should have seen that Ginny was acting strangely! He had seen it, and he hadn't put two and two together! He'd told everyone to keep an eye out for people acting suspiciously and it had been one of his own friends. Harry just wanted to cry again, but there was no time for that now. He needed to get as many of his friends together as possible and try to figure out where the Chamber was.

But when he got to Gryffindor tower, he had not expected to find Ron already outside talking to Blaise and Luna.

"Harry, have you heard about Tracey?" asked Blaise.

"Yeah, she regained consciousness in the infirmary," said Harry, "But Ginny is missing and that is a huge problem. Ginny had Tom Riddle's diary."

"WHAT?" screamed Ron.

"Listen Ron, Tom Riddle is Voldemort. Ginny is being possessed by Voldemort. We have to find her NOW," said Harry. Ron gulped and nodded.

"Where do you think she is?" asked Blaise.

"Probably the Chamber of Secrets," admitted Harry.

"WE DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT IS!" shouted Ron frantically.

Harry grimaced, but he didn't blame Ron for his outburst. It was his sister after all. Harry was very nearly as desperate. If Ginny died after having left all those signs that she was in trouble…

"Well most of the attacks have been near or around Myrtle's bathroom," said Luna.

"That is true but…" Harry started to speak, but then he remembered Slughorn's words about the student who had died.

"'Poor Myrtle' he said," said Harry, "Merlin. Moaning Myrtle is the student who died the last time the Chamber was opened!"

"She was killed in that bathroom!" said Luna.

"And the basilisk moves through the pipes, so a bathroom would be the perfect place for it to come out!" said Harry.

Ron went white, Blaise gasped, and Luna started clapping giddily.

"Basilisk?" said Ron. "Slytherin's monster is a basilisk?"

"Hermione figured it out," said Harry, "would you believe that she had a note in her hand that spelled it all out?"

"Yes," said all three of Harry's friends.

"Oooh a basilisk, I've always wanted to see one of those," said Luna.

"You want to die?" asked Ron incredulously.

"No," said Luna, "I guess _see_ is the wrong word."

"Let's head to Myrtle's bathroom!" said Harry. He ran off, his friends following behind.

None of them noticed Percy hiding behind a suit of armour.

XXXXX

Harry rushed into the girl's bathroom. "Myrtle! Myrtle! Are you here?" he shouted.

"Who are you?" said a girl's voice who floated out of one of the toilet stalls. It was a ghost, a younger teenage girl who was dressed in Hogwarts robes.

"Oooh a boy, you aren't supposed to be here," she said, but her voice was tinged with amusement.

"Easy, Harry," said Luna, "Hello Myrtle!"

"Hello Luna," said Myrtle, "Did you bring some of your friends?"

"Yes, but Harry here has a question for you," said Luna.

"For me?" asked Myrtle.

"I wanted to ask how you died," said Harry.

Myrtle suddenly seemed to think he'd given her some sort of compliment. "Oh, that. Well I came in here to have a cry because Olive Hornby was making fun of me again. I came back out here and I saw two yellow eyes. Then I died."

Blaise hissed. "A basilisk," he said, shaking his head, "Merlin, I was hoping Hermione was wrong."

"So that is what killed me," said Myrtle, "It feels good to know that."

"A basilisk controlled by Tom Riddle," said Harry.

Myrtle's face fell, "Oh, I liked him! What a shame he killed me."

"This is definitely the exit to the Chamber of Secrets." said Harry, "Now we just have to find the door."

Everyone started looking around for what could be a door. Eventually, Luna shouted out, "I found something!"

Everyone ran over to the sink she was standing by. On one of the taps, it had the symbol of a snake.

"Well, this is it," said Ron, "but how do we open it?"

Harry looked at the snake symbol, and concentrated very hard on the idea that it was a snake. Finally, he said "Open."

It came out in Parseltongue of course.

The sink sank into the floor, revealing a deep, dark hole.

"Wonderful," said Blaise, "And I bet it's absolutely filthy down there."

Harry nodded. Now they just need to alert the teachers and...

"The jig is up!" said the most annoying voice that Harry could think of.

He turned around to see Lockhart and Percy pointing their wands at him.

"Caught, red-handed!" said Percy, "Though I can't believe you're helping them Ron. They took Ginny!"

"We're rescuing Ginny!" protested Ron.

"Ron, how can you be so naive?" demanded Percy.

"Percy," said Harry, "Stop this at once. You're about to kill Ginny through your stupidity. Lockhart is an incompetent moron who can't cast basic defensive spells to save his life, and he'll be facing the spirit of Voldemort and a Basilisk."

"I'll make you regret that Potter!" shouted Lockhart, "I'm not a useless idiot!"

Lockhart threw a spell at Harry. It only shot useless sparks.

And then Harry, Blaise, and Ron went for their wands.

Percy immediately stunned Blaise. Probably for the best, thought Harry. Blaise would start throwing around Reductors, and people would get seriously injured or killed.

Luna had not gone for her wand however. Instead she tackled Harry and Ron, pushing all three of them into the dark hole. The drop soon became a slide and they all slid down until they landed in the muck at the bottom, where they landed in what seemed to be some sort of giant pipe. As they did, they heard a crack.

"My wand!" shouted Ron, "Oh bloody hell, Mum's going to kill me!" he threw his wand on the floor angrily.

Harry cast a Lumos to get a better look around.

"Why did you do that?" Harry asked Luna, "It was just Percy. Lockhart's no threat."

"No, Daddy says Gilderoy Lockhart is very dangerous," said Luna, "The creatures that he has said he fought? They're all real. But Professor Lockhart is clearly incapable of fighting them. Daddy thinks that other people fought all those creatures, but then Lockhart obliviated them and stole their stories."

Harry sighed. "Of course, he did."

"We can ambush them if they come down though," said Luna.

Harry nodded and he and Luna took positions on opposite sides of the chute, while Ron just ran back a bit. Soon Percy and Lockhart came down the chute, Lockhart first.

"_Expelliarmus_!" shouted Harry, disarming Percy.

"_Expelliarmus_," said Luna, causing Lockhart to drop his wand. Lockhart lunged to the floor to pick it up. Harry, seeing this, jumped back away from Lockhart reflexively.

"_Obliviate_!" shouted Lockhart as he pointed his wand at Harry. Except it didn't have a point. Because it was Ron's broken wand.

The spell boomed in the crowded space. Harry didn't see what happened next because the ceiling started caving in. Harry ran out of the way just in time to avoid being squashed. The collapse had completely cut him off from Ron and Luna!

After a moment he heard Ron call out "Harry, you all right mate?"

"Yeah? You?"

"I'm fine," said Ron.

"So am I," yelled Luna.

"Where am I?" said the voice of Lockhart.

"Looks like poor Gilderoy here has lost his memories," said Luna.

"Who am I? Am I Gilderoy?" asked Lockhart.

"Yes, definitely," said Luna.

Harry heard a scuffle on the other side of the rocks.

"He's going to kill Ginny!" screamed Percy.

Suddenly Harry heard the sound of a slap. "He's saving her, you unmitigated arse!" shouted Ron, "And thanks to you, he's now Ginny's only hope."

Percy went silent.

"I'll continue on," said Harry, "Try to clear away some of this rubble before I get back."

"We'll try!" said Luna in a chipper voice, "Do try to save Ginny, I've grown rather fond of her."

"I will," said Harry as he continued on.

He continued on down the pipe some ways until he came to a door. It was covered in giant snake symbols.

"That's not exactly subtle," said Harry.

Concentrating on the snake emblems again, he managed to again say the Parseltongue word for "Open," and again the door opened.

"I must admit, Slytherin used rather repetitive security," observed Harry.

Inside the Chamber had been flooded with water. Platforms still stuck out of the water leading down the length of the chamber. There were several side passages off the main Chamber. At the other end of the platform was a statue of a giant head. Slytherin's probably. In front of it a girl was sitting on the ground.

Harry ran up to the girl. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was Ginny. Her eyes had gone glassy and her mouth was moving silently, but she was alive.

"Ginny!" he said, "We need to get out of here!"

"I can't," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "He's too strong."

"He's just a fragment of a person!" yelled Harry, "I know you're stronger than him!"

"It's no use," said an unfamiliar voice, "She won't be able to resist me much longer."

Harry turned around. Behind him on the ground was a black diary, and walking next to it was a teenage boy. No, the shade of a teenage boy. He was still a bit translucent around the edges.

"Riddle, I presume?" Harry asked.

"You seem quite well informed on me," said Riddle, "I, of course, know who you are."

"I bet you have a _special _interest in me," said Harry, "your shade certainly did."

"My, my, you are a reckless one," said Riddle, "Do you even know what I'm doing?"

"You're trying to come back to life by absorbing Ginny's life force into your horcrux," said Harry, "Or rather yourself. You are the horcrux."

Riddle looked impressed. "Oh, you have done your homework, haven't you?" he said teasingly, "You know, you are almost a worthy opponent for my future self. I'm almost tempted to see how you fare against him."

"Like I wouldn't destroy your horcrux the first chance I got," said Harry with a shake of his head, "No, you aren't going down that easily."

"No, I'm not," said Riddle, "I am actually a little sad to have to do this, but I really do need to come back to life, and be rejoined with my spirit."

And he began calling for the basilisk in Parseltongue. Harry tried to tell it to go away in Parseltongue, but Riddle just laughed.

"The basilisk is bound to Slytherin! It only serves me!" exclaimed Tom. Harry growled at that. It had been worth a shot.

"Close your eyes Ginny!" shouted Harry as he turned and ran. He heard the basilisk emerge behind him. Harry ran for one of the side chambers, as he drew his wand. He had no idea how he was going to deal with this basilisk. He ran as far as he could then hung a left, running down an even rougher pipe. He made a right turn at the next intersection and came to a small room at the end of a passage. It was a natural cave, and there was no outlet. There was a ledge directly above his head. There was also a massive stalactite hanging from the ceiling. The thing had to be older than the school, thousands of years old. But it tapered down to a razor-sharp point.

"_Depulso!_" said Harry, pointing his wand at his feet. The banishing charm couldn't move the floor so it moved him. He shot into the air and landed on the ledge above him.

Below he saw the tip of the basilisk's nose creep into the room.

"_Reducto!_" shouted Harry, aiming his wand at the base of the stalactite. Then he closed his eyes. The basilisk responded by thrusting its head upwards, its mouth open. Then there was a crack as Harry's spell hit and the base of the stalactite cracked.

And the stalactite fell from the ceiling, hitting the basilisk in the soft upper palate of its mouth, impaling its brain. The creature shuddered and died with a horrible scream.

Harry exhaled in relief as he opened his eyes. He had been certain he was done for. Whatever else happened now, Harry was grateful that the basilisk was dead. It would never threaten the children of the school again.

Harry leapt down from his perch, and made his way back to the main Chamber. Riddle looked at him contemptuously. "Run all you like Potter," he said, "The basilisk will hunt you down eventually."

"I don't think so," said Harry, "considering that I killed it."

"WHAT?" demanded Riddle.

Ginny started laughing weakly, "You dumb little shit, you can't even kill Harry with a Basilisk!" Ginny's laughter made Riddle furious, and as she laughed, she seemed to get stronger.

"That's it Ginny!" said Harry excitedly, "He's ridiculous! He's powerless! As you treat him that way, he gets weaker and you get stronger."

"I AM LORD VOLDEMORT!" screamed Riddle, "YOU ARE JUST A LITTLE GIRL!"

"You've held him off this long!" said Harry, "I bet he tried to sic you on Hermione right off the bat, but you fought him. You can keep fighting him. The only power he has over you is the power you give him! Deny him that power and he has NOTHING!"

"You have no idea what I can do Potter!" roared Riddle.

"Harry's right," said Ginny as she staggered to her feet, "You're all talk! You've stolen my life force. WELL I WANT IT BACK!"

Riddle screamed, as his shade began to grow transparent. Soon it vanished altogether. The screaming continued however, coming from the diary.

"I still feel you there," said Ginny, "I'm taking it ALL!"

Suddenly the diary began to spurt ink in all directions. For a moment the screaming intensified. Then it stopped.

At that moment, Ginny's eyes went wide, as if she was seeing something horrific.

"Ginny?" asked Harry uncertainly.

"Whoa," said Ginny, "I think I killed it."

"That was a horcrux! They're supposed to be nearly indestructible!" protested Harry.

"I know," said Ginny.

"Uh, how?" asked Harry, "I doubt Riddle told you what it was."

"I know," said Ginny with tears forming in her eyes, "because Riddle knew. I absorbed the magic powering the horcrux. And everything it knew."

Harry stared at her for a moment. "Bloody fucking hell," he said finally.

**Author's Note: ** And there is the first big twist. This is actually a premise changing twist, and it fundamentally changes the nature of the story. Ginny absorbs the horcrux was the original nucleus of this entire story. This premise has been done before of course. **The Thorny Rose** by Brennus was the first story I saw with this concept, though I will admit I came up with the idea independently and looked for a story with that premise for ideas. If you don't mind Harry/Ginny, that story has its charms, mostly for the scene in the second part of that story where Rita Skeeter tries to sneak into Grimmauld place. The violence is so over the top it is hilarious.

I think I said that this was originally sort of harem story, but that isn't precisely accurate. It is more accurate to say that as I was in the early planning stages of this story I kept making it darker and darker, and I kept hooking Harry up with people to make up for it. I eventually decided that rewarding Harry with girls because he was having a rough time was a bit sexist though, so I slowly pared it down to just Harry and Hermione. Now that I have backed off on the utter bleakness that this story was originally supposed to be, I am very, very glad that I made that decision, as it would just have felt weird to me. In my defense, I had just read a LOT of Harem fanfics when I came up with the idea.

Now that I have finally revealed the whole premise, I can talk a little about the future of this story. Year Three is the most different yet, and will largely focus on how Harry and Ginny and Harry and Hermione respond to the new status quo that will develop in the next chapter. Year Four is about Harry realising that he has to grow up and finally beginning to define what his adult relationships with his friends will be. Year Five is about Harry trying to take control of his fate. Year Six is about Harry finally trying to figure out who is manipulating him. Year Seven is just completely different from the books.

Anyway, next time: Harry learns he really can't trust Dumbledore, Hermione wakes up, and Bryant and Harry have a conversation with Lucius Malfoy.


	16. When Everything has Changed

**Chapter 16: When Everything Has Changed**

**February 27th, 1993**

For a moment Ginny recoiled at Harry's reaction. Harry shook his head. She had to think he was scared of her. That he had rejected her. She ran closer to the statue of Slytherin crying.

"Ginny!" said Harry as he ran up behind her, "I'm still your friend Ginny."

And then he wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

"I'm still your friend," he repeated, and Ginny turned around and began crying into his chest.

After several minutes Ginny managed to stop crying. "I'm sorry," she said, "I saw… all the things he had done. Even as a teenager he was a monster. The things he did were horrific! And to have his thoughts in my mind. It just makes me feel _dirty_. I hate him. I hate him more than I've ever hated a person. I want him dead! And now he's part of me! It makes me just want to…"

And suddenly Ginny let out a scream, a horrible primal sound. Harry just held her tighter.

"Believe me I know," said Harry, "I hate him as well. And he left me a few presents too."

Ginny sighed, "Yeah, he did," she said. Harry could feel the tension flow out of her for a moment.

"You know, I'd have given anything to get you to hold me like this a week ago, or a month ago. But now that I'm here…" Ginny trailed off for a moment, "Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for your support, but it wasn't exactly worth it."

"I'm not able to erase what you feel Ginny," said Harry, "I can only help you recover from it. And even then, I can only do so much." Despite his words, he didn't let go.

"I know, but I'm a witch," said Ginny, "I guess I expected magic."

"Do you want me to let go?" asked Harry.

"No," said Ginny, "When you let go, we'll have to figure all this out. And I'm not ready yet."

"Take as long as you need," said Harry, as he rested his head on her shoulder.

XXXXX

"You know Ronald, you could help me a bit here," said Luna as she moved a rock away from the cave in.

"Sorry Luna," said Ron, "I was trying to get up the slide."

"It looks like it won't be easy," said Percy. He was very subdued compared to how he had been acting twenty minutes ago.

Suddenly they heard a grinding noise from upstairs, and what little light was coming from the entryway vanished.

"Oh, fantastic," said Ron.

"Blaise should have awoken by now," said Luna.

"Ehhh, about that," said Percy.

Luna and Ron both turned to stare at Percy.

"I, uh, may have put Blaise in a body-bind," said Percy, "He isn't going anywhere for a couple hours."

Luna considered this for a moment. It was rather inconvenient. If she didn't know better, she'd think Percy had made a serious mistake. Of course, he was a school prefect so she _must_ be mistaken.

"I'm pretending to be oblivious to myself," she muttered, "that's probably not a good sign."

Ron laughed, having somehow overheard her. "Yeah," he said, "it probably isn't." He walked over and started helping her pull out a particularly big rock.

"I don't like this place anymore," said Lockhart.

"Me neither," said Luna.

XXXXX

Ginny had finally managed to compose herself, and had let go of Harry. "Okay," she said, "First things first, you understand that we can't let anyone know that I have Voldemort's memories, right?"

"You think if the wrong people find out they'll do something?" asked Harry. He actually was pretty sure he knew the answer, but he was interested in her reasoning on this.

"At best we're talking people watching me constantly and interfering in my life," said Ginny, "We both saw what happened. That horcrux died. But some people won't believe that."

"From what I've heard I wouldn't put much past Cornelius Fudge," said Harry, "If the right people demand your head, he'll give it to them."

"From what Dad says, I agree with you," said Ginny, "So we keep this from everyone until I say otherwise okay?"

"Okay," said Harry.

"I mean _everyone_," said Ginny, "I mean Snape. I mean McGonagall. I mean Dumbledore, my parents, my brothers, Luna…"

"...and Hermione," said Harry, "I understand."

Ginny smiled at Harry. "Thank you, Harry. I know keeping a secret from Hermione will be awkward for you. Eventually I do think we will tell some of our friends, but they have to be able to protect the secret. Which brings us to our second problem. Your mind is completely open to being read. You'll need to learn a skill known as Occlumency."

"I already know a little Occlumency," said Harry.

"Really?" asked Ginny, "that's rare at your age. I mean... I know you're older than me. I just meant…"

Harry held out a hand to calm her down. "I know it must be confusing," he said, "Anyway I can detect if someone enters my mind, I can throw them out, and I can almost create a very weak barrier around my mind. Do you know Occlumency now?"

Ginny nodded. "I'll have to adapt it though, Riddle knew how to protect his mind, but my mind is entirely different from his. Still I think I can pull up the basics. This is important right now though, because Dumbledore is willing to use Legilimency on people he thinks are lying to him. He did it to Tom once."

Harry shook his head, "Is that legal?" he asked.

"I'm not sure about current law, but at the time Riddle was in school the law on Legilimency was very antiquated. It mostly dealt with exposing state secrets as opposed to personal privacy," Ginny said with a shrug, "It's a relatively rare talent, and few people learn Legilimency at any real skill level. I'd bet it's still the same."

"I have a minor talent for it," said Harry.

"That will be useful for kicking him out, but not keeping him out." said Ginny.

"So, we need to make sure our story doesn't raise any red flags," said Harry.

"There's the big problem," said Ginny, "how do we explain how we destroyed the horcrux? They're practically indestructible."

"I could Reducto it," said Harry.

Ginny shook her head, "There is no spell you can cast at this stage in your life that could hurt a horcrux. And any spell that could hurt it would be something like the killing curse or Fiendfyre. If you claim to know those, Dumbledore WILL read your mind, and he won't back off."

Harry nodded. Suddenly he remembered the basilisk. "What about a basilisk fang? Isn't basilisk venom one of the most destructive substances in the world?"

Ginny's eyes widened. "Brilliant Harry! That would be perfect. Lucky we have a dead basilisk here, huh?"

"You didn't get chased by it," said Harry, "I wouldn't call it luck."

Ginny started to giggle. "Sorry Harry, I just…"

"Don't apologize," said Harry with a lopsided grin, "it was funny."

Harry took the diary and took it to where the basilisk's corpse lay. Luckily, he was able to reach in its mouth and press the diary against one of the teeth. Making very sure not to get any venom on him he pushed the fang through the diary.

"So, our story is that while you held off Voldemort's assault, I ran with the diary and pushed it against a basilisk fang," said Harry.

"Sounds good," said Ginny.

"You know," said Harry, "before we leave, I want you to know, you were incredibly brave. Even though it was only a fragment, you held off Voldemort's soul and defeated him. That took strength. I just want you to know that."

Ginny blushed a bit. "If we're talking about things like that," she said shyly, "Part of the reason I opted not to fight being in Slytherin was because of Riddle, but there was something else."

Ginny laughed a little, "It's so silly," she said, "I ran into an old seer, and she told me if I followed the narrow and twisted path to its end, I'd know your true heart."

Harry blushed, "Oh?" he said.

"At first I thought it meant that you'd fall in love with me, and I still kind of hope it means that," said Ginny, "But if it doesn't, well, I'm open to that as well."

And suddenly Harry hugged her again. Ginny laughed this time as she returned it, "Okay, okay, it got a bit dramatic again, maybe I should have held off on that."

"Let's see if we have an exit," said Harry.

"Oh?" asked Ginny.

"Gilderoy Lockhart sort of caused a cave in behind me." said Harry.

Ginny scoffed. "Why'd you bring Lockhart?"

"I didn't. Percy did. He thought I'd abducted you."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Of course he did."

"Lockhart was trying to Obliviate us, as it is the only spell he can use effectively, but he picked up Ron's wand instead of his own. Fortunately, Ron broke his wand when we went down the slide out there."

Ginny winced. Harry knew she was thinking that that was a lot of money.

"I'll buy him another one," said Harry.

"Mum will never let you," she said.

"I'll just say I landed on it," said Harry.

Ginny nodded. "That might work."

They finally reached the cave-in. There was a small tunnel that had been dug out of the rubble.

"Hey! Ron! Luna!," said Harry.

Ron's face appeared on the other side of the hole, "Did you save Ginny!" he asked.

Ginny knelt down by the hole and waved, "I'm fine. A bit tired but fine," she said.

Relief flooded Ron's face. "Thank goodness," Harry heard Percy say.

"Did Blaise come with you?" asked Ginny.

"Percy stunned him and put him in a body bind in Myrtle's bathroom," said Luna.

"Probably for the best," said Ginny, "He would have used the Reducto on you Percy."

"Yeah, why do you think I targeted him?" said the prefect.

"I think you can make it through Ginny," said Harry.

Ginny nodded and crawled through the small hole. Harry looked at the hole once she'd gone through. He might be able to make it through. And he did, but it was tighter than he was comfortable with.

"I'm getting bigger than I thought," said Harry.

"The basilisk?" asked Ron.

"Very dead," said Harry.

"Riddle's diary?" asked Luna.

Harry pulled the book out for his robes. "Impaled on a basilisk fang."

"You don't do things halfway, do you Harry?" asked Ron with a laugh.

"We have a problem," said Luna, "the door in the bathroom shut."

"Harry should be able to open it with his Parseltongue," said Ginny.

Harry concentrated on speaking to a snake. "Open," he said. He heard the grinding as the door opened.

"How do we get up?" asked Ron.

Ginny waved her wand and most of the detritus on the floor swept away, revealing a circular platform. "Stand on this."

All of them stood on the platform, except Lockhart, who just stared at them.

"Come along Gilderoy," said Luna, "We're going to a better place."

Lockhart smiled and stood on the platform. Harry told the platform to rise in Parseltongue, and it rose. Soon they had risen into the girl's bathroom.

Harry walked over to Blaise, who was still on the floor. "_Finite,_" he said. Blaise's eyes popped open.

"Thanks Harry," he said as he sat up. He looked at Percy and Lockhart, as well as Ginny, "You okay Ginny?"

"Like you give a fuck," said Ginny with a grin.

"Ginny!" said Percy aghast.

"I don't give a fuck," said Blaise, "but if I had to lay on the floor of a girl's loo for nothing…"

"Oh, you're back," said Myrtle, floating out of her stall, "I was hoping you'd die so you could share my toilet."

"If only," said Harry.

"That is a very enlightened attitude Harry," said Luna.

"I like this place," said Lockhart, "Let's stay here."

"What did you do to Lockhart?" asked Blaise accusingly.

"Turns out Lockhart never did any of the things he claimed," said Harry, "Other people did them and Lockhart memory charmed them. Well he tried to memory charm me with a broken wand, and well…"

"Oh," said Blaise sadly, "Dammit, did you have to be so right Harry?"

"Why don't you and Percy take him to the hospital wing," said Harry, "the rest of us can take Ginny to Dumbledore."

"You think he's back?" asked Blaise.

"Snape went to get him," said Harry, "Bryant will make sure he gets back here."

"Right," said Percy, "Follow me Gilderoy."

"What was that about?" asked Ron.

"I figure the less we have to explain right away, the better," said Harry, "If Percy is there, we have to explain what he did first. Without him we can make it an afterthought."

"I hope Blaise doesn't try to get revenge," said Luna.

"I kind of hope he does," said Ginny.

XXXXX

Harry did not know where Dumbledore's office was, and neither did Ron or Ginny. Luckily, Luna knew where it was. "I made a point to find it my first week," she said.

Luna led them to a corridor on the third floor and stopped in front of a statue of a gargoyle. "Sherbet Lemon," she said. The gargoyle moved out of the way, revealing a spiral staircase.

Harry, Ron and Ginny all stared at Luna. "I may have waited here until someone came by to see the headmaster and used the password," she admitted.

"Luna, have I told you that you're brilliant before?" said Harry. He had to admit that Luna had been very helpful. First she'd realised that Lockhart was dangerous, now this. Harry regretted not taking her into his confidence earlier.

"Yes, you have, but it is rather nice to hear it again," said Luna.

The four students made their way up the staircase. As they approached the door at the top, they heard voices. The first voice was clearly Bryant Greengrass.

"We are in the process of having the school searched, and with this new information we are confident that the Chamber will be found this time," he was saying.

"It hasn't been found for 1000 years, what makes you so certain now?" demanded the voice of Arthur Weasley. Harry should have known the Weasleys would be summoned once Ginny disappeared.

"We have the best lead that we have ever had," said the voice of Dumbledore, "We know what the creature is, and we know how it has been getting around the school. If we have to rip out the entire system of pipes to find the chamber, we will."

"What about the perpetrator, do you know who has done this?" demanded Arthur.

"We know who did this!" said the voice of Molly Weasley, "Percy has been certain all year that it is Harry Potter."

Ron rolled his eyes, and Ginny just shook her head.

"That is impossible," said Dumbledore.

"We don't know that Percy is right dear," said Arthur.

"I know you all have a soft spot for the boy, but he is a danger to this school!" said Molly.

And with that it was clear that Ginny had had enough. She swung the door to the office open and marched in.

"That's a hell of a way to talk about the boy who just saved my life," said Ginny angrily. Dumbledore was there, as was Bryant Greengrass. Snape was in the corner. The Weasleys were sitting at Dumbledore's desk. There was a tea set on the desk and both Dumbledore and Molly had a cup in front of them. Apparently, someone had been trying to calm Molly down.

Of course, none of this stopped her parents from running up to her and throwing their arms around her as if she hadn't said anything. Which seemed to annoy Ginny even more.

"You're all right!" cried Molly.

Ginny pulled away angrily. "Oh no, I am not dropping this. I told you that Percy was full of…" Ginny stopped herself just before she swore in front of her parents, "...it. How dare you come here and start attacking Harry again! Well let me tell you that Percy tried to attack Harry when he located the Chamber of Secrets, and as a result Harry ended up having to try to save me _by himself_. If Percy had been even slightly more successful, I'd be dead!"

"Maybe you should start from the beginning?" said Dumbledore.

Harry sighed. This was exactly what they had been trying to avoid by sending Percy and Blaise to the hospital wing.

"I came to tell Ron that his sister was missing, but Blaise and Luna were already there," said Harry, "Anyway, we figured out that Moaning Myrtle was the girl who was killed the last time the Chamber was opened, so we went and checked her bathroom for the opening. I was able to open it with Parseltongue."

"You should have come straight for a teacher Harry," said Bryant.

"I was going to," said Harry, "But then Percy and Lockhart showed up. They stunned Blaise and Luna pushed Ron and myself down the hole into the pipes. Ron broke his wand on the way down, but we managed to disarm Percy and Lockhart when they followed us. Lockhart tried to grab his wand and use a memory charm on us, but instead he grabbed Ron's broken wand, which backfired, so he wiped his own memory. The force from that misfire caused a cave in so I was separated from the rest of the group. I had no choice but to try to enter the Chamber alone."

"Who was the Heir of Slytherin?" asked Arthur.

"Voldemort," said Harry, prompting both of the Weasleys to flinch, "He had been using this to control Ginny all year." He pulled Riddle's diary out of his robes. Dumbledore took it immediately, and his eyes seemed to widen a bit when he saw the state it was in.

"Ginny!" said Molly angrily, "What have we told you about not ever speaking to a creature if you can't see where it keeps its brain!"

Ginny deflated at that immediately, but Harry would have none of it. "Ginny had no way to know how dangerous that thing was. It was probably planted in her school things by Lucius Malfoy back at Flourish and Blotts. Why would she think something in her school things was dangerous?"

"I agree with Harry," said Dumbledore, "Far greater witches and wizards have been fooled by Lord Voldemort. If I am not mistaken there was likely an enchantment on this diary that made it irresistible to write in."

"Anyway, inside the chamber there was some… image of Tom Riddle, who, if you haven't figured it out, is the real name of Lord Voldemort. He was draining her life energy, and said he was trying to bring himself back to life." Molly gasped at that.

"That's when he set the basilisk on me," said Harry.

"He did what?!" said Bryant in a stunned voice.

"He ordered the basilisk to kill me," said Harry, "I will admit, I thought I was going to die. But I managed to drop a giant stalactite into its mouth and impale its brain. Anyway, I ran back, and Ginny was doing a marvellous job holding off Riddle's attempt to drain her life energy, but I knew that I had to destroy the diary. No spell I knew did anything, so I took it to the dead basilisk and impaled it on one of its teeth. That destroyed it."

"That would destroy _anything_ Harry," said Arthur.

"Yeah, I know," said Harry, "What is this thing anyway? It survived a point blank Reductor." He looked at Dumbledore pointedly. Would the old man dare lie to him about this?

Dumbledore looked uncertain. "I am not sure at all Harry, but I doubt we will know for certain for some time." Harry immediately knew that Dumbledore was lying. He knew what that was. He just wasn't sure if he should tell Harry what it was.

"All right Headmaster," he said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. At which he failed.

Apparently, Dumbledore had noticed something was up, because he felt a pressure in his mind. Dumbledore was using Legilimency on him! Harry immediately threw the Headmaster out of his mind.

"Headmaster," said Harry calmly, "I'm sure you're very interested to know how much I know about the rather obvious lie you just told me. But that is no excuse to try and read my mind."

"Albus!" said Bryant angrily, "That is uncalled for!"

"Forgive me, but the type of magic typically employed in these sorts of artefacts is quite dark. I was worried that Harry had come across… a dangerous source of knowledge," said Dumbledore.

"Riddle's shade told me some things that hinted that the diary was very important," said Harry, "Though he didn't give me a lot of details."

"This is not the sort of magic that you should have details on Harry," said Dumbledore.

Harry realized that this was futile. "Fine," he said shortly.

"Where is Percy?" demanded Molly.

"He's fine," said Ron, "He and Blaise took Lockhart to the hospital wing."

"Which is where Ginny and I need to go now," said Harry, "We weren't hurt, but we should have Madam Pomfrey look us over. Just in case." Dumbledore looked at him with surprise. But Harry was done with this conversation. If the Headmaster wasn't going to answer his questions, he wasn't going to answer any more of the Headmaster's questions.

"Of course, Harry," said Dumbledore.

"What about Lucius Malfoy?" demanded Arthur.

"Mr. Greengrass," said Harry, "I do have a suggestion about him. I doubt we have enough to convict him of any crime, but maybe we can get him off the Board of Governors…"

And Harry explained his idea to everyone.

XXXXX

Harry, Ginny and Bryant entered the hospital wing as they came back from Dumbledore's office.

"More?" asked Madame Pomfrey disapprovingly.

"I nearly got my soul sucked out by a cursed diary," said Ginny.

"I fought and killed a basilisk," said Harry.

Pomfrey sighed, "Well, you aren't dead, so it clearly didn't bite you. I'll take a look at you in a moment."

Harry walked over to Hermione. "We got him Hermione. We took care of the heir and the basilisk. Everyone will be safe now." He put his hand over her hand, the same one that had held the crucial information about the basilisk.

Bryant had followed, and sat by the side of Daphne's bed. He smiled at Harry's simple gesture.

"Don't worry Harry," said Bryant, "the mandrake draught will be here in just a few days. Then everyone will be right as rain."

Harry nodded and made his way to an empty bed. Soon Madam Pomfrey came and examined him.

"Hmm, you seem a bit tired, but that's expected. I suppose you should stay the night here for observation," said the mediwitch.

Pomfrey decide to also keep Ginny there as well. Percy was still hanging about, fussing over her. After Ginny had yelled at him, he walked over to Harry.

"Umm, I wish to apologize for my behaviour," said Percy, "I'm actually a bit embarrassed, I didn't expect to get beaten by a first- and second-year student."

Harry laughed, "Percy, you're a gifted student. You have a lot of ambition. But you weren't sorted into Slytherin. You know why?"

Percy shook his head.

"It's because you don't have the killer instinct. The knowledge that this is the time to move, or this is the time to stay put. You meant well, but following us down a blind drop was not a great tactic," said Harry.

Percy nodded a bit sheepishly.

"Sometimes, what may seem to be an opportunity can be a trap, and what might seem to be a disaster can be an opportunity. I mean I got sorted into Slytherin now didn't I?" noted Harry.

"So was Slytherin an opportunity or a trap?" asked Percy.

Harry looked Percy straight in the eyes. "It was both."

XXXXX

**February 28th, 1993**

The next day, Harry waited anxiously for Lucius Malfoy's arrival in Dumbledore's office. Lucius didn't know that Harry would be taking part of this conversation. This entire plan was a real risk, but if Lucius was anything like Draco, and Bryant assured Harry that he was, he would respond to Harry in the way that he wanted.

Bryant smiled at Harry encouragingly. He had to understand of course. Malfoy was a Death Eater, and Harry simply wasn't used to talking to Death Eaters. Well there was Snape, but Harry wasn't sure that Snape counted. Still, this sort of deliberate confrontation was new to Harry.

Lucius entered the room, his elf Dobby behind him. When Dobby saw Harry, panic set in on his face. Harry looked at him once and then pointedly ignored him. When Dobby realized that Harry wasn't going to rat him out his relief was visible.

"What is this about?" demanded Lucius, "Where is Dumbledore?"

"I told you, there are some issues that came up regarding our resolution to the Chamber of Secrets situation," said Bryant, "Specifically, issues that Harry has raised."

"Bryant convinced me to approach you before going public," said Harry, "I think we'll agree that dealing with things quietly is to all our advantages."

Lucius seemed to immediately get his guard up. He had to know this was a trap, but what kind of trap?

"Let's start with what I know," said Harry, "Someone planted one of Lord Voldemort's school things, a diary, on Ginny Weasley. The diary possessed her, causing her to open the Chamber of Secrets and sic a basilisk on the student body. I have killed the basilisk, and the diary is now not a problem."

"What I also know," continued Harry, "is that it was you who planted the diary on Ginny at Flourish and Blotts."

"Do you have evidence of this?" demanded Lucius.

"Lucius, please! If I did, we would not be speaking, and you would be under arrest," said Harry.

Lucius nodded, "So is there another reason you have come here today? Other than to gloat about how very clever you are."

"Yes," said Harry, "You are going to resign from the Hogwarts Board of Governors."

Lucius scoffed, "I will not."

"Lucius," said Bryant, "that book was a horcrux. It didn't care about blood supremacy. All it wanted was to gain enough power to bring itself back to life. Anyone who came across it was at risk of being drained to fuel the Dark Lord's rebirth. Including my daughter, and your son. My daughter was nearly killed by the creature. This plan put every child here at Hogwarts at risk! Anyone willing to do that should not be on the Board of Governors."

Harry's eyebrows twitched. He hadn't meant to tell Lucius that the diary was a horcrux! What was Bryant thinking?

"You don't have anything on me," said Lucius, "I don't have to listen to this."

"We have this!" said Harry as he held forth the diary. He'd subtly transfigured it so it looked undamaged. It should hold up for a few minutes at least.

"Why would I care about that?" asked Lucius.

Harry smiled. Time to roll the dice again. "Take a look," he said. And then he handed the diary over to Lucius.

Lucius gave a vicious grin. "I think I'll keep this," he said, "Dobby, take it." He threw the diary to Dobby.

Harry clapped his hands in triumph. "Got you!" he said, "Dobby open the diary."

Dobby opened the book revealing a sock in its pages. "Master has given Dobby clothes," said the stunned elf, "Dobby is free!"

"What!?" shouted Lucius, "You've cost me my servant boy!" Lucius raised his wand to strike at Harry.

But then Dobby was there. "You shall not harm Harry Potter!" cried the elf as he knocked Lucius off of his feet.

"I told you he'd be just as predictable as his son," said Bryant, "Though I didn't think he'd actually attack you."

Lucius clambered back to his feet. "What is this now?" he demanded.

"One, you just tried to attack me," said Harry, "Two, your house elf is now free of the horror you have inflicted on him, and three, Dobby knew all about your plan and will now be able to testify to it!"

"Yes! Yes! I can!" said Dobby happily.

"No one will ever listen to a house elf!" insisted Lucius.

"Maybe, maybe not," said Harry, "but if you don't agree to resign from the Board of Governors, we're going to find out."

Lucius stewed for a moment then made a growling noise. "Fine, I'll submit my resignation tomorrow," he said.

"I'm glad we could come to a civilized arrangement," said Harry.

Lucius glowered at Bryant. "How could you do this?" he demanded.

"Remember, I do everything I do for my daughters, for my family," said Bryant, "The moment Daphne was harmed, this was inevitable."

Lucius was taken aback by that. "Well, all right then. As it is clear that we are done…" he said, and without finishing he left the room.

Bryant groaned in exasperation, "I am starting to hate that man," he said.

"I am well past you on that," said Harry.

"Thank you, Thank you Harry Potter!" shouted Dobby.

"No problem," said Harry, "You can call me Harry. I've always hated it when people picked on the little guy."

"Harry Potter is so noble and brave and…" Dobby continued on and on about how great Harry was.

This might take a while to clear up, thought Harry.

XXXXX

**March 1st, 1993**

While it was largely unnoticed by the rest of the school, the resignation of Lucius Malfoy from the Hogwarts Board of Governors hit Slytherin house like a thunderbolt. Virtually everyone in the house knew that Harry had been behind his ouster. Another rumour had spread that Harry had personally killed a basilisk and found the Chamber of Secrets.

Things came to a head when Malfoy rushed into the common room Monday afternoon.

"Potter!" shouted Malfoy at Harry, who was reading his Charms textbook, "What did you say to my father?"

"You want me to tell?" said Harry, "That's funny, your father really didn't want me to talk. But that's fine with me. I accused him of being behind the attacks on the school, and then I tricked him into freeing your house elf, and then the house elf agreed to testify against him, and then Lucius Malfoy agreed to step down from the Board of Governors."

Draco's mouth dropped.

"But I'm pretty sure he didn't want me saying that," said Harry, "Oops. It appears that the Board of Governors has already accepted his resignation, so he can't rescind it though!"

Everyone in the house stared at Malfoy who looked completely taken aback.

"You know what the best part of this is?" said Harry tauntingly, "Since you demanded that I explain myself in front of the entire house, Lucius can't even pretend I broke our agreement! It's your fault. Which was exactly what I was counting on."

Draco went white.

Harry leaned in as if he was going to speak softly so that only Draco could hear him, but instead spoke to the whole room. "If you want to be my rival so badly, you'd best do better than this. This, right here? It's a disgrace to Slytherin," he said before he walked away.

"Wow," said Nott. Millie and Pansy both nodded in agreement. In fact, everyone in the house seemed to be in agreement. Draco Malfoy had just been thoroughly owned.

XXXXX

**March 5th, 1993**

The day had finally come. Harry rushed up to the Hospital wing at the news. The Mandrake draught had arrived.

"They're going to wake you up today Hermione!" said Harry as he ran to her bedside.

"Mr. Potter," said Madam Pomfrey, "Do you think we need every student crowding them when they wake up?"

"Hermione would want me to be here," Harry insisted.

"Oh, let the boy stay," said Professor Sprout in an annoyed voice as she and Snape entered with a cauldron full of Mandrake draught, "Loyalty like that should be rewarded."

"Oh, very well," said Madam Pomfrey.

They decided to administer the draught in the order in which the students were petrified. Colin was first.

They poured the draught into his mouth which immediately opened to admit more of the potion. After only a few moments, Colin sat up.

"Why am I in hospital wing?" Colin asked, confused.

"You were petrified by a basilisk," said Harry.

"Cool!" said Colin, "What's a basilisk?"

The next person woken up was Justin. When he opened his eyes, he looked around and yawned. "I got petrified, didn't I?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Harry, "Don't worry, I killed the creature that did it."

"I bet Ernie gave you trouble," said Justin.

Harry nodded, "More like your entire house. Ginny gave them a dressing down like you wouldn't believe."

"Really?" said Justin.

"Yeah," said Harry, "though, well, you'll find out all about what happened soon enough. They're doing Hermione next.

Justin's face grew sympathetic, "The Heir got Hermione? I'm sorry Harry."

"And Daphne," said Harry, "They've only been out a little under two weeks, though."

"Actually, I think we'll do Miss Greengrass next," said Pomfrey, "as she's closer to the cauldron."

When Daphne woke up, she immediately shouted, "It's a basilisk!"

"We know Daphne," said Harry, "It's dead."

"Oh," she said sheepishly, "I guess you found the note on Hermione."

"Yep," said Harry.

Finally, they brought the cauldron over to Hermione's bed. They gave her some of the draught and within moments her eyes opened.

She inhaled sharply as she suddenly squinted at the light. Then, seeing Harry, she threw herself at him, pulling him into a hug.

She was quivering as she held him. Harry realized that something was very wrong.

"Hey there," said Harry as he put a hand behind her head, "It's okay, you're okay."

After a moment Hermione pulled away. "I was awake the whole time," she said.

Everyone stared at her in disbelief.

"I mean, there were times when I slept, but my mind was aware the whole time," she said, "I could hear all of you in here."

"That's impossible," said Snape.

"No," said Madame Pomfrey, "Just very rare. My guess is that she caught the reflection of the reflection of Miss Greengrasses mirror, thus weakening the petrifying effect further."

"It was horrible," said Hermione, "I kept screaming at you to figure out that it was a basilisk, but nothing came out. It was pure torture. The only thing that made it bearable was Harry coming to talk to me."

She rested her head on his shoulder, "Without that I think I'd have gone insane."

Harry grimaced. "So, you heard everything?" he asked.

Hermione giggled, "And felt a few things too," she said mischievously.

Harry could feel his face going red, "I... uh…"

Hermione put her finger on his lips, "I am not complaining about anything Potter."

Harry laughed nervously. "Right," he said.

Well this was not something Harry had expected to happen.

XXXXX

After all the check-ups were done, and after Hermione had reunited with all her friends, Harry and Hermione eventually headed back to their room. Harry had noticed that Ginny had disappeared once the petrified people returned. A point that would have to be dealt with.

Once in their room Hermione sat on her bed. "It's been a tiring day," she said.

"Yeah," said Harry, still standing.

Hermione smiled at him. "Harry, I was very flattered to know how much you needed me," she said softly, "I was also very flattered that you kissed me. I just want to know why you did it."

Harry shrugged, "You know all the stories where the Prince kisses the Princess and she wakes up?"

"So, you kissed me because of a fairy tale?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," said Harry with a grin, "I was pretty desperate."

Hermione stood up and walked up to Harry. She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Well, I'm glad you did it," she said, "Even petrified, it made my day."

Harry blushed again. He didn't mind so much this time. After all, Hermione was the only person who could see it.

**Author's Note: **Second year isn't over, but that is pretty much the Chamber of Secrets story done. We're pivoting pretty much directly into the plotline that is going to dominate 3rd year.

On the subject of Occlumency, Harry was really only worried about Voldemort reading his mind when he asked Bryant for help. And he is only twelve. The whole thing was a lot less urgent until Colin got petrified, which reminded Harry that his enemies were still quite dangerous.

Since people have begun to notice Snape and the way he is acting, I will only say that some of my characters don't have POV's for very good reasons. There is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that Harry does not have an inkling of yet. And he won't for a long while. Corollary to that, there some things that Harry has been told that are just plain wrong. They aren't lies, but the people who told Harry what he was told were just mistaken. Of course there are also people who have lied to him.

Next time, Harry and Hermione have a REALLY bad idea, Bryant Greengrass also has a REALLY bad idea, Rita Skeeter has a POV section, and Sirius Black has a heart to heart with Minister Fudge. Also Vernon Dursley is a piece of shit.


	17. Moving On

**Chapter 17: Moving On**

**March 23rd, 1993**

Colin's return had been quite fortuitous for his house's chances in the Quidditch cup. The next Quidditch match had pitted Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, and no team wanted to play without their starting seeker. As it turned out though, his absence probably wouldn't have been missed. The Hufflepuff team was overwhelmed by the much better Gryffindor team. Ultimately, it had been Cedric who had caught the snitch, but only after Gryffindor had nearly a 200-point lead. Gryffindor was on track for a 3-win season, which would give them the cup by default.

Colin himself seemed barely rattled by the experience of having been petrified. He treated the thing as a big adventure, and he'd even made a point to tell Ginny he didn't hold it against her. The only thing that had changed was that he was a bit more restrained in his curiosity. All in all, Harry felt the boy had come out of the situation fairly well.

Daphne had, if anything, taken being petrified even better. She understood the dangers of magical possession, and she seemed to consider being petrified an occupational hazard of being a witch. When Ginny had apologized to her she'd outright said Ginny had nothing to apologize for. Her father had visited briefly after she was unpetrified and he seemed to share her feelings. Harry supposed purebloods saw things a bit differently than other people.

Justin, on the other hand was having a harder time. The actual petrification hadn't actually bothered him so much. He was having a bit of trouble catching up in his classes, but he wasn't so far behind that it was an impossible task. The real problem was that he had a hard time understanding how Ginny had been possessed. Harry wanted to tell him that the diary was a Horcrux, but revealing that to anyone else was a risk Harry couldn't take. Even though Harry had discovered the existence of the horcruxes entirely legitimately, if Dumbledore suspected he was lying he might discover Ginny's secret.

As such, Justin seemed to blame Ginny for what had happened. He seemed to understand that she hadn't had specifically murderous intent, but he felt that there was something she could have done to stop it. Ginny seemed willing to accept that judgement as well. She also felt she should have done more to stop herself. Harry felt there was something he should do here, but he wasn't sure what to do that wouldn't alienate one or the other of his friends.

Hermione was having the most difficult time adjusting, of course. Harry was no expert, but her only partial petrification had clearly taken a toll on her. She spent a lot of time outside, just looking at the sky, saying all the open space calmed her. When she was inside, she had a tendency to sit as close to Harry as she could. Harry didn't mind, as he liked sitting next to her, but he worried that it was a symptom of a larger psychological problem.

Some of the teachers noticed this. Flitwick tended to pointedly ignore the fact that Hermione always seemed to have her chair pushed up to Harry's during class. McGonagall also seemed to ignore when she grabbed Harry's hand under the table. Snape merely sent angry looks at Hermione in potions rather than chew her out for rarely straying more than a foot from Harry.

Still, Hermione admitted that if necessary, she could deal with class times on her own. But it was at night that she had the hardest time. On several occasions she had awoken screaming, having thought she was still petrified as she woke up. This wasn't normal, but Harry didn't know what to do to help her. She needed a therapist, but Harry didn't even know if such a thing could be found in the magical world.

Finally, one-night Harry woke up to Hermione insistently shaking his shoulder.

"Everything all right?" Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head. "It happened again," she said. Harry saw her hand shaking. She was terrified.

"Can I do anything?" he asked.

"Scoot over," she said, "I… well if you don't mind…"

Harry scooted over and let her climb into his bed. "Thanks," she said, "I feel silly, like a little girl who is scared of monsters."

Harry rested his hand on her shoulder, "Well the monsters ARE real," he said to her.

She laughed, "Yeah."

Suddenly she pushed her back into him. "Can you talk to me for a while," she asked, "It helps to hear … someone's voice."

"If you like," he said, "I had an idea for our charms papers today…"

XXXXX

From that point on, Hermione regularly would climb in Harry's bed when she got scared at night. Harry had deeply divided thoughts about this. He'd been fine with it the first night, but he was worried that Hermione was just covering up deeper problems. Still, he couldn't really say no to her. He simply wasn't capable of letting her suffer. He had let her know his concerns, though. She'd taken it well, and had acknowledged that she probably did need some professional help.

Hermione had been a bit distant with Ginny, but she had taken great pains to tell Ginny that it was not because she blamed Ginny in any way.

"I'm just not in a good headspace in regard to what happened yet, Ginny, and I don't want to accidentally say anything hurtful to you because I'm frustrated with how I'm dealing with things," Hermione had told the younger girl. Harry thought Ginny had taken it in stride, but he also knew she was a little sensitive about such things.

Hermione was blunter with Harry. "I know Ginny was not responsible for what happened to me, but part of me is a little scared of her, even if I know there is nothing to be scared of," she said, "I do not want her to see me scared of her. It would devastate her." That had earned her a hug from Harry.

The truth was that Harry was starting to become a bit protective of Ginny. There were a few people who tried to give Ginny grief about what happened, but anyone who did so in front of Harry ended up regretting it. She'd been a victim as much as any of the petrification victims, and Harry let anyone who gave her lip know it. Ginny seemed to take all of it in stride.

The one good thing that had come of this all was that Ginny had finally dropped her distant sarcastic persona. She still could be sarcastic at times, but she honestly tried to be more approachable. She still swore like a sailor, but Harry supposed some habits wouldn't die easily. Luna was really the only person in her year who seemed very close to her, so she tried to spend more time with Harry and his friends. Hermione hadn't really objected, so long as she didn't have to directly interact with Ginny.

The whole thing was a bit of a mess. Still, as the year moved into spring, Harry felt that his life was slowly getting back to normal.

XXXXX

**April 20th, 1993**

Hermione's parents took their time getting back to her after she wrote her first letter to them after being unpetrified. But when they did, Hermione was on the warpath again.

"They didn't tell my parents I was petrified?!" she screamed as she waved the letter from her parents.

"I am so sorry," said Harry, "I didn't even think to tell them."

"Not your job Harry," said Hermione angrily, "Though I guess we know now that you'll have to do so if something happens to me."

This had led to Hermione storming McGonagall's office and demanding why McGonagall had not kept her promise to keep her parents informed. McGonagall had in fact sent a letter, but for some reason it had not reached Hermione's parents. Both Harry and Hermione immediately suspected Dumbledore's involvement, but Harry wasn't sure why he would interfere like this.

Hermione seemed to understand perfectly, at least as far as she was concerned. "They just think that muggle parents can't understand these things, so they don't mention them so the students can hide things from their parents," she said furiously.

"We're already hiding quite enough from your parents," said Harry.

Hermione just snorted bitterly.

XXXXX

**May 8th, 1993**

With the last match of the season coming up, Harry had worked hard with the rest of the team to rebuild Ginny's confidence. She'd been awfully fatalistic in the aftermath of her ordeal, but eventually Harry and Tracey's optimism had won out. She'd started to enjoy Quidditch again, which Harry thought was a good sign.

"Quidditch is a way to take your fury out on the world without hurting anyone," said Harry.

"Except the pride of the Hufflepuffs," said Tracey.

And the pride of the Hufflepuffs had taken a beating. Melody made it clear that they needed to run up the score as high as they could. If they could take a substantial point lead, then if Gryffindor was beaten by Ravenclaw in the last match, Slytherin would win the cup. It was a long shot; the Gryffindor team was very good. But Harry knew a long shot was better than nothing. He held Cedric off of the snitch for the entire match while an angry Ginny led their offense to goal after goal.

At one-point Cedric flew by with a grimace on his face. "Rubbing it in a bit, are we?" he said to Harry.

Harry just shrugged. "Sorry," he said with a hint of embarrassment.

"Don't apologize," said Cedric, "I know what you're doing. I'm just mad that we can't stop you."

Finally, Harry took pity on the Hufflepuffs, and caught the snitch when they were up by 250 points. It was a huge win, and would be virtually impossible for Ravenclaw to top.

XXXXX

**May 12th, 1993**

"Hermione, please see reason," said Daphne at lunch one day, "You can't take all of the classes."

"Professor Snape did not say we couldn't take all the classes, just that it would be difficult to schedule them all," said Hermione.

"It is possible to take all of the classes," said Blaise, "But it isn't worth doing. Especially not for a muggleborn."

"What does that mean?" demanded Hermione.

"It means that you could probably TEACH the Muggle Studies class," said Tracey, "Seriously, everyone I've talked to says that class is useless. The only Slytherins that take it want jobs in the Ministry. And the Ministry accepts Muggleborns as if they have a Muggle Studies N.E.W.T."

"Hermione," said Harry, "I know you want to excel. But even if you can fit all those classes in, you won't have time for anything else. Even you need to relax sometimes and spend time with your friends."

"I guess I don't have to take Muggle Studies," said Hermione.

"I'd drop Divination as well," said Ginny, "I once talked to an actual seer, and she told me that if you don't have the ability, you can't really learn divination."

"Besides, Divination and Arithmancy do basically the same thing," said Daphne, "Arithmancy is just more scientific."

That caught Hermione's attention. "I guess Divination sounds the least interesting," she admitted.

"I plan on taking Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes," said Harry, "I'm not sure on Arithmancy."

"Oooh, but if you take it, we have all the same classes still," said Hermione.

Harry nodded at that. "Well, I can always drop it if it doesn't work out," he said.

"You're nuts," said Blaise, "Muggle Studies and Divination for me."

"Oh?" asked Daphne with a twinkle in her eye.

"They're the easiest classes, plus taking Muggle Studies will annoy my mother," explained Blaise.

"Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures for me," said Tracey.

"I think I'll take Runes, Creatures and Divination," said Daphne.

"I thought you said Divination wasn't as scientific as Arithmancy," noted Ginny.

Daphne laughed, "I'm a pureblood. We're NOT scientific."

"No Muggle Studies?" asked Hermione.

Daphne considered, then nodded, "You're right, I should take that, just in case. I guess I have to dump Divination after all."

"Don't worry!" said Blaise, "I'll hold up the honor of Slytherin in Divination. Along with Crabbe and Goyle!"

Everyone laughed.

XXXXX

**May 25th, 1993**

Bryant Greengrass walked into the Department of International Magical Cooperation. The sudden invitation to speak to Barty Crouch had come as something of a surprise. If Bryant had to guess, he'd say that his inquiries into the circumstances of Sirius Black's arrest had attracted attention. Still, Barty would be more likely to know what happened back then than anyone else. He had been the Head of the DMLE at the time.

But when he entered Barty's office, he wasn't expecting to see the Minister for Magic waiting for him alongside Barty.

"Minister," said Bryant respectfully, "I wasn't told you'd be here."

Cornelius Fudge nodded, "Well I was only just informed of this meeting," he acknowledged, "But I felt that maybe my presence might help matters."

Bryant smiled. Fudge was clearly up to his neck in this. Still, that could be useful.

"I certainly hope so," said Bryant.

"You've been asking a lot of questions about Sirius Black," said Barty.

"I have," said Bryant calmly, "You see I'm trying to get some information regarding inheritance issues, but all the accounts of his trial are sealed."

"Wait, inheritance issues?" asked Fudge, suddenly less hostile.

"Well, not inheritance exactly actually," said Bryant, "You see Sirius Black was the designated guardian of Harry Potter according to James Potter's will. But no conviction notice ever reached Gringotts, so legally he controls all of Harry's accounts. Obviously, he can't administer them from Azkaban but…"

Barty Crouch had a sharp intake of breath, "Oh bloody hell, I knew we'd forgotten something."

"But we had an emergency injunction passed to take care of that!" insisted Fudge.

"An emergency injunction only lasts 90 days," said Crouch, "we never got it extended, nor did we get the Wizengamot to directly remove Sirius's guardian rights."

"What happened?" asked Bryant.

Fudge sighed. "Please promise that for the moment you won't tell this to anyone. Not even Harry," requested the Minister.

"I agree, for the moment," said Bryant.

"Sirius Black never got a trial," said Barty.

Bryant shook his head. He'd expected something like this, but it was still jarring.

"Okay," he said calmly, "I suppose both of you were in on it then?"

"I was head of the DMLE, Bagnold gave the okay, and the Minister was the first man on the scene," said Barty.

Bryant nodded, "So you want to keep this quiet then."

Fudge smiled. "I knew you'd understand."

"I do NOT approve of what you did," said Bryant, "But getting Sirius off of Harry's accounts is very important, and I'm willing to make a deal to get that done."

"Sirius Black has always been very remorseful for what happened to the Potters," said Barty, "At least that's how I've found him."

"You think he might be convinced to drop his parental rights voluntarily?" asked Fudge warily.

"If approached in the right way, perhaps,' said Barty.

Bryant leaned in to listen as Barty explained his idea.

XXXXX

**June 3rd, 1993**

Rita Skeeter walked into the office of Barnabas Cuffe, editor in chief of the Daily Prophet. "You wanted to see me?" she asked. Rita's agreement with the Prophet and Witch Weekly let her do her own projects, but she occasionally did the odd job for them as a favor.

"Rita," he said without preamble. That was a bad sign. He always made small talk unless he was giving out a bad job.

"Fudge has been bothering me for days to get a puff piece on Hogwarts," he said, "Show that things at the school have returned to normal."

Rita scowled. Puff pieces weren't really her thing. She preferred dramatic takedowns. Still, it always paid to stay on the good side of very powerful people.

"Sounds easy enough," said Rita.

"Take a photographer, get some pictures," said Barnabas. He handed her a press pass with the Hogwarts crest on it.

"The Board of Governors also wants this," explained Cuffe.

As far as assignments went, it was a tame one, but Rita figured at the very least she'd get the lay of the land there. Maybe she could interview Harry Potter. Now that would be a journalistic coup.

An hour later, Rita was fairly sure she wasn't going to get anywhere near Potter. Dumbledore hadn't been rude to her exactly, he never was, but she'd come away with the distinct impression that he had intimated he'd be watching her. So much for trying her favorite trick. McGonagall, on the other hand, was downright frosty to her. She insisted on following Rita around everywhere.

Rita didn't find much interesting right away, but eventually ran into the Gryffindor second years out near the Greenhouses. They were making a sign for the upcoming Quidditch match. It had the word Gryffindor written on it in red and gold, as well as an emblem of a lion grabbing an eagle.

School spirit might be a good topic. Rita began to interview the students. One of the boys, one Ronnie Weasley, had an interesting take on things.

"Obviously we're rooting for Gryffindor, that's our house," said the red-haired boy, "And we still have a strong rivalry with Slytherin. That isn't going to change. But I think if the last year has taught us anything, it's that the houses need to stand together in the face of adversity. Everyone thought they knew what was going on, and they all turned out to be wrong. We need to trust each other!"

It was a good line. It would look good in an article. Finally, she asked the Gryffindors to take a picture with their sign. The students all formed up around the sign, but suddenly Weasley jumped and said, "Wait a sec!" He ran over to a small cage and pulled out a pet rat. "Scabbers would like to be in the picture."

The rat didn't seem to want anything of the sort to Rita's eye.

One of the other boys laughed. "Why'd you bring that mangy rat out here anyway?" he asked in a thick Irish brogue.

Weasley scoffed at him, "He needs fresh air from time to time, like any of us!" He rested the rat on his shoulder as Rita's cameraman began to take pictures.

Later that day, looking at the picture which had been developed, Rita had to admit that the rat made the photo extra charming. This would be a bit schmaltzy, but otherwise the article was shaping up nicely.

Unfortunately, a magical disaster in India pushed it out of the next day's paper. It was rescheduled for a few weeks later. As far as Rita was concerned, she'd paid her dues. She put the whole thing out of her head.

XXXXX

**June 5th, 1993**

The Gryffindor/Ravenclaw match was probably the most polarizing match of the year. The Gryffindors obviously hoped to win, and Ravenclaw and Slytherin hoped for a Ravenclaw victory just as much. On the other hand, Hufflepuff was divided. Many of the older students were rooting for Gryffindor, mainly because they were still stinging from the loss to Slytherin. On the other side were most of the younger students, who genuinely felt Slytherin had been cheated out of a first match victory. That some of those students now felt guilty for having blamed Harry for the attacks wasn't mentioned.

Somehow the animosity that had been directed towards Harry had failed to manifest against Ginny. With the exception of Justin, and a few upper year muggleborns, most everyone in school saw her as a victim. Harry was actually impressed by the fact that _most_ of the student body seemed to accept that Ginny wasn't responsible for what had happened. A lot of witches and wizards understood the dangers of magical possession. It was only the muggleborns who hadn't been raised with that idea that seemed to have a problem with that.

Regardless of the student reactions to Ginny, this match would probably be the best of the year. The Gryffindor/Slytherin match would have been, but the incident with the bludger had really made it kind of a disaster. But Harry knew not to count out Ravenclaw in any case. They weren't likely to be tricked by some silly stunt of Oliver Wood's again.

The two teams flew out onto the pitch. There was the traditional back and forth between the players of the teams. In this case it was relatively friendly. In Cho's case it was very friendly. She was batting her eyes at Colin.

"Cho's trying to play flirty," said Harry, unimpressed.

"It seems to be working though," said Daphne, "Colin's turned red."

"I'm still offended that she thought it would work against me," said Harry.

"I know," said Luna, "Who would think that the boy who is always hanging out around pretty girls has a weakness for pretty girls?"

Harry laughed at himself. "Is that how everyone sees me? As a womanizer?"

"Well you do have at least three girls in your immediate circle of friends pursuing you," said Luna.

"None of us are pursuing Harry," said Hermione.

"Says the girl who's winning," said Luna so quietly that Harry doubted anyone other than he heard her. She gave him a little smile.

"I've actually stopped pursuing Harry," said Daphne.

"Oh?" said Harry, "I'm a bit disappointed."

Daphne shrugged. "I still like you and all, but I'd have to torch too many friendships at this point for it to be worth it."

Neither Ginny or Hermione said anything, but both of them seemed to sit up a little straighter. Which caused Blaise to break out laughing.

"Oh, be quiet," said Tracey, "The match has started!"

The match was quite exciting. Gryffindor pulled out to an early 30-0 lead, but after that the Ravenclaw offense seem to kick into gear, doing its best to keep pace with the Gryffindors. They were doing a good job. The Ravenclaws seemed to accept that they couldn't stop the Gryffindors from scoring, so they did their best to corral the Gryffindor players into positions that would be advantageous when Ravenclaw got the Quaffle. This tactic was surprisingly effective, and went a long way to offsetting the advantage the Weasley twins gave Gryffindor on offense.

Cho initially seemed to be shadowing Colin, but once it became clear that Ravenclaw was not going to be able to run up the score, she began her own snitch hunting pattern. It made sense to Harry. Ravenclaw could still win the match, but they pretty much had to accept that the Cup was out of reach.

Harry didn't see the snitch before Cho did, but he did see the narrowing of her eyes when she saw it an hour into the match. But Cho was smarter than to just charge at the snitch. Colin was a lot closer to it. She'd been fluttering her eyes at Colin all day and now she paid it off. She subtly shifted towards Colin moving her search pattern towards his location as she neared him, she gave him a shy smile and a wink. Colin blushed again, turning away.

And as soon as he turned, Cho shot towards the snitch at top speed. She caught it just as Colin realized she was gone.

"Oooh," said Daphne, "that's gonna be embarrassing."

None of the other Slytherins were paying her any mind however. Harry, Ginny, Blaise and Tracey were all caught up in a four-way hug as they screamed their excitement. They'd won the Quidditch cup!

XXXXX

**June 12th, 1993**

The school year came to a lazy close, with Slytherin just edging Ravenclaw for the House cup. Harry had massively contributed to winning the cup by storming the Chamber of Secrets, and as such his stock in Slytherin was soaring. Which as far as Hermione was concerned, was good. Having such commanding control would put Harry in good position to help reform Slytherin. Hermione was beginning to wonder if maybe they should consider pushing for large changes. Next year for sure she'd begin her work on House Elf rights.

The Slytherin friends sat together in a single compartment on the train home. Ginny and Luna had decided to join them, so it was a bit crowded, but given Hermione's predisposition to being as close to Harry as possible it wasn't too bad. Hermione felt a little silly about clinging to Harry like this, but she did feel that he had helped her get through the latter part of the year. Of course, clinging to him like that next year would be out of the question, but Hermione felt she'd earned a little peace of mind this year.

Hermione was a little nervous about going home. The truth was that she still had occasional nightmares, and sometimes when she woke up, she still felt like she was petrified. It hadn't happened any of the times she'd woken up next to Harry, so she supposed that she just needed someone's physical presence to remind her that she was no longer petrified.

As they left the train, Harry and Blaise ran ahead. Hermione ran to catch up, but they'd stopped to talk in a secluded part of the platform. Hermione's ear was a bit sharper than most people thought however, so she caught a bit of their conversation.

"Does your mum know about it?" asked Harry.

"She suspects something," said Blaise, "Not necessarily that, it isn't something most magical people think about. But why do you think she tried to marry me off to Daphne? She knows something is off."

Harry nodded, then grasped Blaise's arm warmly, "Well stay strong Blaise. And I hope things work out for you."

Blaise nodded, genuine gratitude on his face.

Hermione wasn't sure what that was about, but she supposed it might be some boy only thing. Harry walked back over to her with a smile.

"Is there a problem with Blaise?" she asked.

Harry sighed, "Well, I figured out a big part of Blaise's problem with his mum. The whole thing is sad really. But as long as he remembers we're here for him I think he'll make it."

Hermione took Harry's hand as she looked for her parents. "You've been great these last couple of months you know," she told him.

"I'm always great," he said lightly. Hermione laughed at that.

"Maybe, but you've been especially great since I was unpetrified," said Hermione. And then she kissed him on the cheek.

Harry managed to not blush, but only just. "You're welcome," he said.

Suddenly Hermione spotted her parents. They were standing with the Greengrasses. The Weasleys were not with them she saw. As she pulled her trunk over to her parents she looked around and saw the Weasleys on another part of the platform. She could only guess why they weren't with her parents (they'd always gotten on well) but Hermione wasn't about to let any misconceptions linger.

"Just a second!" she said to her own parents after she'd hugged them. She dragged Harry over to where Ginny was greeting her parents.

"Goodbye Ginny!" said Harry who gave the younger girl a big hug. If it lasted a little longer than usual, that was fine with Hermione. Harry had become fairly close to Ginny since the Chamber. That was to be expected, Hermione supposed. There was also something that the two of them were hiding, but that also didn't surprise Hermione. After all, she'd not wanted anyone to know Voldemort had tried to recruit her. The way Hermione saw it Harry saw Ginny as a special friend, and she had no intention of surrendering to jealousy.

So, she hugged Ginny. Ginny didn't scare her anymore. Not really. And certainly not with Harry right there. She hugged Ginny as tightly as she could, and she whispered in the younger girl's ear, "I just want everyone to know that I trust you."

"Thank you," Ginny whispered back.

"Have a good summer Ginny," said Harry as Hermione pulled back and waved at her. As the Weasleys moved on to collect the twins, Harry and Hermione had walked back to her parents. Daphne and Tracey were both with Daphne's parents. After a few hugs and waves, the Greengrasses plus Tracey were gone.

Hermione had her hand in Harry's again. The boy seemed a little more self-conscious about it while her father was right there, but he had remained admirably quiet about it. Hermione's parents were… somewhat stressed. Hermione could understand that.

"Let's walk Harry to meet his relatives," said Hermione.

They went through the barrier to King's Cross station and they soon saw the Dursleys. When the Dursleys looked over at them, suddenly Hermione fought an urge to kiss Harry. She'd show them how to treat Harry!

She managed to get control of her emotions as Harry hugged her goodbye. It would be the last for a while.

Then, unexpectedly, Harry kissed her on the forehead. "You take care of yourself, understand?" he said, "If you have any trouble, tell your parents."

Hermione beamed. "I will, and thank you."

Harry grabbed his things and walked off to where the Dursleys were waiting, a bit flabbergasted again.

"What was that?" asked her father.

"Oh Dad, Harry's just worried about me," she said, "I was a bit depressed after I got unpetrified. I think I feel better now, but Harry has been pretty vigilant about making sure I'm okay."

"Good," said Robert

"He also did that to make sure you both knew to keep an eye on me," she said with a twist of bitterness, "Which is annoying, but sweet."

"Was it that bad?" asked her mother.

Hermione shrugged. "It wasn't fun, I'll tell you that. When most people are petrified, they don't remember anything about the experience, but I was only partially petrified. I got to hear people, but only vaguely unless they were up close. It was rather unpleasant, but not painful. Still, a bit over a week of not being able to talk to anyone was pretty rough. I've had some bad dreams on occasion, and I sometimes wake and can't immediately tell that I am no longer petrified."

"I am so sorry honey," said Helen.

Hermione just shrugged. "I'll learn to cope," she said.

"So, what happened?" her mother asked, "How did the school deal with the creature and horcrux?"

Hermione laughed nervously. "Ummm well," she started with more than a bit of trepidation, "Harry killed the basilisk, then destroyed Tom Riddle's diary."

"What did the Weasley girl have to do with this anyway?" asked Robert.

Hermione shook her head. "She was possessed. She fought it, but it's the spirit of Voldemort. Who could fight that at the age of eleven?"

"Poor girl," said Helen.

"She's a good friend," said Hermione, "I've been dealing with my issues, so I haven't been able to help her out as much as I'd like, but I like her. Even if she is sort of interested in Harry."

Hermione immediately realized that had come out wrong, as her parents both grinned. This was going to be a long car ride home.

XXXXX

**June 22nd, 1993**

Sirius Black was used to the voices. Sometimes they were real voices, the cries and screams of the other inmates. Other times they were his memories, James and Lily's own voices, but twisted into something horrible. He heard their screams as they died, which was no memory of his, he hadn't been present. Sometimes it drove him to tears. Other times it almost brought him joy, or as close to joy as he could come in this place. To hear their voices again wasn't unpleasant. Of course, when the dementors came by, nothing was pleasant.

When it got really bad, he became Padfoot. As a dog the dementors had no idea what to do with him. They couldn't affect him as badly. Sirius supposed he could have used this to effect some sort of escape, but he deserved to be here. He'd failed James and Lily. He'd even failed to avenge them.

He felt the dementors coming by. More than one by the intensity. The first time he'd ever felt the aura of a dementor, he'd sworn it was the worst thing he'd ever felt. He couldn't imagine feeling any worse. Now he knew better. He could tell the difference between one and several. When he had discovered that fact, he'd nearly gone mad. Maybe he was mad. No. NO. He was innocent. That thought pushed back the darkness, albeit momentarily.

Multiple dementors meant they were coming to get a prisoner. It usually wasn't him, but he couldn't take that chance. If he lost his ability to change forms, he probably would go insane. He knew no one would ever come to free him. But part of him had to hope…

His door opened. Three dementors floated, beckoning him. He knew better than to argue. Failing to comply was punished. He followed meekly. The dementors' auras taunted him dredging up the worst moments in his life. One second he was walking behind the dementor, the next his father was beating him within an inch of his life. That had been the day he ran away from home. Suddenly he was flying in to Godric's Hollow, only to see Potter Cottage in ruins. Then he was back in Azkaban. The dementors had no mercy. No remorse. They should have all been destroyed long ago.

They brought him to a room. There was a table in the room, with two chairs. One of the chairs had magical restraints. Two guesses which chair was for him.

Sirius sat in the chair, and the restraints snapped shut. Sirius didn't know why they bothered. He couldn't muster up enough magic to fill a thimble in this place. It took everything he had to transform into Padfoot.

A few minutes later and Cornelius Fudge walked in. The Minister for Magic himself.

"Greetings Minister," said Sirius hoarsely, "Forgive me for not standing, I seem to be tied up at the moment."

It wasn't much of a joke, but Fudge gave a small grin anyway. Even a bloodsucker like Cornelius Fudge had to feel the oppressiveness of this place. Any levity was appreciated.

"Sirius, I trust you're in good health?" said Fudge.

"Heh," laughed Sirius, "That's a good one. My cousin Bellatrix, she's been across the hall from me for years, just years. She's always ranting about the Dark Lord coming again. She's completely insane. My health is the least of my concerns. I want it to fail. Death would be preferable to hearing her rant about the Dark Arsewipe all day."

"Strange that you speak of your former master like that," said Fudge.

"I NEVER served Voldemort," said Sirius vehemently, prompting a shiver from Fudge. Good. Sirius wasn't really comfortable saying the name, but it was worth it for that.

"Why did you betray the Potters then?" demanded Fudge.

"I failed them," said Sirius. It was all he ever said. Saying anything else surely wouldn't matter. Not with Fudge.

Fudge sat in the other chair. "Harry Potter is at Hogwarts now," he said.

Sirius nodded, "I can do the math. Well sometimes I can. I hope he does well. Better than I did at any rate."

"By all accounts he is a bright boy," said Fudge, "But there is a problem. The person who is listed as his guardian is you, the person who betrayed his parents."

"Sounds like that's YOUR problem," said Sirius bitterly, "You never gave me a trial, remember?"

"Yes, we didn't think things through," said Fudge, "but there is no point in revisiting this now."

"There is for me," said Sirius.

"But Harry should not have to live with the shadow of the person who is responsible for his parent's deaths looming over him," said Fudge.

There was truth in that. Better that he be forgotten, and Harry be free to live his own life.

"How is Harry?" asked Sirius. Fudge gave him an odd look.

"According to Bryant Greengrass, he is well," said Fudge.

"What does Harry have to do with Bryant Greengrass?" demanded Sirius. If those tossers in the Wizengamot had given him to a 'proper pureblood family' to raise…

"Bryant's daughter is a good friend of Harry's, nothing more," replied Fudge, "Harry lives with his aunt and uncle."

Sirius closed his eyes. Oh, he remembered them all right.

"Poor Harry," said Sirius, "I'm sure they're perfect monsters to him as well."

"I have no idea," said Fudge stiffly.

"Look," said Fudge pulling out a copy of the Daily Prophet, "Life out there has moved on. Doesn't Harry deserve that chance?"

Sirius looked at the paper. There was a story titled "School Spirit at Hogwarts" with smiling children.

"I… I'll think about it," said Sirius almost defeated.

Fudge nodded. "Let one of the aurors know you've accepted my offer, and we'll have all the necessary documents drawn up."

After Fudge left, the bindings on Sirius let go. He rubbed his arms where the restraints had held him. It wasn't very comfortable. He took a look at the paper on the table. The kids were Gryffindors, making a sign for a Quidditch match. He smiled as he watched them wave at him.

And that is when he saw the rat on the shoulder of Ron Weasley.

"Peter," Sirius whispered. The rat was right there. At Hogwarts. With Harry.

That's when the rage started to fill him.

XXXXX

**June 29th, 1993**

Cornelius Fudge was preparing to go home for the day. It had been about a week since he had visited Sirius Black in prison. They'd heard nothing from him, but that wasn't unexpected. Prisoners at Azkaban had a tendency to forget things like that. He'd have to send someone to remind him about it. He did need to get his agreement. Greengrass would likely push the issue publicly if it wasn't resolved soon.

Amelia Bones barged into Fudge's office. That was a bad sign. She always knocked politely unless it was something urgent.

"Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban," she said.

"What? You're sure?" asked Fudge.

"Apparently, he's been missing since last night, but the dementors often temporarily lose track of prisoners for a few hours," said Amelia angrily, "Black in particular has a tendency to disappear for them. Apparently, prisoners often enter a sort of blank emotionless state that the dementors can't read. It's common enough that they seldom bother to check on the prisoners when it happens. When he didn't reappear, they sent in the aurors to see if he'd died. And he was gone."

"Oh bollocks!" seethed Fudge, "I wonder if it had anything to do with my meeting with him?"

"What did you discuss?" asked Amelia.

There was no way in hell he was telling Amelia Bones that Sirius Black never got a trial. He'd have to lie, something he was capable of, but that he didn't like doing with his senior advisors.

'There were some irregularities with the procedures when Sirius was sent to Azkaban," said Fudge, "Sirius Black was designated Harry Potter's guardian in the Potter will. This was never properly annulled. I asked him if he would sign away all his claims to guardianship over Harry. He seemed receptive to it." Suddenly he stopped.

"I did leave him a copy of the Daily Prophet though," noted Fudge after a moment, "maybe he saw something in there that set him off?"

"Which day?" asked Amelia.

"I don't recall exactly," said Fudge, "It was the issue with the Hogwarts school spirit article."

"I'll have someone take a look at it," promised Amelia.

"I think we'd better warn the Muggle Prime Minister as well," said Fudge, "Black was convicted of killing 10 muggles after all."

"My aurors are combing the countryside nearest Azkaban, but it is possible that Black has managed to find a wand. If he has, he could be anywhere," said Amelia.

"Oh?" asked Fudge.

"One of the aurors stationed at Azkaban is missing their wand," she explained.

"How did this happen Amelia?" Fudge demanded.

She shook her head. "I don't know. I'll let you know if we have any progress."

Fudge nodded. Well this was a disastrous way to end his day! And what if Black spoke to someone? Oh, bloody hell, this could bring down his whole government!

XXXXX

**July 5th, 1993**

Harry sat in the Dursleys' kitchen reading a book. Outwardly, the book looked like a regular muggle history book. That's what they thought it was. It was a history book of course, but of magical history. His aunt and uncle were very specific that they didn't want him doing anything magical, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

The Dursleys were watching the telly. They did that a lot. It was as good a substitute for family time as any Harry supposed. Though Dudley didn't seem to be paying attention. Instead he was playing a Gameboy. Harry wasn't watching any of it though. He was more interested in the formation of the International Confederation of Wizards.

He'd received mail from his friends this year. Ginny and her family had won some sort of contest, and were going on a vacation to Egypt. Hermione was in France. Blaise's mother had dragged him along to Ireland for a 'business' trip, which probably meant something illegal. Daphne and Tracey weren't going anywhere until a bit later in the summer however.

Suddenly he heard the sound change abruptly from the telly. He looked up to see a special news report. He walked into the living room in order to hear a bit better.

"...are confirming that a prisoner has escaped from custody," said the reporter, "The prisoner, one Sirius Black, was convicted of 11 counts of murder and should be considered extremely dangerous. If encountered, you should use caution, retreat, and call this special government tip line."

A phone number displayed on screen, next to a picture of a very disheveled man.

"Again, this man is considered extremely dangerous. Under no circumstances should anyone approach or confront him."

Harry realized that he had stopped breathing for a moment. "Bloody hell," he said.

"Don't use that kind of language young man!" said his aunt Petunia.

"That man, Sirius Black? He's a wizard," said Harry. Suddenly his aunt and uncle seemed a bit nervous.

"A wizard? Why would 'your' sort bother saying he's escaped - to normal people?" asked Vernon.

"He killed 10 muggles," said Harry.

"When was this? I haven't heard of it," demanded Vernon.

"A few days after my parents were killed," said Harry, "You didn't recognize him?"

"Should we have?" said Petunia.

Harry rolled his eyes. "He was the best man at my parents' wedding. That man is my godfather. He's the one who betrayed them."

Vernon and Petunia gaped at him. Dudley dropped his Gameboy.

"And I'm pretty sure he's coming here," said Harry.

Vernon's eyes bulged, then he seemed to turn red. "That's it. Get out of here!"

"Vernon!" shouted Petunia. "The note that his headmaster left us was very specific. If we kick Harry out, _we_ might be in danger."

"No more danger than if he is still here!" shouted Vernon, "He's leaving, and he's leaving now!"

"Fine," said Harry, "I'll leave, let me get my things…"

"GET OUT NOW!" shouted Vernon, leaping to his feet and looking like he was about to have a stroke.

In a smooth move Harry drew his wand and pointed it directly at Vernon. "After I get my things."

Vernon sneered. "You wouldn't kill me," he said as he advanced on Harry.

Harry nodded. "You're right, I wouldn't. I don't need to kill you."

Vernon stopped in his tracks.

"But," continued Harry, "If I had wanted to kill you, I could. And I would've done it already."

Harry marched upstairs to grab his things. He just needed to get to Diagon Alley. While dodging a bloodthirsty murderer. Gathering his things, he made his way downstairs with his things. Dudley was by the door.

"Bye Harry," said the fat boy. He clearly had no idea how to feel about this. Harry couldn't blame him really.

"Bye Dudley," he said. And marched out of the house.

Of course, the problem was that it was getting dark. He probably should have demanded that he be allowed to leave in the morning. Harry had no idea how he was going to get to London. It wasn't that far, but he really didn't want to have to walk it.

As he walked by the nearby park, he heard rustling in the bushes nearby. Spinning towards them, he drew his wand.

"Come out!" he shouted.

A black dog appeared out of the bushes.

"Just a dog," he said.

A black dog. Black. The constellation Sirius was a dog. Sirius Black.

Harry shook his head with a laugh. "I have to stop doing that to myself. There's no way that you're…"

The dog suddenly walked forward, and suddenly it morphed into a man who snatched Harry's wand out of his hand.

"...Sirius Black," finished Harry.

**Author's Note:** And we're off! Year 3 handles a lot in the summer, and is going to go in some very different directions than canon now that everything is set up. I'd say fun stuff awaits, but a lot of what happens isn't really fun. Still it isn't nearly as dark as my original idea, so be grateful of that!

I saw two things I would like to respond to. First, how did Harry know about basilisk venom? It was written on the page he found in Hermione's hand. It was the same page from canon, which did mention Basilisk venom, so I elided the section where Harry read it. I might go back and add the venom to the summary he gave afterwards, but it isn't so much a plothole as much as something from canon I didn't mention because there was no change and it didn't actually impact what was going through Harry's head right then, which was 'who opened the Chamber of Secrets and where was it?'

As for the mandrake draught, that is simple, the reason it took a few weeks was because the mandrake supply Bryant found wasn't mature when he located it. As soon as it was ready, it shipped, though I suppose how long it would take to ship would be determined by if they were shipping the draught or the actual Mandrakes. I would imagine that actual Mandrakes would have to go through some sort of quarantine or approval process since, you know, they kill people.

The next two chapters were originally one chapter. It got split entirely because of size. This actually caused me some problems with the dates, but I managed to sort it out.


	18. Fugitives

**Chapter 18: Fugitives**

**July 5th, 1993**

Harry looked at Sirius Black with angry defiance in his eyes. There was no way that he was going to give this man the satisfaction of seeing him beg for mercy.

"What are you waiting for?" said Harry.

"I've waited for this moment for a long time," said Black, "It may have been the last thing keeping my sanity together through everything that I suffered."

"Whatever you've suffered, it wasn't enough!" shouted Harry.

"I know, I know," said Black almost in tears, "I failed James and Lily. I deserve no pity. But then, you haven't felt the aura of a dementor. It takes all of your happiness, and burns it to ash. They can be fought off for a time, but in the end all you are left with is your worst nightmares."

It sounded like the most horrible thing in the world. Harry wasn't sure he felt sorry for Black, but part of him realized that there was more going on here than he'd initially thought. Black seemed distracted, almost broken. Was this a result of Azkaban? Why had he broken free now?

"Why are you talking to me?" asked Harry, "Why haven't you just killed me?"

"Kill you?" cried Black, "I have never wanted to harm you in any way! James and Lily either. I would have died to protect them. I should have died to protect them…"

That was an angle that Harry had not considered. Had Sirius been tortured into betraying his parents? It would explain his extreme remorse. But Harry didn't even really know what Black had done to betray his family.

"How did you fail my parents, Sirius Black?" demanded Harry, softly but firmly.

Black shook at the sound of his name. "Dumbledore gave us a spell, the Fidelius Charm. It hides a secret inside a human soul. Only that person can reveal the secret. So, if the secret was the location of the Potter family, the Potter family would be hidden so long as they stayed in the location delineated in the secret. Regardless of how many people knew beforehand, it would be a secret, and the only person who could reveal it would be the Secret Keeper. However, the Secret Keeper could tell whoever he liked."

"And you were my parents' Secret Keeper?" asked Harry, his blood running cold.

Black shook his head pathetically. "No, I was not," said Black, "I did not believe that I had the strength to resist if I was captured and tortured. I knew we had a traitor in our ranks. I thought it was our good friend, Remus Lupin. I was so wrong! So, I told them that I would pretend to be their secret keeper, while they could actually make another supposed friend, Peter Pettigrew, the actual Secret Keeper."

Black's face contorted with rage. "He gave them up immediately. He was the traitor. I killed your parents the moment I suggested his name."

Harry inhaled sharply. That made a lot of sense. "That's why you killed Pettigrew," said Harry.

Sirius's eyes went cold. "I didn't kill the rat; he faked his death! Even cut off one of his own fingers to make it look real. Killed ten muggles by blowing up a gas main. But you see, like me, he was an Animagus. We all were, except Remus. James was a stag, we called him Prongs. As you've seen I'm a dog, they called me Padfoot, and Peter, well he was a rat. Wormtail we called him. And he transformed into a rat to escape, leaving me alone in the street with all those poor muggles. And I'll admit, I lost it. When they found me, I was laughing, not out of mirth, but because of how perfectly Peter had trapped me."

"He cut off his finger?" said Harry, "A nine-toed rat?"

Harry's eyes widened as he thought of something. He had never thought anything of it but Ron's rat had only nine toes. And he was very old…

"Bloody hell, Scabbers!" cried Harry in shock.

"Scabbers?" asked Sirius, puzzled.

"The Weasley family's rat!" said Harry.

"Well done Harry!" said Sirius, "I only found out when Fudge came to visit me recently. He left behind a copy of the Prophet. I'd recognize Peter anywhere."

"There was a picture of Ron with Scabbers in that paper!" said Harry.

"Exactly," said Sirius, "Now I just need to get to the Burrow and collect the rat."

Harry's heart sank. "The Weasleys aren't at the Burrow currently, they're on vacation in Egypt visiting their oldest son Bill."

"The Weasleys are friends of yours?" asked Sirius.

Harry stopped himself. Why was he telling Sirius all this? It could easily be a trap. Yet Harry couldn't think of a single reason why Sirius would lead him along like this. It would have been far easier for Sirius to kidnap Harry if he needed Harry alive for something. The fact was that Harry was starting to like Sirius. He was starting to trust him.

"Before I answer that, I need to know one more thing," asked Harry. "If all you say is true, why were you convicted?"

"I was never convicted!" snarled Sirius, "They stunned me at the site of Peter's escape and I woke up in Azkaban. I didn't get a trial!"

This wasn't entirely unexpected, and it explained why Sirius was still his Guardian. Bloody hell, Sirius _was_ probably innocent. He hadn't really proved it, but Harry believed him. It exactly fit what he knew of the Ministry.

"I'm friends with the younger Weasleys, Ginny and Ron. The twins as well I suppose. I stayed with them for a while last summer," said Harry in answer to Sirius's question, "I like Molly and Arthur Weasley."

Sirius grinned. "Molly Weasley, heh, I still think of her as Molly Prewitt. Her brothers, Fabian and Gideon, were good friends of ours during the war."

"But I'm sure you have lots of experience with the Weasleys in Gryffindor," continued Sirius.

Oh, this was going to be awkward. "Ginny isn't in Gryffindor. Neither am I actually." said Harry.

"A Potter and a Weasley not in Gryffindor! Now how does that happen?" asked Sirius.

"Someone rigged our sorting," said Harry honestly.

"I suppose that would explain it," said Sirius, "So they sent you to Ravenclaw?"

Harry sighed, "I wish, at least for the sake of this conversation."

"Hufflepuff huh? Well don't be too down on it. Plenty of decent Hufflepuffs," consoled Sirius.

"I'm aware. Many are my friends. Me and Ginny didn't get sorted there though."

Sirius gave Harry a stern look. "Don't tell me that you got sorted into…"

"Slytherin, yeah." said Harry, "It's not so bad."

"But Slytherin is home to all the pureblood bigots, magical supremacists and Death Eaters!" protested Sirius.

"Not all of them!" retorted Harry.

Sirius nodded in acceptance of that point, but still forged on. "Didn't you ask to get resorted? If your sorting was rigged…"

"I would have," said Harry, "except for Hermione."

"Hermione?" asked Sirius.

"She's a muggleborn witch, I met her when Professor McGonagall took me to the muggleborn orientation," said Harry, "But she was sorted before me. She… well she asked the hat to put her in the same house as me."

"Oh shit," said Sirius, "That's bad."

"My sorting was rigged, but it sent Hermione where she wanted to go! She might not have been resorted. And I was her only friend in the house," Harry clenched his fists in anger as he remembered those days, "I wasn't about to abandon her."

"I'm sorry Harry," said Sirius, "That's rough. It can't be easy maneuvering the Slytherin power structure with a muggleborn as your main ally. I know a bit about it, as my entire family had been in Slytherin until I showed up."

"It was rough," admitted Harry, "but Draco Malfoy, the most influential boy in our year underestimated us. We utterly humiliated him several times in the first two weeks. It was so bad that some of the older students tried to gather together to teach us a lesson."

"That couldn't have been fun," said Sirius.

"Well, by that point we had other friends. Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis. They all stood with us."

Harry sighed. "And they all nearly died at the hands of a mountain troll that was unleashed in the castle by our defense teacher."

"Defense position still causes trouble I see," said Sirius.

"If having my first year Defense professor being possessed by the spirit of Voldemort, and my second-year teacher trying to remove my memory so he could take credit for finding the Chamber of Secrets is what you mean by trouble, yes," said Harry.

"I see that we have some things to discuss," said Sirius, "Will you trust me to Apparate us?"

Harry thought about it. "All right," he said.

XXXXX

Harry opened his eyes to see a very run-down sitting room. Everything was in tatters. "Where are we?" he asked.

"No. 12 Grimmauld Place," said Sirius, "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black."

A scurrying sound came out of the kitchens. An ancient looking house elf ran into the room. "YOU!" screamed the elf angrily.

"Kreacher, I guess it was too much to hope you'd died," said Sirius.

"Sirius!" said Harry angrily.

"What?" asked Sirius in a puzzled tone.

"There's no excuse for treating a house elf like that," said Harry.

"You don't know Kreacher," said Sirius.

"I don't need to," said Harry, "House elves are what wizards have made of them. You hate what he is? Blame the family that made him that way."

Sirius opened his mouth for a moment, then closed it again. "You are absolutely right Harry. My family was rather dark."

Sirius turned to Kreacher. "I apologize for being so rude to you," he said.

Kreacher growled at him.

"Hello Kreacher, I'm Harry Potter," said Harry with a slight bow. House elves seemed to like formality. It made interactions simpler he guessed.

Kreacher gave him a dubious look, "He thinks he's so kind to Kreacher, as if we don't see through this child of a Mudblood."

Sirius roared and Kreacher flinched, but Harry jumped in between them. "Kreacher, maybe you should go elsewhere for a bit. We won't be staying long," said Harry.

Sirius nodded. "Yes Kreacher, go someplace else."

"But don't tell anyone anything about where we are or that you've even seen us!" said Harry.

"Right, what he said," said Sirius.

Kreacher sighed, and then left.

"Why'd you intervene?" said Sirius.

"He's not all there anymore, clearly," said Harry, "I pity him. He can't help what he is."

Sirius bowed his head for a moment. "You sound like your mother," he said finally.

Sirius handed Harry back his wand. "Wait here for a moment, but don't touch _anything_. Everything in this house is dangerous."

Harry waited for a few minutes. Finally, Sirius returned, holding another wand.

"Arcturus Black's wand, my grandfather's. It doesn't work perfectly, but it's better than nothing. Certainly better than that guard's wand," he said.

Sirius led Harry into the kitchen, where he waved his wand and the dust flew off two chairs.

"So why were you running away?" asked Sirius.

"I wasn't running away," said Harry, "Your picture was on the muggle news. I stupidly told my uncle Vernon that you were my godfather and he kicked me out."

"Sorry 'bout that," said Sirius.

"Nah, I hate them. Any excuse to get away I say. Dumbledore will probably scare the sh… scare them enough to take me back," said Harry.

"I don't care if you swear Harry," said Sirius, "I'd be a poor Marauder if I did."

"Marauder?" asked Harry.

Sirius laughed. "At school, your dad and Remus and the rat, as well as myself, we called ourselves the Marauders. We pulled pranks, mostly on Snivellus, caused mischief. That sort of thing. Even made a map of the school that showed where everyone was so we wouldn't get in trouble. Fun times."

"You said that three of you were animagi?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, well Remus couldn't be an Animagus," said Sirius, "I don't know if you know Remus, but he's a relatively private person. Mostly because he's a werewolf. We called him Moony."

"Cool," said Harry.

Sirius laughed again. "Good to hear you're so accepting. Anyway, we became animagi so we could keep him company when he transformed."

"That's actually quite sweet," said Harry.

"Don't put it that way!" said Sirius with yet another laugh.

"Who's Snivellus?" asked Harry.

"Severus Snape," said Sirius with obvious distaste.

"You're the reason he hates me!" said Harry, "He's the head of Slytherin these days."

"Oh?" asked Sirius.

"I don't like him much either. He let the older students try to come after me and Hermione my first year. Though I will admit he has generally tried to discourage anyone from being too hard on Hermione just because she is a muggleborn. He just hasn't tried that hard. I don't really get him though. Sometimes he seems to absolutely loathe me, and other times it seems like he approves of me."

"Well, I guess that makes sense," said Sirius, "despite everything he never _really_ hated muggleborns."

Sirius paused, then sighed, "If he's your Head of House… Snape was close friends with your mother when he first arrived at Hogwarts. They had a falling out, but he was always fond of her. I think it was part of why he hated your father so much. I didn't hear much about Snape after he joined the Death Eaters, I'm afraid."

"So, he was a Death Eater?" said Harry.

"He turned on them at the end though, I know that much. Half the Death Eaters in Azkaban would constantly curse his name. I never knew why though," said Sirius.

Sirius looked at Harry shrewdly. "So, tell me about your life."

And Harry did. Told him about growing up with the Dursleys, learning he was magical, meeting Hermione and the Weasleys. He told him about his sorting, and Draco's attack on Hermione and how they rallied together their first year. He then spoke about the troll and Quirrell, and how his first year ended. And he continued to Dobby and the Chamber of Secrets, to Lucius Malfoy and Lockhart and the basilisk. He left out all the secrets he knew, but his friends and their exploits were littered in everything he said. When he was done, Sirius smiled.

"You have a lot of good friends," said Sirius.

"Yes," said Harry.

"A lot of them are girls," said Sirius suggestively.

"There's nothing wrong with having a girl as a friend!" said Harry.

"Of course not!" said Sirius, "Quite the opposite! The more the merrier!"

"I'm not dating them," said Harry.

"Of course not," said Sirius with a wink.

Harry sighed.

"There was one thing though," said Sirius, "Everyone in my family is from Slytherin, so I'm a bit familiar with the way the Slytherin dorms work. I noticed you said that you did something that helped protect Hermione from Draco your first week of school. But how did a first year do anything that could fool such a complicated spell?"

Harry immediately realized he'd substantially let his guard down with Sirius. Despite his joking nature, there was a sharp mind in his head. Still Harry couldn't imagine that telling Sirius could affect anything.

"I, uhh, moved into her room," said Harry sheepishly.

"Wait, what?" asked Sirius, "You just moved into her room and they let you get away with it?"

"Well the school rules say that boys may not stay in the girls' dormitories and vice versa. But Slytherin doesn't have separate dormitories. And the house rules don't reference it at all."

"And they let you get away with it?" asked Sirius again.

"Snape's the only teacher who knows," said Harry, "He wasn't happy about it, but forcing us to change rooms would have required him to access the school wards, which would require approval from the Headmaster."

"And Snape's failure to protect Hermione in the first place would be exposed," said Sirius.

Harry nodded.

"That was one hell of a gamble there Harry," said Sirius, "I approve. Also, you get to room with a beautiful young lady."

"She's my best friend," said Harry.

"All the better," said Sirius, "Listen, I know I'm giving you a hard time here. But the fact is most boys your age would have some very complicated feelings about rooming with a girl they liked."

"I, uh, do," said Harry as he started to blush.

"Understandable," said Sirius, "Just know that_ I_ won't be judging you whatever the two of you decide to do."

"Uh, thanks?" said Harry, feeling a bit weird about this conversation.

"Speaking of dating," said Sirius, "Are you looking forward to going to Hogsmeade this year?"

"Oh shit," said Harry, "Uncle Vernon never gave me permission."

"Easily dealt with!" said Sirius. He summoned a piece of parchment and a quill and quickly wrote out a note.

_I Sirius Black, give my permission for my godson Harry Potter to go to Hogsmeade on weekends._

_Sirius Black_

"How will I use this?" asked Harry.

"I'm still your guardian," said Sirius, "What can they do? I would give it right to Dumbledore however. Snape is obviously out, and McGonagall might give you detention if you hand that to her."

"Seriously," Harry agreed.

"Yes, she did give detention to me all the time," said Sirius with a straight face. Harry groaned.

"I figure we have to figure out what I'm going to do once I leave here," said Harry.

"Well, I have a few ideas as to what you should do," said Sirius, "If you're curious. For one, I can teach you the spell to reveal an Animagus. But make sure you have lots of capable adults around to capture him when you use it on Peter! I also have some advice as to a lot of other things. Dumbledore has disappointed me a bit. Let's see if we can Dumbledore proof your life a bit."

Harry grinned.

XXXXX

Harry walked into the Leaky Cauldron, pulling his trunk and Hedwig's cage. As soon as he entered, several people gasped. He guessed they had heard he was missing. It made sense that someone would have been watching him, with Sirius on the loose. Tom, the bartender, walked up to him. "This way Mr. Potter, this way!"

Harry allowed himself to be ushered up the stairs into a small suite. Inside was Amelia Bones, whom Harry remembered from after the troll incident and a man Harry recognized as Cornelius Fudge. Amelia seemed to be briefing the Minister on something.

"Minister!" said Harry nervously, "I'm sorry you got wrapped up in all this!"

"Nonsense boy, nonsense," said Fudge, "It's my duty to make sure you're safe. I am a bit disappointed that you ran away from your aunt and uncle."

"Is that what they told you?" said Harry, "That I ran away? They kicked me out when that special report on Sirius Black came on! I told them who he was and my uncle just ordered me to leave!"

Amelia gave Fudge a very serious look. Fudge himself was almost apoplectic. "I… well I am very sorry about that. I will have someone look into that immediately! Obviously, it was very dangerous to just let you go like that with Black on the loose."

"I fully understand Minister," said Harry, "And I'm impressed that the Dursleys managed to do something so vile that even a politician has trouble finding words to condemn it."

Fudge let out a small chuckle, "A Slytherin, aren't you boy?"

Harry nodded with a smile.

"Well I suppose I don't have to pretend so much then," said Fudge, "If something were to happen to you the repercussions would be disastrous."

Amelia looked aghast at what he had just said, but Harry took it in stride. "Madame Bones," said Harry, "you don't have to be offended for me. I am well aware of the ramifications of my disappearance for Minister Fudge. While I am certain he would have orchestrated a search regardless of those pressures, the consequences of failure do serve to motivate him more than would otherwise be the case."

"I knew you'd understand," said Fudge.

"Given that I have just been kicked out of my own home, I don't really feel safe returning there at the moment," said Harry.

"Nor should you!" said Fudge, "If you wish, we can arrange for you to stay in Diagon Alley for the time being. Something more permanent may be worked out at a later time. Still, Diagon is completely secure! Black can't get within five miles of the place without us knowing!"

Harry tried not to smile, but the corners of his mouth twisted amusedly. "That's good to know."

"Mr. Potter?" asked Amelia, "How did you get here so fast on foot?"

"I didn't," said Harry. "I hitchhiked."

"Isn't that rather dangerous?" asked Fudge.

Harry shrugged. "I have a wand. I mean, what could a muggle do to me?"

"Underage magic use…" began Fudge.

"Is permitted in self-defense," finished Harry, "But the chances of me needing that were slim. It was far more likely that they'd have taken me to the police. And traveling with muggles meant it was harder for Black to find me."

Amelia nodded. "A good idea Mr. Potter. I see my niece wasn't wrong about your problem-solving skills."

"Your niece is probably the most practical person in Hufflepuff, which is saying a lot," said Harry, "She's also been a good friend to me."

"Well, I am glad that you are safe Mr. Potter, but Madam Bones and I must be off. We still have Black to catch."

"Good luck Minister!" said Harry.

Harry walked downstairs and talked to Tom the barman. Tom quickly showed Harry to a room upstairs. Apparently, the arrangements had already been made. Sitting down on his bed for the foreseeable future, Harry smiled.

The first part of the plan was going flawlessly.

XXXXX

**July 6th, 1993**

At 8 am sharp, Harry entered Gringotts. He was followed by Padfoot, who had met up with him in Diagon Alley. Harry was stunned at how easily the Ministry security had been defeated. Harry supposed being an Animagus was a bit out there as far as ways to avoid detection, but it was still common enough that there should have been some security against it.

The goblins all stared at Padfoot. Harry had to wonder what they were thinking. He walked up to the accounts clerk.

"Is Brokgut free?" asked Harry.

"He said you might be visiting Mr. Potter," said the clerk, "but is it really necessary to bring that… creature."

Harry grinned, "Unfortunately, it is."

Padfoot barked at him.

Harry and Padfoot were led back to Brokgut's office. Brokgut raised an eyebrow when he saw Padfoot, but said nothing. As soon as the door was closed. Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"All right Padfoot," said Harry.

Padfoot transformed into Sirius Black.

"Well this is a surprise," said Brokgut, "you are aware of whom this is Harry?"

"It's Sirius Black," said Harry, "My godfather and my true guardian. We figured out why there was no record of his conviction. He was never tried. Sirius is innocent."

Brokgut narrowed his eyes, "That would explain everything," said the goblin, "So what can I do for you?"

"First, I'd like to update my will," said Sirius. He handed Brokgut a piece of paper.

Brokgut looked at the paper. "This seems in order. You wish to leave everything in a trust for Mr. Potter?"

"Correct," said Sirius. "I also wish to move Harry's money into another, separate trust, Administered by Gringotts. Harry is to be given full access."

"Easily done," said Brokgut, "What shall I say when Dumbledore notices the money is gone?"

"Say I told you to do this to protect the money from Sirius," said Harry, "Which I am saying."

Brokgut smiled, "Very good, I will refer Dumbledore to you."

"I also want to execute the project my father left," said Harry.

Brokgut clapped his hands together excitedly. "Very good. It will take some time to get new quotes from contractors."

"As long as you have it done before next summer, I'm willing to wait," said Harry.

"Easily done," said Brokgut.

"And then I wish to visit my vault, as does Harry," said Sirius.

Brokgut nodded. "Of course. Once you are done however…"

Sirius waved him off. "I am aware of Gringotts' policies regarding refugees. I assure you I am not asking for asylum, and won't overstay my welcome."

"Thank you for your understanding," said Brokgut.

Harry and Sirius both made their way to their vaults. Both withdrew fairly large sums of money. And with that they both left Gringotts. Padfoot disappeared into an alley and did not come out, while Harry began to explore Diagon Alley. Harry knew he might not see Sirius again for a while.

XXXXX

"Bill, have you seen Ginny," said Molly Weasley.

Bill Weasley shook his head. "Not for a while," he said.

Bill had been ecstatic when he'd learned his family would be visiting him in Egypt. He hadn't seen any of them since he'd come to Egypt for training. He'd been thinking of transferring to Britain, even though there was precious little curse-breaking work there. But having his family come visit him had been a dream come true.

He'd heard about some of their problems in letters, of course, but upon meeting his family again he had begun to realize something was off. His mum had explained what happened with Ginny this last year. Ginny was quite different, but Bill hadn't really had a chance to just talk to her alone. He suspected she'd wanted to. Ginny had always been closest to him. When she'd greeted him after all this time, she'd been practically shaking with the emotion of seeing him again.

Percy seemed rather self-absorbed as well. He'd screwed up pretty badly last year, and badly hurt his chances of becoming Head Boy. That seemed to bother Percy less than the fact that he might have been responsible for Ginny's death. Ginny didn't seem to hold a grudge, which suggested to Bill that she blamed herself for what had happened.

Molly had been hovering over Ginny constantly the entire time they'd been in Egypt. Bill didn't blame Ginny for wanting to get away for a bit. Their mother could be a bit overbearing sometimes.

"I'll look for her," said Bill. He actually was pretty sure he knew where she had gone, but he didn't want to give away her hiding place if he was right.

He made his way to the roof of the hotel they were staying at. Sure enough, Ginny was there, sitting and looking out over the city of Cairo.

"Hey there," he said gently, "Mum's looking for you."

"She's always looking for me," said Ginny sullenly, "I just need some time alone to think. You're welcome to stay though. I've been wanting to talk to you for a while."

Bill sat down next to her. "I know things have been rough on you this year," he said hesitantly, "If you need to talk about it…"

Ginny gave a tiny sigh. "Thanks Bill, it means a lot. I'm just kind of in a weird place right now."

"How so?"

"What did Mum tell you about what happened to me?" asked Ginny.

"Just that you got possessed by a magical artifact," said Bill, "And that even Dumbledore didn't know what it was."

Ginny scoffed at that. "Dumbledore knew what it was all right, he just didn't deign to tell us. Luckily Harry had figured it out months before. It was a Horcrux."

"A Horcrux?!" cried Bill. Horcruxes were bad news, containing a fragment of a wizard's soul. All curse-breakers had to know about them. They were very rare, but if encountered unawares could be absolutely lethal.

"Yes, one of Voldemort's horcruxes to be exact," said Ginny. Bill noticed that Ginny had stopped using euphemisms for You-Know-Who's name.

"How did Harry know anything about Horcruxes?" demanded Bill.

"He figured out that someone named Tom Riddle had framed Hagrid last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Then he asked Horace Slughorn about Riddle, and he learned that Riddle was Voldemort and had shown an interest in horcruxes. Slughorn even suggested that a horcrux might be possessing a student," Ginny shrugged, "They just didn't figure out that I was the student."

"Well horcruxes are dark business," said Bill, "I'm sure that Dumbledore just wanted to protect you from the knowledge that something so dark exists."

"That horcrux tried to suck out my life force to resurrect a dark wizard," said Ginny, "After that, I'm gonna say that I've already come to the conclusion that dark magic is really fucked up and I'd rather know what happened to me than be wandering around clueless, afraid that literally everything I come in contact with is going to try to possess and kill me."

Bill put his arm around Ginny's shoulders. "I guess I get that," he said, "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Ginny rested her head on his arm. "There's more to it of course. I want to tell you everything."

Bill smiled, "Why do I sense a but coming on here?"

"Because you aren't stupid," said Ginny, "You have to promise not to tell anyone what I tell you. Not even Mum or Dad. I love them, and trust them. But this thing, I could get in so much trouble if the wrong people found out."

"I'm not sure I can make that promise," said Bill.

Ginny sat silently for a while. "Of course you can't. It would be irresponsible of you." After a moment Bill realized she wasn't going to say anymore.

"I mean if it's clearly eating you up inside, you might need to tell someone," said Bill.

Ginny shook her head. "No, not this."

Then her features softened. "Well Harry knows. He was there when it happened. He agreed to keep my secret." The last part was said accusingly.

Ginny shook her head. "I'm glad to see you Bill, but I kind of wish I were back home. Then I might have a chance to talk to Harry about this. I kind of need to."

Bill smiled. "You still have a crush on Harry Potter then?"

Ginny shook her head. "Not a crush. I think… I don't know, but I know that whatever I do have with him is real. I guess I haven't given up on him yet, but it would be silly to think that I'm going to have some fairy tale ending to this. I just need a friend right now, and he's been that."

Bill thought about this for a moment. Whatever she was going through was rough, and there was something else that made it worse. And that's when Bill realized that at least one adult _needed_ to understand what was going on with her. Even if he had to promise not to tell anyone, she needed his advice right now.

"Okay Ginny," said Bill, "I promise not to tell anyone, not even Mum or Dad."

Ginny broke out into a grin and hugged her brother. "Thank you so much," she said, "You have no idea what this means to me."

Ginny broke the hug and sat up straight. She suddenly seemed very nervous. "You see we lied to everyone about how we destroyed the horcrux. We only stabbed it with a basilisk fang after we destroyed it."

Bill looked at her quizzically. "How did you destroy it then?" he asked.

Ginny closed her eyes. "I absorbed all the power from it as I fought its control over me. It died right in front of us. But…"

Bill's stomach sank, "But?"

"The power I took from it was imprinted with his memories," said Ginny as she opened her eyes, "I have all the memories of 16-year-old Voldemort."

"Oh fuck," said Bill, "I mean… oh fuck."

"Yeah," said Ginny.

"I get why you didn't want anyone to know," said Bill, "I won't tell anyone. Does he still talk to you?"

"No," said Ginny, "they're just memories I can look at. It's sort of like browsing a book. They're there if I want to see them. And I can tell those memories aren't mine, they're clearly foreign. But Merlin, the things he did. You'd think the memories of a 16-year-old Voldemort wouldn't be that bad, but oh how wrong you'd be! He was a monster! He'd created a horcrux, tortured other children, studied the most dreadful dark things, formulated dark spells and rituals that just disgust me… It's horrible beyond imagining. Any other person and I'd just be grossed out by the things 16-year-old boys do. But Riddle was so much worse."

"Uh, Riddle was interested in girls?" asked Bill.

"He lusted after some of them, yes," said Ginny, her voice full of disgust, "That creature wasn't capable of love. I'll just say it was a strictly physical thing, Riddle never cared for any of his mates." The last word was clearly deliberate.

"So, you have memories of him…" asked Bill awkwardly.

Ginny actually seemed a bit amused. "Yes, I do. I don't understand what the big deal is."

Bill looked at her for a moment, not sure how to handle this. "You should probably ask Mum to give you some more details then. If what you say is true then you've been shown all the physical parts of intimacy, without getting the parts that make it, well, intimate."

"That's probably a good idea," said Ginny, "but Mum's been a bit smothering lately. I've got all these things in my head that don't belong there. I need some time to figure out how I'm going to deal with this, how it's changed me, and how I can stay me. Mum's constant mothering isn't helping."

"I'll see if I can convince her," said Bill.

"Thanks Bill," said Ginny.

"Other than that, I don't know what to say to all this," Bill admitted.

"That's fine," said Ginny, "I just kind of needed to get that off my chest."

She laid her head on his shoulder again. "Can you just hug me for a bit? I'd like to think some more."

Bill wrapped his arm around her again. "Of course, Ginny."

XXXXX

Molly Weasley was almost frantic. She couldn't find Ginny anywhere. Oh, why had she let the girl out of her sight?

Bill walked into her hotel room, looking a bit grim.

"Did you find her?" Molly demanded.

Bill nodded. "Ginny's fine," he said, "She just needs some time alone. She'll be heading to bed in a few minutes."

"Are you sure?" asked Molly, "maybe I should check on her…"

Bill rested a hand on Molly's shoulder gently. "Ginny is still trying to figure out what the things that happened to her all mean. It's been hard on her because all the friends she was talking about it with before are back at home. I got her to open up about it a bit. I am worried for her, but smothering her isn't going to help. She needs to figure out her own way."

Molly sighed. "You're probably right. She's starting to grow up."

"What happened to her forced her to grow up," said Bill, "It's not a great thing, but it's where we are."

"I understand Bill," said Molly sadly.

Bill paused, then seemed to turn a bit red. "Uh, also, I think you need to have a bit of a talk with Ginny about certain things, if you get my meaning."

Molly of course immediately knew what he meant. One didn't have 7 kids without thinking about sex a _lot_. Still she felt it would be funny to lead him on a bit, "What do you mean?" she said innocently.

Bill's cheeks were aflame now, "Well, Ginny wouldn't talk about it much, but apparently Tom gave her some information about his love life. More information than she really needs to know at her age. But Tom didn't understand love. Ginny needs to understand the connection between love and, uh, sex."

Suddenly this was a much more serious topic. Obviously, Bill was right. Molly decided that she would have this conversation at the earliest convenience. She was a bit worried about what exactly Riddle had told Ginny. But it was clear to Molly that Ginny wasn't comfortable talking about her experience. She was glad that she'd talked to Bill.

"He didn't make her do anything, did he?" asked Molly.

"Not so far as I know," said Bill, "He just gave her some information that was a bit...adult."

"All right," said Molly, "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"No," said Bill.

**Author's Note: **I don't have that much to say this time. Next chapter will go into mind healers and such, but within the context of this story magic isn't going to be much help for Hermione. It could be... but for reasons that will be slowly revealed over the course of the story it isn't. That isn't a bad thing, at least as far as the story is concerned. Hermione having to deal with her trauma is her major 3rd year plotline and it manifests in a lot of ways over the course of the year.

That being said, you all gave me a very good idea! I'm going to have to do a few rewrites to make it work, but it massively improves one element of the ending of this story.

Unfortunately, the next chapter is definitely a low point for Hermione. Probably the lowest point she hits in the entire story. But she does make a new friend!


	19. Diagon Summer

**Chapter 19: Diagon Summer**

**July 7th, 1993**

Hermione had mixed feelings about vacationing in France. In a way, she was looking forward to it. She loved visiting other countries and liked France in particular. She could even speak a bit of French. It seemed like it would be fun. Yet she was also nervous. In some ways she just wanted to return home and spend a few weeks in the relaxing confines of her own home. Maybe try to invite Harry over for a few days. Vacation in France meant that she wouldn't have any chance to see him until she got back, which would probably be after his birthday.

Still, her parents had been planning this for a while, so it was too late to back out. And it wasn't all bad. Her mother had helped her pick out a new swimsuit, and Hermione had convinced her to get her a rather tasteful two-piece. Hermione was glad her mother trusted her to wear what she wanted, but in the back of her mind she was wondering what Harry would think of her wearing it.

Hermione was a bit puzzled about that. She'd never particularly cared what Harry thought of any of her other clothes. But the idea of Harry seeing her in this made her feel warm and tingly. It was something she hadn't really felt before. She felt it even more strongly when she imagined him liking what he saw. The whole thing was almost enough to convince her to try to get Harry to come along on their vacation, but she knew that probably wouldn't go over well.

The truth was that her parents were starting to come to terms with the fact that Harry was a part of her life now. They had accepted that Harry's aunt and uncle were completely incapable or unwilling to show him any love or affection. And they had also accepted that Hermione was going to do everything in her power to make up for that. It was all pitifully inadequate in Hermione's eyes, but she knew that they just didn't have the same feelings for Harry that she did. Much as she wanted them to see him as a son, they didn't, at least not yet. She felt that she was close to a breakthrough, and if she could get her parents on her side on this, she'd be able to help Harry far more than she could otherwise. She could give him a family, maybe not his family, but _a_ family that loved him.

And so, she'd decided to not push things this summer. She didn't need to make Harry Potter a point of contention between her and her parents. She had accidentally mentioned that she had considered asking him along to her mother.

"It's probably for the best that you didn't," Helen had said.

Hermione had sighed, then said, "Not for the best mum. The best would involve Harry not having to go back to those horrible people."

Her mother had not been able to argue with that.

France proved to be wonderful. They were headed to the south of France to take in the sun, and Hermione was looking forward to it. She wasn't exactly sure she wanted to tan, but she did know that a little relaxation was in order. Daphne and Tracey had both made her promise that she wouldn't overwork herself this summer and come back to school no better than she'd left.

She'd found the beaches a bit more intimidating than she'd expected however. She'd been here before, but as a little girl. Now she found herself comparing her body with those of the women on the beach, and she found herself lacking. She knew she was still young, but she certainly didn't see herself coming in as well as many of these women. The fact that many of them wore much skimpier bikinis (or less!) didn't help matters. She felt a bit frumpy to be honest, and almost felt ashamed that she had wanted Harry to see her like this when so many of these other girls looked so much better.

Her father misinterpreted her mood, making little jokes about how she was being a bit closed minded. Her mother had suspected something else was off almost immediately.

"Feeling a little intimidated?" her mother asked after a few minutes.

Hermione nodded. "It's just… I don't look nearly as good as some of these women. I feel that I look like a little girl, but I don't feel like a little girl."

"Don't worry about it too much Hermione," said Helen, "You're only 13 years old. There's plenty of time for you fill out a bit. And even if you don't, there are plenty of things you can wear to make yourself look good."

"I know," said Hermione. She briefly considered dropping the issue, but decided to get to what was really bothering her.

"When I got this swimsuit, I…" Hermione paused as her face heated up, "Well I kind of wanted Harry to see me in it, if that makes sense."

Her mother smiled kindly. "Of course, it makes sense. He's special to you. And it would make you feel good to know he's attracted to you."

"But how would he be attracted to me when he could see this," said Hermione as she waved at everyone on the beach.

Her mother laughed, "I'm pretty sure that while this would embarrass him a lot, he'd be a lot more interested in what you were wearing."

"What do you mean? How do I compare to all these women? Some of them are topless for goodness sake," said Hermione piteously.

Her mother laughed. "I think I know Harry well enough now to know that once he got used to the topless women he'd adapt. They're just random people after all. You, on the other hand, are his best friend. If you started showing off for him, even wearing something like this, he's going to notice you because he cares about you. He might be embarrassed or intrigued. But he'd care more about you than some woman he's never met, of that I'm pretty sure. Not that I think you need to be doing that sort of thing yet."

"Aww," said Hermione jokingly. Still the conversation did make her feel a bit better. She did make a mental note that next time she came to the beach she needed something that covered a lot less skin. The tan lines this thing was going to leave would be horrendous.

With Hermione's insecurities out of the way she started to enjoy her vacation a bit. There was a bit of _something_ in the back of her mind that was bugging her, but she was doing her best to ignore it.

On her third day, she and her family went to the beach again. Usually her parents set up away from other people, but today they dropped their beach towels near a group of four women. Well, one older woman, one middle aged woman, one teenage girl only a year or two older than Hermione and one younger girl. They were all blonde and all very good looking. Even the older woman looked beautiful. It was odd that her parents chose to sit there, so close to those women, but Hermione didn't mention it.

Laying down on her beach towel, Hermione began reading her book, which was a primer on arithmancy. Her mother had given her side eye when she'd seen her choice of reading, but she understood. To Hermione, this _was_ light recreational reading.

Hermione noticed their neighbors looking at them occasionally, but her parents didn't seem to notice. That was odd. Hermione stretched a bit, and her foot grazed her father's leg.

"Where did they come from?" asked her father suddenly, looking at the women.

"They were there when we sat down," said Hermione.

"They certainly were not!" said Robert, "I would have noticed."

"What are you talking about?" asked Helen, "There's nobody there."

That was odd. Hermione suddenly was having some suspicions about those women. However, that was overshadowed by the look she saw on her father's face. His eyes seemed almost glazed over and his mouth was going a bit slack. Was he staring at them?

"Dad, what are you doing?" said Hermione, pulling away a bit.

Robert's face immediately went back to normal. "Wha...where did they go?"

That sealed it. "Oh, they must be witches under a muggle repelling charm," said Hermione.

"Oui," said the middle-aged woman, who had walked over to them. Robert and Helen both started as she appeared in front of them. The teenage girl had followed as well. Robert's eyes started to glaze a bit again.

"Robert!" said Helen angrily.

"It is not his fault," said the teenage girl, "Ma maman is a half-veela, and I am... un quart veela."

"Oh!" said Hermione, "That explains it! Veela have an allure that drives men wild. A wizard could probably resist it, given time, but as Dad's a muggle he has no defense."

"It isn't as bad now," said Robert, still a bit dazed.

"That is because you no longer see my mother, who is a full Veela," said the mother, "My name is Apolline Delacour, and this is my daughter Fleur. The younger girl is Gabrielle, and my mother is named Isobel. My daughter cannot control her allure so well, and it magnifies the leetle allure my mother and I put out."

"Pleased to meet you. My name is Hermione Granger," said Hermione politely, "These are my parents Helen and Robert."

"I am most pleased to make your acquaintance," said Apolline, "We hide on the beach because our allure makes it a bit dangerous to just sit out in the open."

"I understand," said Hermione.

"Perhaps 'ermione would like to take a walk with me," said Fleur.

"Eet is too dangerous for you to walk alone!" said Apolline.

"I would not be alone! 'ermione would be with me!" said Fleur.

"She 'as barely completed second year, if that!" said Apolline.

"While you are correct," interjected Hermione, "I am second in my year at Defense. I can cast the Disarm, shield, stunning, body-bind, banishing, and breaking charms as well as stinging and freezing hexes."

Apolline looked impressed. "You can do all that and are only second in your year?"

Hermione shrugged, "I have to compete against Harry Potter. He's rather...dedicated at Defense."

Both Apolline and Fleur nodded in understanding. They had at least heard of Harry Potter, even if they didn't know many details about him. Hermione noticed that her parents seemed shocked that they had recognized his name.

"Is it that dangerous around here?" asked Helen.

"Only for a Veela," said Apolline, "Many men might try to impress Fleur, but if one does so in a way that scares her, she might lose some of her control over her allure. This can create a terrible cycle, where the allure makes the man more and more aggressive, while his aggression makes Fleur more and more scared, while her fear brings out more of her allure."

"I am not so easily scared!" said Fleur, "I will be fine with 'ermione."

"I'm fine with it," said Helen, "As long as you don't go too far."

"Very well," said Apolline, "Our laws here are not quite like England, underage witches can use magic as long as you are not observed by muggles. Do not hesitate to use stinging hexes if you feel threatened."

The two girls both promised to be vigilant, and then they grabbed their handbags which contained their wands, and they were off.

Hermione was very excited. She was off exploring France with another witch that was only a bit older than her! It was exactly the sort of adventure she had hoped for.

Initially Hermione asked a lot of questions about French magical society. Fleur was patient with Hermione, but it soon became clear that Fleur was getting a bit bored. So, Hermione switched to talking about the local city. Fleur was more interested here, giving Hermione lots of advice as to what parts of the city were worth seeing.

Fleur showed Hermione to some of the shops that were just off the beach. There were a lot of interesting curios and souvenirs, but also some genuinely nice clothing stores, though most of them primarily sold beachwear. Fleur and Hermione both tried on several bathing suits. Hermione tried on one two-piece that made her blush a little. That was one she was quite certain she wasn't ready for Harry to see her wearing.

As they left the shop, now changed back into their own swimsuits, Hermione realized that she didn't feel nearly as oddly walking around town in a swimsuit as she had thought she would. Part of it was because she was with Fleur. Most of the teenage boys looked at Fleur as she passed. Some of them she ignored, but others she winked at or smiled at. Fleur was rather well developed for a fifteen-year-old girl, so Hermione understood why she was getting the attention even without the allure.

"You don't seem to mind all the attention you're getting," said Hermione.

Fleur shrugged, "Teenage boys will lust after girls they like no matter what they wear. If I was covered head to toe in blankets, they would think it sexy."

"Must be nice to be wanted," said Hermione.

Fleur grinned at Hermione. "If you look a bit to your right, you might see that you 'ave attracted a leetle attention as well."

Hermione moved her head just a bit so she could see a boy, probably about her own age, trying very hard to not look like he was staring at her bum. At first Hermione's first instinct was to be horribly embarrassed. Yet this was almost immediately replaced by another feeling. No one had ever looked at her like that before. While she wasn't sure that she really wanted to be looked at like that, she also felt a little flattered. She turned to him and smiled. The boy turned completely red and fled.

Fleur laughed at that, and Hermione joined in.

"You 'ave never 'ad a boy look at you like that?" asked Fleur.

"My best friend is a boy who I'm pretty sure likes me. At least he kissed me," said Hermione. She noticed Fleur's eyes shine at that.

"He's still a bit young to be noticing me physically though," admitted Hermione, "He just gets embarrassed when anything like that comes up."

"That boy there was also embarrassed, and 'e definitely noticed you," said Fleur, "Your friend may think more of you than you think."

That idea seemed to cheer Hermione up. For a little while.

XXXXX

**July 13th, 1993**

Helen Granger was very worried about her daughter's wellbeing. For all her claims of being fine, Hermione was unusually subdued. She'd been strangely reluctant to get ready for the vacation to begin with and her insecurities about her body were a little bit worrisome. Not to say that it wasn't normal for a girl Hermione's age to pay attention to her appearance more than she had as a child. But she had gone from not caring about how she looked at all to being incredibly self-conscious about it, with, as far as Helen could see, no stage in between.

Hermione's day spent with Fleur had seemed to put her body anxieties to bed, at least for the moment. Hermione did still want to get her teeth magically reduced, something Helen was opposed to simply because she didn't think that Hermione should be modifying her appearance permanently at her age. If, as she grew older, Hermione still wanted to do it, that was all well and good. But at her age it was important for Hermione to learn to be comfortable as herself.

Later that day, Robert had gone to pick up some food, and Helen had used the time to comb Hermione's hair. As they had been talking, Hermione again had brought up looking good for Harry. While she did think it was normal for a girl Hermione's age to be interested in what boys thought of her looks, there seemed to be something more to this. Helen didn't know Harry all that well, but he had never struck her as being shallow about a girl's looks. He probably was too young to notice Hermione physically at this point.

The conversation had turned up one interesting titbit. When Helen made her suggestion about Harry's relative lack of maturity, Hermione had blushed.

"Well I'm pretty sure he's noticed me to some degree," she had said, "He did kiss me."

Hermione's story about Harry trying to wake her up with a kiss seemed fairly adorable, and she understood that to a girl Hermione's age it probably seemed impossibly romantic. Helen saw things a bit differently, but she also knew that it was up to Hermione to decide if what had happened was inappropriate, and she clearly did not. Yet there was a nervous insecurity to everything Hermione was saying. It was as if the idea of losing Harry terrified her. It wasn't jealousy. Helen thought back to Harry's obvious attempt to alert her and Robert that something was wrong with Hermione at the train station. She'd been really clingy with Harry then too.

In the days after she spent the day with Fleur Hermione's apparent health got worse. Much worse. She seemed tired all the time, and she was constantly distracted. Even when going to old historic sites Hermione couldn't keep focused. Finally, Helen had had enough.

"Is everything all right Hermione?" asked Helen before she went to bed on the seventh day of the trip.

Hermione shook her head, "I don't think so. I've been having trouble sleeping. I had this problem for a little while at Hogwarts, but I found a way to deal with it. But… I'm having a harder time coping in this unfamiliar environment."

Helen nodded, "Is it because of you being petrified?"

Hermione nodded. "Sleep is really rough on me, because sometimes I can't tell the difference between being asleep and being petrified."

Helen nodded. She wondered if this had anything to do with her earlier insecurities. This sort of nervousness could manifest in all sorts of ways.

"So, what do you want to do about it?" asked Helen.

"Could you maybe sleep with me, in my room?" asked Hermione, "I hate to ask this of you, I know you probably want to spend time with Dad. But having someone there would help me so much. Especially if you could talk to me when I go to sleep."

"Of course, sweetheart, I'd be glad to keep you company," said Helen.

And so, Helen had started sleeping in Hermione's room. Robert hadn't noticed any of Hermione's problems at first, but by this point it was obvious something was wrong. He'd teased Helen a bit about abandoning him, but he hadn't meant anything by it. She knew he fully supported anything Helen needed to do to help Hermione.

For a few days' things had been better. Hermione had started sleeping better. She started paying more attention to the new places they were going. It looked like things had been taken care of.

So, Helen was very surprised when Hermione woke up screaming in the middle of the night.

Helen threw her arm around her daughter. "Hermione, it's just a dream! It's just a dream!" she shouted.

Hermione's eyes opened, and for a moment relief flooded them. Then she started to break down crying. "I'm so sorry mum, I don't mean to cause all this trouble," she sobbed.

"You're no trouble dear," said Helen, "You're our darling little girl. And don't forget it."

"It was so real!" cried Hermione, "I dreamt I was petrified, and I could hear that basilisk killing everyone. All my friends, everyone I loved. And I couldn't move a muscle. I couldn't do ANYTHING."

"It isn't real," said Helen, "The basilisk is dead. Harry killed it. Because of you."

"I spent all that time petrified, and I knew what the danger was and I couldn't tell anyone," Hermione continued to sob, "It was the worst part of my entire life, except, except…"

"It's all right dear," said Helen.

"I thought I was over this," said Hermione, "I thought I'd be fine."

"Hermione," said Helen, "Do you want to go home?"

"I couldn't ask that of you!" protested Hermione.

"It isn't an imposition at all," said Helen, "Nothing is more important than your well-being. Nothing!"

Hermione just nodded her head, then whispered, "I want to go home, mum."

Helen smiled at her daughter. "Then we will."

Hermione just clung to her mother.

XXXXX

**July 14th, 1993**

"I've been thinking," said Hermione as they sat eating a late lunch. The Grangers had flown home earlier that day and were now having lunch in London.

"Oh?" asked Robert.

"Maybe I should go to St. Mungos," said Hermione.

"St. Mungos?" asked Robert.

"It's the magical hospital," said Hermione.

"Maybe that's a good idea," said Helen.

"We could stay at Diagon Alley!" said Hermione, "that way it would be like a vacation, but we'd also be getting me some help."

Helen looked at Robert. It did sound like a better plan than heading home and just hoping Hermione would get better. They had considered getting her a muggle therapist, but had decided that it would be virtually impossible to tell any muggle therapist about what was really causing Hermione's issues.

"Well it looks like we'll get to spend some more time with you in the magical world," said Helen.

XXXXX

Harry had spent a little over a week living a life of relative luxury. No classes, no chores, just doing what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it. It was liberating. He had done some of his summer coursework, but because he'd felt like doing it.

He had immediately realized he had the opportunity to get into a huge amount of trouble. He'd made a point of exploring the rather dodgy Knockturn Alley. His name did him few favors there, but being part of Slytherin did seem to command a certain respect there. There were all sorts of minor dark artifacts and magics there that Harry found interesting. Harry didn't really approve of dark magic, but he also realized that a lot of what was classified as dark was a bit subjective. In any case, knowledge of these things would be helpful in Slytherin, where plenty of students wouldn't hesitate to use them.

Harry had written extensively with Daphne. She had been by to visit, and he'd appreciated the company. He'd also run into Blaise in Knockturn Alley one day. Blaise's mother seemed amused that he was hanging out down there, possibly even approving. He'd sent a brief letter to Hermione saying that he wasn't staying at the Dursleys anymore. He hoped she'd get over her problems once she was on vacation with her parents. He'd been a bit more circumspect with her than Daphne though; he hadn't mentioned being kicked out of his home. He didn't want to add to her troubles.

So, Harry was very surprised when he heard her voice in the Leaky Cauldron.

"Oh, I'm sure no one will have any trouble helping two muggle parents get around if I'm not here," said Hermione, "Most witches and wizards are very accommodating, no matter what the purebloods want people to think."

Harry leapt to his feet. "Hermione?" he said excitedly.

Hermione gasped in delight. "Harry!" she said as she ran over to him and wrapped him up in a big hug. A hug he returned in spades. Hermione's parents both smiled at him warmly. He returned the smile, but then realized something was wrong. Hermione's breathing had gone ragged, and he realized that she was on the verge of tears.

Hermione's parents seemed to notice something was wrong, but before they could say anything Harry took action. "I'm in Room 207," said Harry to her parents as he led Hermione up the stairs and into his room, which he left unlocked behind him. Harry sat her down on the couch in his room.

"Is everything all right?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head and began to cry. She buried her head in his shoulder as he held her close to him, with one hand on the back of her head.

A few minutes later Hermione's parents came into the room. Hermione had calmed down a bit. "Sorry everyone, I just got a bit overwhelmed. I didn't expect to see Harry here, and in a way, it was a relief, but I wasn't really ready for that."

Helen Granger explained that Hermione had been having dreams about still being petrified while the basilisk killed all her friends.

Harry gave Hermione a chiding look. "You didn't tell me about the dreams," he said accusingly.

"I didn't want you to worry," said Hermione, "Everyone was already making too much of a fuss over me."

"Not possible," said Harry.

"We do have an appointment at St. Mungo's tomorrow Harry, but we'd be delighted to spend some time with you while we're here. If you'll be staying for a while that is," said Robert.

Harry shrugged. "I guess I'm here for the summer. I'd love to come with you, but I'm restricted to Diagon Alley at the moment."

"Oh?" asked Helen.

"Sirius Black, my godfather, escaped from prison," said Harry, "But don't worry! Despite what everyone seems to think, he isn't coming after me."

"You sound awfully sure," said Hermione accusingly.

"I'll tell you about it sometime," said Harry. Hermione nodded, understanding that sometime meant when they were alone.

"Thanks for being so understanding," said Hermione.

"I'll see you later," said Harry.

Once Hermione and her parents were gone Harry couldn't help but do a little dance. Hermione finally had managed to get help. And he'd get to spend time with her this summer. Everything was looking up.

XXXXX

**July 15th, 1993**

Hermione left St. Mungo's with a serious disappointment at the state of magical mental health services. Magical healing might work wonders on physical injuries, or on magical mental maladies, but it was woefully out of date in terms of normal mental health options. She'd talked to a Mind Healer who had offered her a potion and talked to her about her fears. Aside from obliviating, there was little the Mind Healer could offer Hermione, and she wasn't about to erase her memories! To some degree Hermione thought she had a better grasp on things than she had before, but that was entirely due to her actually saying the things she was dreaming and worrying about out loud.

It was clear to Hermione that she had two issues. The larger problem was that to some degree she didn't quite believe that the basilisk was dead. She'd spent over a week just terrified that the basilisk would kill her friends constantly. It had to scarred her, somewhat. She needed to prove to herself that the basilisk was really dead. She wondered if she'd be allowed to see the basilisk's corpse.

The other thing was that she was scared about losing her other friends, through any means. This was especially true of Harry, who was her best friend. The basilisk dream wasn't the only one she'd had. She'd had dreams of Death Eaters attacking the school, of all her friends turning on her and leaving her. Hermione needed to deal with this, but she wasn't sure how she could during the summer.

The worst part was that the Mind Healer didn't have any idea how to help her. The woman had been very nice and the potion had calmed Hermione, but the woman had said that she wasn't sure what she could do other than give her calming potions. Calming potions were all well and good, but they didn't help Hermione while she slept. There was a potion for a dreamless sleep, but it was dangerous to use too often.

So, Hermione decided she would find her own help. First she needed to deal with one obstacle.

"Oh, this really was so helpful," said Hermione, "I really do think I feel as if a weight has been taken off of my mind."

"That's great, honey," Helen encouraged her.

Hermione smiled. "I think I'd like to try sleeping on my own tonight."

"Of course, honey, you know where to find me if you need me," said Helen. Her father gave Hermione a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Hermione was fairly sure that she wouldn't need her mother tonight.

XXXXX

After Hermione had returned from St. Mungo's she had found Harry and the two of them had spent the rest of the day at Flourish and Blotts. Her parents were keeping a fairly close eye on Hermione so Harry didn't have a chance to tell her about Sirius. He'd need Hermione on his side to help trap Pettigrew. They ate dinner at a small restaurant at the far end of Diagon Alley. The Grangers were already talking of eating at places outside the Alley, which annoyed Harry to no end. There was no danger in Harry leaving the Alley, but how could he convince anyone of that? Harry decided he would place a floo call to Dumbledore the next day. Maybe the old man could help him.

He changed into his sleeping clothes, which at this point in the summer was just a long t-shirt and pants. As he was about to turn in, he heard a soft knocking at the door. He walked over to the door and opened it a crack. Hermione was there, in her pajamas.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

"Always," said Harry, opening the door wider to let her in.

"There were a couple things I wanted to talk about," said Hermione as she sat down on the couch. Harry sat down next to her, careful to make sure his shirt didn't ride up on him.

"So, why aren't you worried about Sirius Black?" asked Hermione accusingly.

"My Uncle Vernon kicked me out," said Harry, "He did it after he found out that the man accused of betraying my parents escaped from prison. So, I left the house, and Black caught me. Right in Little Whinging."

"What?" cried Hermione in terror.

"Sirius didn't want to kill me," said Harry, "In fact, he was absolutely shattered by what had happened to my parents. According to Black, he wasn't the traitor, Peter Pettigrew was. But Peter killed a bunch of muggles and faked his own death to frame Sirius for all of it."

"Faked his death?" said Hermione skeptically.

"He cut off his finger to make it look like he'd been blown up. But Pettigrew was an Animagus and he transformed right after he blew up a gas main," said Harry.

"And no one noticed a random animal fleeing the scene?" demanded Hermione.

"His form was a rat," explained Harry.

"Appropriate, if true," said Hermione.

"A rat who would have nine toes, and would live for years and years past when a rat would normally live," said Harry, "You know, like Scabbers."

Hermione gasped. "That _does_ make some sense. So, you believe Sirius?"

Harry nodded. "Why wouldn't I?"

Hermione shook her head. "You're so desperate to get away from the Dursleys, I understand that, and if Sirius were innocent it would get you out of there. Are you sure this isn't wish fulfilment?"

Harry shrugged, "Well, Sirius had me at his mercy, so if he wanted to kill or kidnap me, he lost his chance. I'm going to trust him until I get a chance to test whether Scabbers is an Animagus or not. If he's lying, then I can tell Dumbledore everything."

"I think that's dangerous, but I won't rat you out," said Hermione with a smile.

"Oooh, nice one," said Harry.

"Harry, I'd like you to do me a favor," said Hermione, suddenly uncharacteristically coy.

"Anything Hermione," said Harry.

"Can you go into my mind and show me the dead basilisk," she pleaded, "I really need to know, really know, that it's dead."

Harry hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to give away Ginny's secret. But he had been practicing his Occlumency. He could just show her the basilisk corpse, surely.

"Okay," he said, as he turned and put his legs up on the couch. He realized too late that he had just given Hermione a full view of his pants.

"Oops," he said, somewhat embarrassed. He didn't mind, exactly, but he didn't want Hermione to think he was being crude either.

"It's fine Harry," she said, "We've accidently seen a bit of underwear on each other loads of times."

Harry nodded; that was a bit reassuring. Hermione held out her arms and Harry grasped her wrists and she grasped his. He looked into her eyes and slowly looked into her mind. What he saw was disturbing. Hermione was desperately scared that she was going to lose everything. He also saw that she'd been intrigued by Harry's inadvertent flash. He wasn't about to bring that up.

Slowly he thought of when he had opened his eyes to see the basilisk impaled on a stalactite. Then he pushed that thought towards Hermione. Something seemed to burn in her eyes as he showed it to her.

"It really is dead," she said.

"Yeah," said Harry. He could feel a large part of the tension leave Hermione's mind.

"Thank you, Harry," said Hermione, "I want to thank you for what you've shown me tonight." she said the last bit with a hint of amusement in her voice that set Harry's cheeks on fire.

Suddenly he could see Hermione, looking in a mirror, wearing a two-piece bathing suit. While it wasn't the most risqué suit, Harry had never seen so much of Hermione at once. Well, except for that one time...

"Hermione?" he asked.

"Doesn't it look good on me?" she asked as the Hermione in her mind turned around to look at it from the back. Harry could see the suit bottoms clinging to her backside.

"It looks great on you," said Harry honestly as he pulled himself out of her mind. That had been a little too much for him. And he was struggling to handle his feelings.

"Harry, do you find me pretty?" asked Hermione.

"More than pretty," said Harry.

"You don't have to lie to make me feel better," said Hermione looking down.

Harry sat down and put too fingers under Hermione's chin so she would look him in the eye. "You. Are. Beautiful."

And then, his state of undress and his general awkwardness made him blush.

She blushed even deeper than he had. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I'm not," said Harry, "I get where you are coming from here. You're worried that you'll lose everything. You just want to know that there is a reason for me to stay with you. Even if I wasn't attracted to you, you'd still be my best friend. But I am, so I have lots more reasons to stick around."

Hermione smiled.

"I also saw that you want to spend the night here," said Harry.

"You didn't have a problem with it before," reminded Hermione.

"Your parents weren't a few rooms over at the time!" said Harry, "This isn't a good idea."

"Please!" begged Hermione, "You really do make things better for me."

Harry sighed. "I can never turn you down, you know that?"

Hermione laughed.

XXXXX

**July 16th, 1993**

Helen Granger was surprised by just how much better Hermione seemed the next day. Hermione had described her sessions at St. Mungo's to her, and while Hermione insisted that they had done a lot of good, Helen was sceptical. It sounded like Magical mental health was trapped in the nineteenth century, and she wasn't sure how a calming draught would help matters. Yet Hermione did seem to be doing better. This left two possibilities: either Hermione's problem was a lot less severe than they had thought (which was very doubtful given that Hermione had been willing to end their vacation over it), or Hermione was hiding something.

Unlike Robert, Helen had a sixth sense for when her daughter was being evasive. Robert thought that Hermione never, or at least rarely, lied to them. But Helen knew better. Her daughter was smart. She knew that honesty was the best policy, because if she didn't lie, she couldn't get caught lying. She also tended to defer to authority for similar reasons. Generally working within a system was easier than working against it. But Hermione was also very opinionated and very stubborn. Once she became convinced that something was the correct course of action, she would stick to it, almost completely heedless of the consequences.

Generally speaking, Robert and Helen supported Hermione's various stands. They wanted her to fight for things that she believed in. But there was a limit to their support. Hermione seemed to have a sixth sense about what her parents would allow and what they would not. And if she knew she wouldn't get permission for something, she would just do it anyway. And if she knew they would punish her for that anyway, she'd try to cover it up. She'd try to cover it up by not talking about it, but if that failed, she was more than willing to just plain lie. She just had to care enough.

Hermione was giving all the signs of covering something up now. And Helen was fairly sure she knew what she was covering up. Watching Hermione's interactions with Harry all day shored up her certainty. Hermione had clearly snuck over to Harry's room after she'd supposedly gone to bed. That in itself wasn't that worrisome to Helen. There were plenty of innocent reasons for her to do this. There were also a handful of reasons that Hermione would probably see as harmless, but her parents would not approve of. That was Helen's real worry.

Still, Helen had to admit that Hermione really was feeling better. Aside from an incident early in the morning where Harry had engaged in a very tense floo conversation with the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the two of them had seemed genuinely happy all day. Hermione had not appeared tired at all. In fact, she'd seemed positively ecstatic all day.

So that evening, after she let Hermione go to bed, she dressed in her nightgown and robe, and she waited.

"Coming to bed dear?" asked Robert.

Helen hadn't told Robert her suspicions. If she was right, he'd flip out.

"I'm going to check on Hermione in a bit here, I'm a little worried that she might be putting a brave face on for us," said Helen. It wasn't exactly a lie, but Helen's concerns went far beyond that.

After about twenty minutes, Helen left her room and went to Hermione's bedroom. She opened the door. Her daughter wasn't there. Well that wasn't a surprise.

She walked down the hall to Harry's suite. And she put her ear to the door. She needed to be sure.

"I can't believe Dumbledore flatly refused to let you leave Diagon Alley." said Hermione.

"He doesn't fully trust me I think, not after I called him out for lying to me about the horcrux," said Harry, "If I'm not at the Dursleys he prefers my mobility to be limited."

"Certainly, there are plenty of people who could volunteer to help protect you out there," said Hermione.

"I'm sure there are," said Harry, "The Headmaster doesn't seem to like factors beyond his control. That's _why_ he lied to us about the horcrux."

"I wish there was something I could do," said Hermione, "you've done so much for me. Even now, letting me stay here. I know it's a terrible risk for you. If my parents find out…"

Helen grimaced. Well that answered that question. She almost tried to break down the door right then and there, but she restrained herself. Helen knew her daughter well enough to know she definitely wasn't pursuing a physical relationship yet. The most likely reason for all this was that Hermione felt that something about Harry's presence helped her. But that was conjecture. She needed to get in that room. She thought about knocking or getting help from the barman, but decided to try the latch first. Surprisingly, the door handle turned freely. Well, they were kids still. They were bound to make mistakes.

Helen swung the door open. Harry and Hermione were both in bed, but it was clear that nothing was going on. Harry was well away from her daughter, though he did have a hand on her shoulder.

Harry leapt to his feet, his face beet red. "Mrs. Granger! I'm not… I mean…"

"Mum!" shouted Hermione quickly jumping to her feet as well. As Helen expected they were both dressed in their pajamas.

"Don't blame Harry, Mum, it was all my idea!" said Hermione frantically.

Helen held up her hand calmingly, "I'm sure it was. Why don't we head back to your room and we'll talk," she said before turning to Harry, "I'll talk to you tomorrow morning. I'm not angry, you don't need to lose any sleep over me forbidding Hermione from seeing you or something silly like that."

"What about Dad?" asked Hermione.

"For the moment, what he doesn't know won't hurt him," said Helen.

Hermione nodded, then turned to Harry and gave him a quick hug, then left the room. Helen smiled. Even in trouble her daughter's first thought was her friend.

"Goodnight Harry," said Helen, "You really need to lock your door when you have a girl over."

Harry blushed even deeper, if that was possible.

Helen walked back over to Hermione's room. Hermione was sitting on her bed chewing on her lip. Helen sat down next to her.

"Be honest Hermione. You told me that you didn't need me to spend the night with you because you intended to spend it with Harry." she said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes," Hermione said quietly.

"Why was it so important that you be with Harry instead of me?" asked Helen.

"Because Harry was the one who was talking me through everything when I was petrified," said Hermione, tears streaming down her face, "Because you don't live in the magical world, so I'm not afraid that you are going to die to some monster. And because I know you are my parents and that you love me. I'm not afraid that you'll stop loving me!"

And then Hermione broke down again as she clung to her mother.

Well shit, thought Helen. Those were actually good reasons. Now she had to make sure her response was… hell she didn't really know how to respond to that! She wasn't happy about this, but as far as Hermione was concerned this was completely innocent. How could she make her understand what her concern was?

"Okay Hermione," said Helen, "Here's what we're going to do. Tonight, I'm going to stay with you. We can talk or sleep, or do whatever you want. Tomorrow if you need me to come sleep with you I will, under the same conditions. If you don't come to get me though, I won't come to check on you, do you understand?"

Hermione's face showed her utter astonishment. She clearly hadn't expected this. "I understand Mum."

"But I need you to promise, promise, _promise _me that whatever happens while we are here, you won't have sexual relations with Harry," said Helen.

"Of course not!" said Hermione adamantly, "You don't need to be worried about that."

"Oh, yes I do!" said Helen, her tone clearly brooking no argument, "And before you go back to school, I want you to try to understand why that is the case. You were doing this at school too weren't you?"

Hermione managed to look a bit sheepish, "A bit," she said. Which to Helen meant regularly but not all the time.

"You need to understand that as you get closer to boys, your body is going to start getting, well for lack of a better term, urges," said Helen, "You might think you have a handle on things right now, but you have no idea how easy it can be for you to lose control. And you aren't ready for that. I think that as far as things are right now, that is unlikely to happen. But things won't stay that way. You and Harry are clearly attracted to each other."

Hermione nodded. "I understand," she said.

Helen shook her head. "No, you _don't._ But I'm going to trust you, because you are a smart girl. I'm going to trust that once you understand what I mean that you will stop putting yourself in that situation."

"You're not just going to order me to stop?" asked Hermione.

Helen sighed. "This does seem to be helping you. If it wasn't, that would be the conversation we would be having. As it is, you have to be very, very careful."

Hermione sat silently for a moment. "Do you mind if I ask you some questions?" she asked.

Helen sighed in relief and smiled. "I was hoping you'd ask me that."

XXXXX

**July 20th, 1993**

Helen's talk with Hermione went on for over an hour. Some of it was Helen just describing some of the things Hermione would feel and have to deal with. She also gave some practical advice. While she certainly didn't want Hermione getting ahead of herself, if something did happen, she wanted her to have the least discomfort possible. Ultimately, she felt that while Hermione still didn't appreciate the problems she'd face, she wasn't likely to get into a situation where she was completely out of her depth.

The two went to sleep shortly thereafter. But Helen made sure to wake herself up early. She still had to talk to Harry.

She walked over to Harry's room and knocked on the door. "Come in," said Harry's voice immediately. Well he'd clearly been expecting her.

Harry was up and fully dressed. He rose from his chair as Helen entered. Oh, he was a smart one. He was being respectful, while at the same time showing off how prepared he was.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Harry.

"Yes, once I got to bed," said Helen, "I stayed up late talking to Hermione."

"Good," said Harry. Helen noticed that he didn't ask what they had talked about. She idly wondered how much of that conversation Hermione planned to tell Harry. She ultimately realized that Harry was probably eventually going to hear about almost all of it. Most of what she had said had fascinated Hermione, and Hermione loved talking about things that fascinated her.

"I just want you to know that I told Hermione how things are going to work going forward," said Helen, "She'll fill you in on things, but I did have some questions for you."

"Yes?" asked Harry as he gestured to another chair. Helen sat down.

"You like Hermione, don't you?" asked Helen, "I don't mean as a friend."

"I don't know exactly what I feel about her, other than that I care about her," said Harry. "She is more than a best friend to me, but I don't know where that leaves us."

"Are you attracted to her?" asked Helen.

Harry somehow managed to not blush. "I think so," he said softly.

"Then you clearly don't view her as a sister," said Helen.

Harry nodded.

"Why did you go along with her plan?" asked Helen.

"I have a hard time saying no to Hermione," said Harry, "Especially if she's in pain. I won't apologize for helping her."

Oh, this boy was so much like Hermione in terms of his conscience that it was almost painful. He'd decided he was right, and now he'd stick to that through anything. Helen was actually pretty sure that she was starting to love this boy.

"Good for you," she said softly, "Just make sure you aren't the one who hurts her."

Harry looked her right in the eyes. "Never."

Helen nodded, satisfied. She got up and headed back to the room she shared with Robert. She absolutely hated lying to her husband.

XXXXX

The rest of the Grangers' time in Diagon Alley went smoothly. Harry had been mortified when Helen Granger had walked in on him and Hermione. But when Hermione had snuck into his room again the next night and explained things, it did all add up. Helen wasn't dumb, she had to know her daughter was having problems dealing with her ordeal from last year, and she probably knew just how useless Hermione's therapy was. Hermione had been all too willing to discuss most of what she had talked about with her mother. Harry had been a bit embarrassed by that, but that was Hermione for you.

The rest of her time in Diagon had passed quickly. Tracey and Daphne had visited on the last day of her visit, and all the girls had gone shopping. They'd come back giggling a bit, and Hermione had been unwilling to say why. They had been nice enough to buy Harry some things from the muggle world, so Harry was inclined to mind his own business and just be thankful they'd come by. Daphne _had_ revealed that they would hold a party for Harry at her house on his birthday.

"It took some convincing by dad. Dumbledore really didn't want you leaving here," said Daphne, "On the plus side, since it's at my place, Blaise will be there."

After Hermione left, Harry had a lot of time to himself again. He began reading up on mind healing, and discovered that it was very behind the times. Someone needed to update the way magical society dealt with psychological problems. There was a lot of other information in those books as well. Harry was now a lot more knowledgeable about healing, though he only knew the barest first aid spells. He decided to show Hermione some of these books. Maybe they could help.

When Harry's party finally came, he had a great time. There was lots of food and cake, and of course all his friends bought him presents. Aside from Daphne, Tracey and Blaise, Hermione managed to floo into the party, as did Luna and Justin. The Weasleys were still in Egypt, but Ginny and Ron both sent him gifts. All in all, Harry considered it the second-best birthday he'd ever had.

From that point on, Harry was rarely alone in Diagon. Bryant Greengrass had managed to talk to the Davises as well as Blaise's mother. They all agreed that while Harry could probably take care of himself well enough, he did need some companionship. Most days one of his friends would go to Diagon to keep him company for most of the day. Daphne came the most often, and the two of them often talked about their plans for reforming wizard society. She and her parents even spent the night there once, though Daphne notably _didn't_ sneak into his room, possibly because Astoria would have tattled on her if she had. Daphne wasn't really pursuing Harry anymore, but she would have liked scandalizing her parents.

Tracey came fairly frequently as well. She liked to talk Quidditch, but she was game for just about any other conversation. Strangely, one of her favorite topics of conversation was Hermione and Ginny. She seemed convinced that Harry was on the verge of dating one or both of them. While that was annoying, Harry had to admit that he was in some ways more comfortable around her than either Daphne or Hermione. Tracey was absolutely uninterested in him other than as a friend and it meant that things that descended into awkwardness with Daphne or Hermione could be laughed off with Tracey.

Luna came almost as frequently as Tracey. She had already spent the first month of her summer with her father going to foreign countries looking for strange creatures. Luna loved to just look at the creatures in the various pet shops, but she also liked to watch people. She saw a lot of interesting things with her aura reading. Like Tracey, she seemed uninterested in pursuing Harry. Unlike Tracey, Luna seemed to try to amplify any accidental double entendre that Harry made, while acting oblivious to what she was doing.

Blaise was there the least, but he managed to come by a few times. The two of them largely spent their days talking Quidditch. They did have one quick conversation about Blaise's orientation. Blaise had managed to determine that his mother probably didn't know of his interest in boys, and Harry and Blaise managed to concoct a few ruses to keep it that way. Luckily, Blaise was young enough that his not being interested in girls wasn't likely to be a problem yet.

Harry was sorry that Justin and Hermione weren't able to join him anymore, but he knew that it was impractical. What he was getting excited about was August 31st. That was the day the Weasleys would come to Diagon Alley to buy their school things. That was the day they would free Sirius Black.

XXXXX

**August 31st, 1993**

Hermione had arrived first on the 31st. Like the Weasleys, she'd be staying the night tonight so that she did not have to make the long drive from home early in the morning. When the Weasleys arrived, Harry jumped up to meet them.

Fred and George saw Harry first.

"There's the man of the hour!" said Fred.

"Fancy you spending your entire break at Diagon Alley," said George.

Harry laughed, "I'd have done just about anything to get out of here to be honest." he said honestly.

"Good to see you mate!" said Ron.

Ginny was bringing up the rear with Molly. Seeing Harry and Hermione, she ran up to them and hugged them both.

"How are you doing Ginny?" asked Harry.

She glanced at Hermione. "It's been a bit rough, though after I talked to Bill I have felt better about things," she admitted, "How have you been doing Hermione?" she asked.

"I've had a few problems," replied Hermione, "Mostly relating to the fact that I was only partially petrified. I think I'm doing better now. I only get the bad dreams occasionally."

Harry made a split-second decision to get Ginny in on his plan. She'd be an extra wand if something happened with Peter. He motioned for the two girls to go to the side of the room.

"We have an issue Ginny," said Harry.

"Oh?" she asked.

"Has Scabbers been acting odd lately?" asked Harry.

"How did you know that?" asked Ginny, "He's been off his food for a while. Malfoy didn't poison him before we left, did he?"

"Let me guess, he started having trouble eating shortly after you heard the news that Sirius Black escaped Azkaban," said Harry.

Ginny gasped, "What are you suggesting Harry?"

"I'm suggesting that Scabbers is an Animagus named Peter Pettigrew." said Harry, "He betrayed my parents, framed Sirius for his murder and the murder of 10 muggles, and has been laying low at the Burrow ever since."

"Oh Merlin, it sounds like Black was right!" said Hermione.

"That little pervert!" said Ginny angrily, "I always thought that rat looked at me funny. Especially when I was starkers'!"

"Do you get starkers in front of the rat often?" asked Hermione.

"Why would I care Hermione?" demanded Ginny.

"We just have to invite an auror over while everyone is around," said Harry, "then we snatch Scabbers and use the Animagus revealing spell."

"Won't you get in trouble for that?" asked Ginny.

"Revealing an Animagus that's illegally sneaking itself into Hogwarts, one that is responsible for the deaths of my parents, would definitely count as self-defense," said Harry, "In any case, the Trace doesn't work properly in Diagon Alley. Too much random magic around."

"How do we get a hold of Scabbers?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know, it would be a lot easier if Padfoot was here," said Harry. Ginny looked at him curiously, but didn't ask more questions. The three of them kicked around a few ideas, but they couldn't come up with anything solid.

They decided to play it by ear. However, Harry could no longer see Ron. When he asked Molly where he was, she said he'd gone to the pet store with Percy to get rat tonic for Scabbers.

"No reason we can't go to the pet store," said Ginny. Harry nodded. The Weasleys would be buying Hogwarts things today, but Harry had already purchased his. He'd also purchased Hermione's things, though he'd been paid back by her father. Still, Molly, Arthur and the twins could make a start of things without Ginny.

They made their way to the pet store. Ron and Percy were talking with a clerk when they came in. Harry noticed that Percy was wearing the badge of the Head Boy. So, he'd gotten it after all. Harry hoped he'd learned from his mistakes.

Suddenly Hermione gasped. "Look at him!" she said, pointing at a huge ginger cat, "isn't he adorable!"

Harry smiled. The cat looked rather surly to Harry, but he did seem to have some character. One of the store employees walked up to them. "This one's been here a while. His name's Crookshanks. He seems to be part Kneazle, so he's been a bit hard for anyone to handle."

Hermione rubbed the cat's back, causing it to purr. That seemed to settle things to Hermione. "I'll take it!" she said excitedly.

"Are you sure your parents will be okay with this?" asked Ginny.

"They said I could get a pet this year," she said, "This one's perfect!" She pulled out a money pouch and before anyone could stop her, she was paying for the giant creature.

Harry just shrugged at Ginny.

They ran into Ron and Percy as they left the shop. Ron looked at Crookshanks suspiciously.

"Don't worry Scabbers, I won't let the mean cat hurt you!" said Ron.

"I doubt Crookshanks will have much chance to harm Scabbers," said Hermione.

"Oh, I heard you talking earlier, and when I saw you get that cat, I thought you were going to try to feed Scabbers to him or something," said Ron, half joking.

There was an idea, thought Harry.

"But if the cat's name is Crookshanks I must have misunderstood," said Ron, "Who's this Padfoot?"

The moment Ron said the word Padfoot, Harry, Hermione and Ginny all stood stunned. And it cost them. Scabbers immediately bit Ron's finger, causing him to drop the rat.

"NO!" said Harry drawing his wand. The rat darted into nearby Knockturn Alley with all five of the members of their little group following. Harry extended his wand and cast the spell Sirius had taught him.

The rat suddenly transformed into a very rat like man.

"Who is that!" said Percy

"Peter Pettigrew," said Harry, "The man who betrayed my parents!"

Every wand was extended towards Peter. "Surrender!" said Harry, "Surrender and we will make sure you have a fair trial. Or you can try to run, and Sirius Black will hunt you down."

"What are you DOING!" shouted Molly Weasley, "That's Knockturn Alley!"

The distraction was only for a moment, but it was enough. Pettigrew re-transformed into his rat form and darted into a hole in a nearby wall. And he was gone.

"NO!" shouted Harry angrily.

Percy spun around, "Mother! You just allowed a very dangerous wizard to escape us!"

"Sirius Black was here?" shouted Molly. Everyone in the vicinity stopped and stared at her.

"No," said Harry loud enough that most people could hear him. Most people seemed to dismiss the conversation and went about their business.

He dropped his voice as he walked over to Molly. "It was Peter Pettigrew."

"Pettigrew is dead!" said Molly.

"Mum," said Ron, "Pettigrew was Scabbers. He was an Animagus."

"That means that Sirius Black is innocent!" said Molly, but softly enough to avoid attention.

"And we have no proof," said Harry.

**Author's Note****: **This was a long one, so I'll be brief. Sorry I couldn't clear Sirius, but I do need the dementors to go to Hogwarts for the rest of third year to work. Hermione still has some issues, but she managed to get past the very worst of it. I don't have a lot to say about the next chapter. Chapter 21 on the other hand...

Yeah, we're about to hit another batch of crazy.


	20. The Inter-house Unity Committee

**Author's Note:**Fixed an issue in vol 19 where I covered Harry writing to Hermione twice.

**Chapter 20: The Inter-house Unity Committee**

**August 31, 1993**

"There is nothing we can do," said Harry as Harry, the Grangers, and the Weasleys sat in the common room of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Surely if we report what we saw the DMLE will have look into it," said Percy.

"If Amelia Bones tries to look into Sirius Black's innocence she will be fired immediately," said Harry, "Fudge knew that Sirius didn't get a trial 12 years ago. He helped cover it up. So did Dumbledore for that matter."

"I can't believe that Dumbledore would do something like that," said Molly, "There must be a mistake."

"He was the Chief Warlock, Molly," said Arthur, "he would have known if Black never received a trial."

"Honestly, I doubt that Dumbledore actually tried to cover things up," said Hermione, "It's far more likely that Bagnold and Crouch applied some sort of pressure against him."

"It wouldn't have been hard," said Arthur, "An open fight over whether to give Black a trial could have derailed the entire judicial process. As it was, plenty of obvious Death Eaters got off without any punishment. There were simply too many purebloods who would have used Sirius' case as a rallying point to stop the war crimes trials."

"Sounds about right," said Harry, "For all his idealism, Dumbledore can play really loose with the rules if he thinks he's right about something. If he honestly believed that Sirius was guilty…"

"But if Dumbledore believed he was guilty…" started Molly.

"Dumbledore is not infallible," said Ginny, her eyes flashing.

"No, he is not," said Arthur, "What you saw today proves that."

"I'm sorry I brought up Padfoot," said Ron.

"You had no way of knowing," said Harry. "We should have informed Mr. Weasley of our suspicions the moment he arrived."

"Yes, you should have," said Arthur, "but it's too late to do anything about it now."

XXXXX

**September 1st, 1993**

The Ministry sent cars to pick up Harry and the Weasleys the next day. The Grangers had their own car, so they drove themselves. The journey was uneventful, and soon they were all waving goodbye to Arthur, Molly, Helen and Robert.

As Harry climbed aboard the train, he caught a chance to speak to Percy privately. "Congratulations on making Head Boy," said Harry.

Percy smiled. "I was actually rather fortunate. Apparently, Dumbledore thought my contrition over my failure last year showed 'strong moral fiber.'"

"He's not wrong," said Harry, "Just be careful about jumping to conclusions."

"As if I needed a reminder after what happened with Scabbers," said Percy bitterly.

"Sucking up to the Head Boy Potter?" said George as he passed by.

"Didn't think you were the type!" shouted Fred, who was following his brother closely.

"Don't listen to those morons," said Ginny, "They're just jealous that we're gonna beat them at Quidditch."

Harry, Hermione and Ginny made their way through the train. They soon found Daphne, Blaise and Tracey in a compartment.

"'Bout time you got here," said Blaise.

"Hello everyone," said Luna as she came up behind them.

"Will seven of us fit in here?" asked Hermione as they put their trunks up. Harry, Hermione and Ginny sat down. Harry had to admit they had all grown a little since they had last been here.

"Oh yes," said Luna, who then proceeded to sit down on Harry's lap.

"Luna?" asked Ginny, "Why are you sitting in Harry's lap?"

"Would you rather I sat in your lap?" replied Luna.

"No, I'm good," said Ginny quickly.

"I'm more than happy to let any of my friends sit in my lap," said Harry diplomatically.

"So, what you're saying is that Luna and I should switch places?" demanded Blaise.

Before Harry could quip a reply, Luna said, "Sorry, but he's all mine today." She then wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

Everyone laughed, though Harry noticed that Hermione's laugh seemed just a bit forced. Ginny on the other hand wasn't fazed at all. Harry suspected that Luna just wanted to snuggle with her friends, and that as Ginny was her roommate, she was probably more aware of this than anyone.

"Oh, my father wanted me to tell you about Sirius Black!" said Daphne, "He never received a trial!"

"We know," said Harry.

"How did you find out?" asked Daphne.

"Sirius told me this summer when I met him," said Harry casually.

Daphne, Blaise and Tracey all gaped at Harry. Luna didn't noticeably react to this news.

"Also, he didn't betray my parents, and the man he was accused of killing was alive," said Harry.

"He was an Animagus," said Ginny, "He was pretending to be my brother's pet rat."

"I always thought something was off about Scabbers," said Luna, "He always tried to stay away from me for some reason."

"You told him you were going to use him as bait to catch a crumple horned snorkack," said Ginny.

"He shouldn't have stared at me while I was changing into my swimming suit," said Luna.

"Eeew," said Harry, "Both you and Ginny? That's just fucked up. He's a full-grown man."

Luna didn't respond to that, but she did seem to cling a bit tighter. Harry wrapped his arms around her back comfortingly.

A few minutes later, the door to the compartment opened up and Ernie MacMillan walked in. "Harry, we have a problem," he said, then started as he saw Luna being embraced in Harry's lap.

"Don't worry about me," said Luna, "Harry's just comforting me because a perverted Animagus was spying on me and Ginny."

"Why don't I get hugs for that?" asked Ginny.

Tracey leaned over and embraced Ginny warmly, "There you go," she said.

Ginny laughed. "Thanks Tracey, though that wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

"I know what she wants!" said Blaise as he joined in what was now a group hug.

"You guys should have been sorted into Hufflepuff," said Ernie.

"Do you guys do group hugs?" asked Daphne.

"Occasionally," joked Ernie.

"That's the sort of information we should know before our sortings," said Blaise.

"But then everyone would want to be a Hufflepuff," remarked Hermione.

"I doubt Malfoy would join a house for group hugs," said Harry.

"Okay everyone who isn't a terrible person," said Hermione.

"Malfoy is what I need to talk about," said Ernie seriously, "He's been recruiting."

"Oh?" said Harry curiously.

"He's been getting older purebloods from other houses to sign on to help him enforce blood purity at Hogwarts," said Ernie, "He's trying to directly counter the things the war council is doing."

Harry narrowed his eyes. It was a smart move. Most of Harry's friends and allies were 3rd year or younger, with the exception of the Weasley Twins and possibly a few others. If Malfoy convinced enough of the purebloods in the upper years to start causing trouble, they might have a serious problem.

"We have to combat this decisively," said Harry, "We need to get official school sanction for our anti-bullying campaign, and we need to recruit older students to help with it."

"Good idea Harry," said Daphne, "We'll turn the whole school against him."

"Did Malfoy approach you?" Harry asked Ernie.

"No, he knew better," said Ernie, "But you'd be surprised at who is considering his proposal. I guess _they_ weren't paying attention to who my friends were. Like I'd sell Justin out like that."

"Some people are just oblivious to what's going on around them," said Luna.

"Sorry to cut this short Luna, but it looks like I need to talk to the rest of the war council," said Harry.

"All right, but you owe me a cuddle," said Luna.

"I look forward to it," he said as he let her go.

"I'll cuddle with you Luna!" said Tracey as she jumped across the seats to embrace Luna as Harry, Hermione and Daphne followed Ernie out of the compartment.

"Blaise, you can let go now," said Ginny.

"Aww…" said Blaise.

The door slid shut behind them. Harry turned to Hermione. "You weren't getting jealous of Luna, were you?"

"Not really," said Hermione.

"She just wanted to sit in your lap herself," said Daphne.

"It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," Hermione admitted.

Ernie just shook his head. "How do you get all these girls throwing themselves at you Potter?"

Hermione and Daphne just laughed.

XXXXX

It had been a productive day on the Hogwarts express. Harry had managed to talk to Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean Thomas. All of them had been in favor. Susan, Justin and Hannah had all agreed as well. Padma, Sue Li and Michael Corner had also been approached. They were a bit more cautious, but agreed with the idea in principle. Harry had spent the rest of the train ride hunting down prefects he thought would be amenable to this. Percy and the Head Girl, Penelope Clearwater were both in favor of his idea, as was Cedric Diggory. Harry thought he had a good lineup of support.

Harry, Hermione and Daphne were looking for one last prefect when they opened a door to see who was in the front compartment. A man was sleeping there. He looked rather disheveled.

"Who is that?" asked Daphne.

"Professor R.J. Lupin," said Hermione, pointing to his clearly labeled luggage.

Harry's breath caught. "Moony," he said clearly.

Lupin's eyes opened, and he looked at Harry. "Harry," he said simply.

Harry looked at him for a long time. "You were a friend of my parents," he said finally.

"If you know that name, I'm sure you know that," said Lupin.

"New defense Professor?" Harry asked.

Lupin nodded.

"Good luck," said Daphne, "You'll need it."

Lupin laughed lightly. "And this is?"

"Oh, this is Daphne Greengrass and this is Hermione Granger," said Harry, gesturing to his friends.

"I have wanted to meet you for a long time Harry, but there were complications," said Lupin.

Sirius had told him about Lupin. He had a tendency to let his status as a werewolf rule his life so much that he was afraid to engage with people lest they reject him.

"I understand," said Harry, "It can't be easy dealing with… what you have to deal with," he said vaguely.

Lupin's eyes widened. "Then you know…"

Harry nodded.

Lupin smiled, "Well, I hope I can offer you some guidance Harry. And protection, given what has happened this year."

Harry's face grew very serious. Reaching into his robe he pulled out a newspaper. It had the Hogwarts article from earlier in the summer.

"Here's a question," said Harry, "Do you recognize someone on this cover?" He showed Lupin the picture of the Gryffindors getting ready for the Quidditch match.

Lupin looked over it and shook his head. "I'm sorry, none of those children look familiar."

Harry shook his head. "NOT the children," he said as he pointed at Scabbers, "the rat."

Lupin looked at the picture, then gasped. "Peter! But how did you know?"

Harry leaned in so he could speak softly. "Peter Pettigrew was my parents Secret Keeper. He killed those muggles and framed Sirius. I know. I've seen Peter transformed."

"Sirius?" asked Lupin suddenly.

Harry nodded. "My uncle kicked me out this summer and Sirius found me immediately. We got a bit careless though and the rat managed to escape us."

Lupin was stunned. "Sirius Black is innocent," he said, "My friend is innocent."

"Fudge is trying to cover it up though," said Harry, "Sirius never got a trial. We'll need to deal with this subtly."

"I understand. We need to…" Lupin started to say. They never learned quite what he intended to finish the statement with, as all of a sudden, the train stopped.

"I'll have to have a talk with the driver," said Lupin, as he stood up and made his way toward the engine

Harry sat down, and Hermione and Daphne joined him. Lupin being the Defense professor might be a godsend to him. He really needed someone on his side, and while McGonagall and Flitwick might be sympathetic to him, they ultimately weren't really willing to go up against Dumbledore in any real way. Harry hoped going against Dumbledore wouldn't be necessary, of course, but that was a relationship that was clearly deteriorating.

Harry shivered. Something felt cold. He tried to shrug it off, but saw that Daphne and Hermione were both feeling it as well. And there was something else, a horrible dark feeling that crowded the edge of his mind.

"Harry," said Daphne, "Something's wrong. I think…"

Suddenly Harry felt a presence, as if some horrible weight had been placed upon him. He stood up and turned to the door of the compartment to see a floating hooded figure opening the door. And his mind seemed to explode as he heard a scream tear through his mind. The terror and horror that he felt was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Harry fell to his knees. He heard sobbing and realized that it was Hermione. She too had fallen to the floor. Scrounging up every piece of his will he grabbed Hermione and dragged her over to the outside wall of the compartment, putting his arms around her protectively. He was vaguely aware of Daphne falling beside them.

The hooded figure started to advance on them, but suddenly a bright light came from behind it. The hooded creature immediately fled, making its way down the train corridor. The dark feeling in Harry's mind fled, and the screaming stopped.

Hermione continued sobbing into Harry's shoulder and Harry pulled her close to him. "T-t-thanks Harry," she said through her tears, "how were you able to think straight at all?"

"I was barely able to do even so little as pull you over here," said Harry, "I thought for a moment I was going to pass out."

"Are you all right?" asked Remus, who had run up to the entrance to the compartment. He gaped at the three teens huddled together by the window.

"That was a dementor," said Daphne shakily, "What the FUCK was a dementor doing on a train full of children?!"

"Checking for Sirius Black I'd guess," said Remus, "Not that I think they'd do any good if he managed to escape once." Remus held pulled out a package from his pocket. It was chocolate off of the trolley.

"Have some chocolate, it'll make you feel better," her said.

Harry reluctantly let go of Hermione and took a piece of chocolate from Remus. As he bit into it, he immediately felt a warmth flow through him. It did indeed make him feel better.

"You should see Madam Pomfrey when we get to Hogwarts," said Remus.

"How did you drive it off?" asked Harry.

"It's called the Patronus charm," said Remus, "You concentrate your good memories into a sort of guardian that drives of the dementors. The dementors feed off of negative emotions, and they bring those feelings out in the people they are around."

"How can the prisoners at Azkaban stand being around those things?" asked Hermione.

"Most can't," admitted Remus, "They have a tendency to go insane."

"That's monstrous," said Harry.

"We'll talk again later," said Lupin, "I suggest you wait to tell Dumbledore about Sirius until tomorrow. After what has happened, you'll need the rest."

Harry, Hermione, and Daphne all returned to the compartment with their friends in it. "Did you see what happened?" asked Tracey.

"Dementors stopped the train," said Daphne as she sat down. She seemed a bit lifeless. Luna got up and sat next to her suddenly hugging the older girl.

Daphne smiled. "Thanks Luna, I could use it."

Harry sat down and Hermione sat in his lap. She wrapped one arm around his neck as he hugged her. "It'll be all right," he whispered in her ear.

Hermione just leaned into his shoulder.

XXXXX

Everything checked out with Madam Pomfrey, so Harry and Hermione managed to make it to the Great Hall just in time for the sorting. Harry had forgotten that Astoria Greengrass was starting Hogwarts this year. Daphne hadn't mentioned Astoria at all, which probably meant they were fighting. Astoria was easily sorted into Slytherin, but she sat by a group of girls that were obviously her friends instead of Daphne.

"Bit of trouble there?" asked Harry.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "She's being a twerp," she said, "She thinks she's going to stay neutral between you and Malfoy."

"Let's see how long that lasts," said Harry.

"Possibly for a while," said Tracey, "Astoria actually likes Malfoy."

"That we can deal with easily enough," said Harry, "Though Astoria might be a bit mad at us for a while."

Dumbledore's announcements followed the sorting. Dumbledore's warning that the dementors would be a more or less permanent feature at Hogwarts until Sirius was captured was unwelcome, to say the least. But the announcement that Hagrid was taking over their Care of Magical Creatures classes was more positive. Harry didn't know how good of a teacher he'd be, but Harry figured Hagrid deserved a shot.

Harry had decided to take Remus' advice and he went straight to the Slytherin common room after the welcome feast. He didn't wait around for the first years this year. Ginny and Luna had agreed to keep an eye on them. Harry and Hermione went straight to their room, where they both immediately got dressed for bed. There really wasn't any discussion as Hermione simply climbed into bed next to him. After what had happened, he supposed there was no need to speak about it. Both fell asleep immediately.

XXXXX

**September 2nd, 1993**

Harry and Hermione were both up bright and early. Most of the first years were already up, including Astoria. Draco was nowhere to be seen yet.

"My name is Harry Potter, for those of you who aren't aware, and this is Hermione Granger," Harry introduced himself.

"Hello Harry," said one of the boys.

"Harry's just trying to recruit us into his faction," said Astoria.

"Of course I am, you act like that is a bad thing!" said Harry, pretending to be offended, "That doesn't mean I'm not interested in helping you. If anyone has any questions, I'd be glad to help anyone out. We're all in this together."

"Even Malfoy?" asked Astoria.

"Even Malfoy," said Hermione, "It isn't our fault that he seems to think that fighting us is more productive than working with us."

"I'm not choosing sides," said Astoria defiantly.

"Of course you are Astoria," said Harry, "Daphne is your sister. And in Slytherin, blood is important. You refuse to join with her and you might as well join Malfoy, because that's how everyone will see it."

"That isn't fair!" cried Astoria.

"Life isn't fair," said Harry coldly, "ask my parents."

Astoria seemed to deflate in front of Harry hanging her head in shame. He walked up to her and lifted her face so he could look her in the eyes.

"Family will always be important to Slytherin," he said, "But that other stuff? The blood purity garbage? That I am fighting. That I want to make fairer. But we need to be together on this."

Astoria nodded wordlessly.

Hermione smiled at all the first years. "We look forward to being all of your housemates," she said sweetly as she and Harry left for breakfast.

XXXXX

Dumbledore bowed his head. "No wonder you were so insistent I speak with you."

Harry and Hermione had managed to speak to Dumbledore at breakfast. Now they were in the hall of portraits just off of the Great Hall, and Harry had just finished telling his story about Sirius Black.

"It really would have helped if you had been in Diagon two days ago Headmaster," said Harry, "Not that I'm saying I handled things perfectly."

Dumbledore waved that off. "I do not expect a thirteen-year-old to deal with such a situation perfectly. I was a bit worried that I would make things worse. We have had a few differences of opinion over the course of your time here. With the ghastly behavior of the Dursleys so fresh in your mind..."

"To be fair, only Vernon insisted I be kicked out," said Harry, "My aunt seemed opposed to the idea."

"Still, I had a long conversation with your aunt and uncle this summer," said Dumbledore, "I do not believe that they constitute a reasonable option for caring for you over the summer anymore."

Harry sighed with relief.

"I will ask that you try and stay with them for a week or so each summer, as it will recharge the protections in place there, but I will not insist that you stay there for an extended period again." said Dumbledore.

"That's rather reasonable," said Harry, "What about Sirius?"

"As you well know, Fudge is adamantly opposed to any information about Sirius' lack of a trial getting out to the general public, especially as there is an election in a year and a half," said Dumbledore, "It is with some shame that I admit I knew Sirius did not receive a trial. In my defense, I thought his guilt was evident."

"That's why we have trials, Headmaster," said Hermione.

Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "Quite right Miss Granger. I was playing political games and I allowed a horrible miscarriage of justice. However, that miscarriage has just been made worse. Fudge had the Wizengamot vote to authorize the dementors to hunt for Black. In that bill he buried a provision that effectively terminated Sirius's guardianship rights over Harry."

"If we could prove Sirius's innocence…" started Harry.

"Such a law would in that case be extremely illegal, and unenforceable," confirmed Dumbledore.

"That makes you my guardian, right?" asked Harry.

"Correct my boy," said Dumbledore.

"So, could you sign my Hogsmeade letter?" asked Harry, "I uh, have a copy signed by Sirius Black…"

Dumbledore laughed, "As far as I am concerned, that is still a valid document."

Harry nodded.

"There was one other thing," said Hermione.

"Oh right!" said Harry, "We want to form a new club. It will be a club designed to promote unity between the houses."

There was a twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes, but it was perhaps not entirely friendly. "You wish to lead this club?"

"Well I'd be happy to lead it the first couple of times, but I was planning on having an election for club officers," said Harry, "The Head Boy and Girl as well as several prefects have already agreed to help support it."

"I see no trouble, as long as you can get a staff member to sponsor it, even if they can't always be there."

"Professor Lupin might be game Harry," said Hermione.

"That's right," said Harry, "Maybe we can get him to teach us the Patronus charm."

"It is quite difficult Harry," said Dumbledore.

"All worthwhile things are," said Harry.

XXXXX

**September 8th, 1993**

The turnout at the first meeting of Harry's new club was well populated by a significant portion of the school. Virtually all of the first, second, and third years had shown up, as well as a significant number of older students. Harry had to estimate nearly half of the school was there, which was why the Great Hall was the only place the club could be held. Draco was there, but no one else from his little coterie. Probably trying to see what was going on. Remus was also there, having quickly agreed to help Harry with the club

"Hello everyone!" said Harry as he applied a simple sonorous charm to himself. Everyone quickly quieted down.

"This club is going to be known as the Inter-house Unity Committee. Our job is to find ways to promote school unity and bring unity to the houses of Hogwarts. As such we will be taking group lessons together. These will be extra-curricular lessons that will be applicable to our lives here at Hogwarts. Next session we will elect club officers, but for the time being I will hand things over to Professor Lupin."

"Hello Everyone!" said Remus, "Tonight I will be trying to teach you the Patronus Charm. Now this is a very difficult spell to cast, so don't be disappointed if you can't do it! Anyone under fifth year I would expect to struggle with this spell. However, even a low powered version might be useful. You see the Patronus Charm is the only spell that repels dementors."

Everyone in the Great Hall began muttering at that proclamation.

Remus quickly went over the wand motion and incantation for the Patronus. "But all of that is secondary. The real power of the Patronus comes from you. You must think of a happy memory to power the Patronus. It has to be a really happy memory. This can be difficult when you are around a dementor. There is no easy way to simulate a dementor's effects in a group this large, so we will all have to make do. Still, simply learning to cast the Patronus should be a good first step."

"Now I want you to split into pairs. Try to pick someone who is not in your house. Half of you will cast the spell while your partner encourages you. Then switch."

Harry and Hermione were quickly paired up with Justin and Susan Bones respectively. Harry saw Blaise team up with Seamus, while Daphne had teamed up with Ron Weasley of all people. Tracey flashed an annoyed glance at Daphne and teamed up with Lavender Brown.

Justin tried his hand at the spell first.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" shouted Justin. Nothing happened.

"Try using the happiest memory you have," said Harry, "I know you can do this."

Justin smiled at Harry. "You bet I can. _Expecto Patronum!_"

A tiny wisp of magic left Justin's wand. That was decidedly better and Harry gave Justin a big thumbs up.

"Your turn Potter," said Justin.

Harry quickly thought about what memory to use. He decided to use the time Hermione had kissed him.

"_Expecto Patronum!_" he cast. A long thin white mist came from the end of his wand.

"Very good Harry," said Remus who was passing by, "That's better than most wizards can get on their first try."

By the end of the session Justin was able to get his Patronus to give out a white mist, similar to how Harry's first try had gone. Harry, on the other hand, was able to form that mist into a more solid white light, almost like he had seen Lupin use on the train. Apparently in the final stage the Patronus took the form of an animal, but that was very advanced.

Harry noticed that Hermione was having a problem even getting a wisp of magic to appear. She could get it, but only with difficulty. Susan on the other hand was having no problems getting the mist.

"Just a moment," said Harry to Justin. He walked over to Hermione.

"I used the memory of you kissing me," he whispered. Hermione blushed. But he noticed that the next time she cast the spell she managed to get the mist.

"Can we see a full corporeal Patronus?" asked Daphne over the din. Everyone quieted down. Remus grimaced.

"I suppose," he said reluctantly, "_Expecto Patronum!_"

A silver wolf leapt from Remus's wand. It leapt around the room as Remus waved his wand to direct it. As it passed Harry, he felt warmth and happiness flood through him.

Yes, _that_ might fight off a dementor.

XXXXX

Later that night, Harry and Hermione had retired to their room. The meeting had been seen as a success. Most students had found the lesson fun and interesting. On their way back Snape had accosted and questioned Harry on just what he was up to, giving control of the club up to other people. Harry had just smiled at him, telling him that he would see.

Hermione was sitting at her desk reading up on the Patronus Charm. She hadn't been able to do her homework beforehand this time.

"Are you coming to bed soon?" Harry asked as he came out from behind the screen having just changed into his sleeping clothes.

"Soon," said Hermione. She'd spent every night since they'd come back to school next to him.

Harry rested one hand on her shoulder warmly. To his surprise, Hermione shuddered at his touch. At first, he thought he'd done something bad, but the expression on her face didn't seem angry.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine," said Hermione, "Just... dammit, my mum was right."

"Hermione?" asked Harry.

"That feeling, when you touched me just now, it was amazing," she said, "It felt so great. And I wanted to feel it again more than anything. It… it was desire."

Harry almost asked her what she desired, but then stopped himself short. Oh no, he wasn't making this more awkward.

"Harry I'm so thankful for what you've done for me, and I don't really know if I'm ready to be on my own yet, but…" Hermione shook her head sadly, "...I can't sleep next to you anymore, because if I do, soon I'll be sleeping with you. And we're not ready."

Harry sat down on his bed. "I guess I understand," he said. Why did he sound so sad about it? After all he had tried to convince her that she didn't need to do it before.

Hermione sensed that too, and she got up and sat next to him, putting an arm around him. "It doesn't mean we can't still be close to each other. I do want that closeness. But we can't do that anymore."

"I know," said Harry, "I guess that I just sort of was feeling the same way. It felt nice."

"Yeah," reassured Hermione, "it did."

Hermione suddenly grinned mischievously. "And once we get a few years older, who knows, maybe we'll start doing it again."

Harry laughed and put his arm on her shoulder. Suddenly it felt like a far more intimate action than it had before.

XXXXX

The year went by more quickly than any of the previous years, or at least that was how it felt to Harry. The IUC was huge success. At the second meeting they had elected Daphne as club president. Snape had nearly had a fit over this. Harry suspected he was trying to stifle a laugh, but with Snape it was hard to be sure. Harry, of course, trusted Daphne to put an agenda in place that coincided with his ideas, and she hadn't disappointed.

Draco had tried a few stunts, but with the prefects warned and the IUC giving the houses more contact with each other any attempts to sabotage the newfound sense of camaraderie in the school were defeated before they had time to come to fruition. Draco himself had tried to sabotage Hagrid's first Care of Magical Creature lesson on the very first day. Ernie and Seamus had both earned detentions by the rather vigorous method in which they had prevented his mauling by a hippogriff (their method had probably relied a bit too much on punching Malfoy), but at the same time Malfoy received a detention for disregarding Hagrid's clear instructions.

Other incidents were punished severely. Several older purebloods, some from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, were caught trying to bully younger Muggleborns. The prefects (aside from a couple of the Slytherin prefects) universally referred these incidents to the Deputy Headmistress. Very quickly it became clear that Percy was proving to be a better than average Head Boy. That he was often asking for advice from a third year wasn't something anyone was mentioning.

To be fair, Harry's advice to Percy was all on the topic of how to identify good opportunities, and how to identify bad ones. And Harry had to admit, the advice wasn't all his. He'd carefully struck up a correspondence with Horace Slughorn, and the man had a great deal to say on the matter. Harry had come to respect Slughorn somewhat. Oh, the man was certainly an opportunist, and he could be a bit of a coward, but Harry knew admitting his failures to three second year students had been difficult for him. And in truth, Harry thought that Slughorn's cowardice was more of an act than actual fear. When push came to shove, he'd put the lives of the students over his own pride, and that was not something everyone would do.

Harry had also formed a friendship with Remus. Remus was able to tell him all sorts of stories about the Marauders. Their most incredible accomplishment had been a map that showed the location of everyone in the castle. Filch had confiscated it long ago however.

With the school less divided than it had been in years, Harry had begun to really focus on his studies. His extra classes were really rough. Care of Magical Creatures didn't appreciably add to his workload, but Runes required a lot of memorization work, and Arithmancy required a lot of maths. Still that worked out well as Harry suddenly found himself invited to Hermione's study group with the Ravenclaws regularly. The fact that he had taken the more difficult classes as well as taking a third class in general had finally put him over the hump in regards to the Ravenclaws seeing him as a serious student. Padma and Sue Li were in the group, as well as Michael Corner and Anthony Goldstein. Plus, Hermione of course. Also, Susan Bones was in the group. Harry had always thought that she was the most sensible of the Hufflepuffs.

Spending time around the Ravenclaws was interesting. They tended to see Gryffindors as stupid, Hufflepuffs as flighty, and Slytherins as sensible but overly interested with politics. Harry thought that thinking of Gryffindors as stupid was a mistake, but all in all it was very revealing.

Harry also spent a lot more time with Justin and Ernie. He had Charms with them this year and they spent a lot of time studying that. But a lot of the time they just spent hanging around as well. Justin was starting to present a problem though. Simply put, he was still angry at Ginny for his petrification.

While Harry understood that Justin had a right to be angry at Ginny, this presented a problem for Harry on two fronts. The first was simple. Harry wanted to add Ginny to the war council. Her knowledge gained through Riddle would be immensely useful. Ginny had already volunteered to let Harry use any knowledge she had of Riddle, so it wasn't like he was taking advantage of her. But Justin's prior presence on the council meant that all the Hufflepuffs would take Ginny's presence personally.

The second problem was that Harry was spending a lot of time with Ginny. More time with her than anyone other than Hermione in fact, if you discounted classes. A lot of this time Ginny was with Luna, who often liked to tag along with Harry at random times, but other times she would just find reasons to be around him alone. At first it was a bit puzzling to Harry. But Daphne had set him straight.

"She's always had a bit of a crush on you," Daphne had told him, "and then you saved her life. Believe me, that can send you head over heels for a guy, at least for a little while."

Harry hadn't quite bought it though. "That's not what she has said to me," he had insisted.

Daphne had laughed in his face. "Harry, it's obvious what path your feelings are taking you on right now. Ginny realizes that she has to make a move now or it might be too late. In fact, she probably thinks she is too late. But until you actually start dating someone, Ginny will be chasing after you."

And so, he had Ginny following him around, not quite stalker-ishly. If it was clear he wanted to be alone she left, and she always left when Justin came around. At the same time, she did seem to have a sixth sense as to when he wanted some company. And the fact was that Harry trusted Ginny. He knew her big secret, and she knew most of his. She was someone he could talk to when Hermione was unavailable. And he quickly discovered that Ginny had no problems letting him talk about his feelings about Hermione. She seemed more intrigued that Harry was struggling with his feelings there than upset. Finally, he asked her about it.

"My dream has always been to be close to you Harry," she had said, "And here I am, one of your closest confidantes. I wouldn't trade that for anything. I'm just not willing to give up on possibly having something a little more just yet."

Harry wasn't sure what to make of it. He did like Ginny, and he did find her to be kind of cute. She wasn't quite old enough for him to really be attracted to her yet, but that would change. The truth was that he was very flattered by the attention. At the same time, it wasn't Ginny that he was thinking about all the time.

Luna had suddenly popped out of her seemingly oblivious shell this year. She had started spending time with most of Harry's friends. She liked following Harry around of course, but she also did so with Daphne and Blaise as well. She also had a tendency to ask people to cuddle with her randomly. Harry supposed that part of it was that she had been without her mother for so long. Her father clearly cared dearly for Luna, but he didn't give her the hugs and kisses that she craved. So, if Luna wanted to spend an evening hugging her friends, Harry had no issues with that. Ginny and Daphne both seemed game as well, though Blaise tended to complain when Luna asked him. He still gave in though. Now that Harry thought about it, Luna could be very manipulative.

Harry spent a lot of time with Ginny, Blaise and Tracey on the Quidditch pitch, practicing. He had to admit that he was being spread a little thin now, and was finding it harder and harder to find time to spend with Blaise and Tracey outside that time. Tracey of course spent most of her time with Daphne and a few other girls that included Hannah Abbott, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. That there were friendships between so many Gryffindors and Slytherins was only a good thing to Harry's mind. Case in point, Blaise and Seamus had become good friends. Mostly because they both enjoyed blowing things up and setting them on fire, but still...

Harry, Hermione, Daphne, Blaise and Tracey had put in more work on their occlumency, and Ginny and Luna had started joining them. Ginny of course already knew occlumency, but she managed to pass it off as her having a talent for it. Hermione was a bit suspicious, as Ginny was an outgoing person and a talent for occlumency was usually associated with introverted tendencies, but she didn't seem to care enough to make an issue of it. Harry was working on it the hardest, and despite him being fairly sure that his talent for occlumency was minimal he had made the most progress. Daphne and Blaise had also done well. Hermione had made progress, but she was still not quite able to fully shield her mind. Tracey was good at pushing people out, but couldn't shield for her life. Luna was the oddest of all, she seemed to broadcast her thoughts everywhere, but when Harry tried to read them, they were nonsensical. Harry couldn't even guess what that meant.

He and Hermione had decided to investigate whether Peter Pettigrew might have been responsible for him being sorted into Slytherin. It would make sense that Peter might not have wanted him in Gryffindor, though he couldn't think of a reason he would put Ginny in Slytherin, though just because he couldn't think of it didn't mean there wasn't a reason. McGonagall had also made it clear that the sorting hat was already in the Great Hall when the students arrived. There was no way Pettigrew could have altered the hat at the start of term. He might have done so at the end of the previous term, but doing so would have required sneaking into Dumbledore's office. Unhappily, Harry and Hermione had to admit that Pettigrew didn't make a good suspect.

XXXXX

**September 25th, 1993**

The year's first Hogsmeade trip was a good time for Harry and his friends. Ginny and Luna were too young to go, but Harry, Hermione, Blaise, Daphne and Tracey all had a good time exploring the town.

While doing so, Blaise had tried to solve a dilemma. "How do the Weasley twins always know when people are going to be around. It's like they know where everyone in the school is."

Harry suddenly smiled beatifically. Everyone stared at him strangely.

"You figure something Harry?" asked Tracey.

Harry nodded without losing his grin. "I'll be right back! I have to find the twins."

Harry had no problem finding the twins. They were at Zonko's. "Hey you two," he asked quietly, "I know how you get around the school without getting caught."

Fred laughed. "Oh, do you?"

"Like no one has tried this one on us before," said George.

"We're not going to tell you Harry." said Fred.

Harry smiled. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," he said.

Fred and George's eyes widened and they grabbed Harry by the arms and dragged him out of Zonko's into a nearby alley.

"Where did you learn those names?" asked George.

"Prongs was my father, Padfoot is Sirius Black, and Moony is Professor Lupin." said Harry, "Sirius told me about the Marauder's map."

"That would make Wormtail the rat," said Fred.

"I suppose it did suit him," said George.

"No denying that," said Fred.

The two boys looked at each other, then both sighed. They pulled out a blank piece of parchment.

"I guess this is yours Harry," they said in unison.

"Thanks guys," said Harry, "If you ever need to use it, just ask me. If it's Ginny you're pranking just don't tell her I gave it to you. Your sister knows a mean Bat-Bogey Hex."

"You know how to use it?" asked Fred.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," said Harry as he pocketed the map.

XXXXX

**November 6th, 1993**

Halloween came and went, and Harry was grateful that nothing had happened this year. The last two years a troll and a basilisk had attacked people on those days. Well Mrs. Norris in the case of the basilisk. She was sort of a person. A terrible person who helped Filch.

And with that all minds were on Quidditch again. Everyone knew that the Gryffindor/Slytherin match was going to be special this year. These two teams were the best that either house had seen in a long time. Harry began to count the days until the match. He knew he was going to be the key to winning.

No one was disappointed, it was the best Quidditch match anyone had seen at Hogwarts in years. Excellent chaser play, both offensively and defensively. The Slytherin chasers weren't quite as skilled as the Gryffindor team, but they played almost as well as a team. Both sets of beaters worked well together, though the Weasleys had the better coordination. Both Keepers played well, but Millie wasn't nearly as good as Oliver Wood.

Still, Gryffindor was only able to maintain a 30-point lead, and any mistakes from them were instantly punished. It was obvious that in another year the Slytherin teams' skills would probably fully mature to be a match for the Gryffindor team, but they were still a bit inexperienced yet.

The entire match's atmosphere was dampened by the rain. This made finding the snitch a nightmare, but Harry finally saw it far above the pitch. Both Harry and Colin ascended in search of it, but the snitch seemed to get lost in the clouds. Suddenly, Harry felt a dark cold presence in his whole body.

He stopped ascending. "Dementors!" he yelled. Colin nodded his understanding. Both wizards pulled out their wands. As Harry swept his arm around, he felt something fly into his sleeve.

_No way_, he thought.

Suddenly he saw them, a veritable swarm of dementors flying far above the pitch. Descending towards him and Colin. Colin began to tremble.

But Harry had his memory. "_Expecto Patronum_," he cast as he thought about how he had just beaten Gryffindor in this quidditch match.

A bright light flowed from his wand, beating back the dementors. "Colin, grab my broom!" he said Colin quickly complied. Slowly Harry descended down towards the Quidditch pitch. The Dementors tried to swarm them but Harry carved a path through with his Patronus shield. Coming out of the clouds the pitch came back into view. Everyone seemed to be pointing at Harry. But then they saw the dementors. Screams came from the stands as multiple Patroni were launched by some of the teachers. A Patronus phoenix, cat, wolf and a doe all charged the dementors, driving them off.

Harry flew down to ground level landing on the pitch. Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Remus and Madam Pomfrey all ran to him and Colin. Madam Hooch also flew down.

"Very quick work with that Patronus Harry," said Dumbledore.

"Do we call the match?" asked Madam Hooch.

"No need," said Harry, "As you'll see I had plenty of reason to be happy." He dropped the snitch out of his sleeve into his hand.

Snape smiled thinly, and McGonagall shook her head with a wry smile. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

As the announcement that Slytherin had just won echoed out, Snape and McGonagall made their way to the sidelines to celebrate and commiserate respectively. Remus had a strange look on his face as he watched Snape walk away.

"His Patronus was a doe," said Remus quietly.

"Professor Snape's?" asked Harry. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know," said Remus, "but your mother's Patronus was also a doe."

Dumbledore looked at Remus sharply.

"I know Snape was friends with my mother when they were younger," said Harry, "Is it possible he never really got over her?"

Remus laughed, "Very possible. Lily Evans was not a girl that people got over easily. Your father certainly didn't. She shot him down so many times…"

Harry turned his head back to Snape. Somehow Harry was sure this was important. He just had to figure out how it all fit together.

**Author's Note:** People may have noticed (and some of you have mentioned) that Harry is a bit trusting of Sirius. It is pretty reckless, and yeah, that was what I was going for here. Harry (and Hermione) have a tendency to make snap decisions. They are very Gryffindor Slytherins after all. Whether that is a good thing, well, that's the question, isn't it?

Also the thing that has been hanging over this story finally happened. Harry and Hermione have finally realised that they are attracted to each other, and they have figured out that their living situation is going to be a problem.

Some of you may be concerned that Ginny is trying to pursue Harry. Don't be. The next chapter will clarify things.

There are a lot of tropes in fanfiction that I dislike. One in particular I think gets overused. So of course, I am using it, and putting my own spin on it.

Or as Harry is going to say: "What. The. Fuck."


	21. If you marry him

**Chapter 21: "If you marry him…"**

**November 24th, 1993**

It was on a rather ordinary day in late November that Harry received a package from Gringotts. Harry supposed it had some of the plans for his building project included, but strangely there was a cover letter that told him to open the package while he was alone. That was odd, but he supposed that there might be some reference to Sirius in the package, so he decided to open it back in his room at the first opportunity. By chance, Hermione wasn't there when he got back to his room.

He opened up the package, as Crookshanks leapt on the desk in front of him. Harry absently stroked the large ginger cat. There was a small letter from Brokgut, as well as a document that looked like some sort of magical contract. from Daphne's descriptions it appeared to be a copy rather than an original. Harry decided to read the letter first.

_Mr. Potter,_

_This document was delivered to Gringotts yesterday from the Ministry of Magic, as is required by our treaty mandating that wizarding authorities keep accurate and available records as to any potential changes in ownership of any of our vaults. We were instructed that the document had been sealed and that we were not allowed to inform you of this matter. However, looking at the relevant treaty, which has not been used for this exact purpose for over 100 years, we discovered that there is no requirement for Gringotts to abide by this request. We have therefore sent you a copy of this document. This document is extremely troubling. If you were not aware of this document beforehand, we would recommend that you seek immediate legal counsel._

_Sincerely_,

_Brokgut_

_Account Manager_

_Gringotts_

Harry frowned. That didn't sound promising. Harry pulled out the contract and read the first line.

_Under the authority of the Ministry of Magic, this contract binds Harry James Potter and Ginevra Molly Weasley to be married._

Harry dropped the contract. "What. The. Fuck."

XXXXX

Ginny was sitting in the room she shared with Luna. She'd just finished with classes for the day. Today had been Charms; always a fun class. She wondered if she'd have time to spend with Harry before he went to study with Justin. Despite what everyone had told her, Ginny still felt guilty for what had happened to Justin. And Hermione as well really, but Hermione had supposedly forgiven her. Justin hadn't given any sign of that. She wished he would, so she could join the war council her friends kept talking about. But that was neither here nor there. She was determined to convince Harry to at least give her a chance with him. She knew it was a long shot, and it probably wouldn't work, but ultimately it was less about winning Harry's heart, and more about knowing that he didn't hate her. The truth was that a lot of people had been treating her very oddly since it came out that she had been possessed by Riddle's diary. She wasn't sure she believed that any of them had really forgiven her, but part of her told her she was just being paranoid.

There was a knock on the door. Ginny hadn't been expecting anyone to come by. She opened the door to see Harry Potter.

"Harry!" she said with a smile, "Come in!" As Harry walked in, she noticed a grim expression on his face. He closed the door behind him.

She was alone in her bedroom with Harry Potter, but she suddenly realized something was very, very wrong. This wasn't anything like how she'd pictured this.

"Do you know anything about this?" asked Harry, handing her what looked like a contract.

Ginny frowned and took it. When she read the first line she gasped.

_If you marry him, he will never love you._

"No," she almost breathed, "no, No, NO!" Ginny's voice crescendoed to a scream. She flipped to the end of the document, looking at the signature line. It had been signed. By one Molly Weasley and one Albus Dumbledore.

"HOW COULD SHE DO THIS TO ME!" Ginny continued to scream. She collapsed on the floor, tears streaming from her eyes.

She looked at Harry, whose anger had seemed to wane. "I swear, I did not ask for this," she said fervently, "I would never ask for this. I would never, ever force anyone to be with me if they didn't want to."

Harry sat down next to her and put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. "I believe you Ginny," he said, "I'm so sorry you got pulled into this. Whatever this is."

Ginny shook her head. "This is an old-fashioned marriage contract. But how? No one has used them for at least a century. And signed by my mother and Dumbledore? Why? It doesn't make any sense."

"We'll figure it out," said Harry.

"Oh, Harry, how could she do this?" cried Ginny "I wanted to win you on my own! My own or not at all. Now what chance do I have to win you? How could you love someone you're shackled to?"

"We will deal with this, I promise you," said Harry. Ginny pointedly noticed he didn't say she was wrong.

"Daphne," said Ginny suddenly, "We need to take this to Daphne."

Harry nodded, but didn't get up. He continued to hold her. "Ginny, I do still care about you," he said simply, "No matter what your mother has done."

Ginny started to nod, but caught herself as she realized just how close her face was to his. She wanted to kiss him so badly. To do something. And for a moment, it seemed he would let her. But then he pulled back.

"Let's see Daphne," said Harry, determination now showing on his face.

Ginny tamped down her disappointment. She had bigger concerns right now.

XXXXX

Daphne did not take the news well.

"He LIED to me!" screamed Daphne as she threw a pillow across her room.

"Daphne?" asked Harry nervously.

"My father! He said these types of contracts had been banned! That they were no longer possible!" Daphne paced up and down the room, forcing Ginny and Harry to take refuge on one of the beds.

"I agree, these contracts are really bad," said Ginny. "I mean, I'm in one."

Daphne shook her head as if she was trying to clear it. "Sorry, I know you came to me for help. You probably need a law-wizard, but that might be easier said than done. Any law-wizard you would want to associate with would likely be very hesitant to go against Dumbledore. It wouldn't even be against the law to turn you in to him, as he's your guardian."

"Fuck," said Harry.

"Let me read this contract. Maybe there is an obvious loophole or release. I know most contracts could be voided in some way."

Daphne sat down and quickly read the document. It was about 20 pages long, but it only took her about 10 minutes. When she was finished the look on her face was stormy.

"This contract is a fucking monstrosity," she said, "Normally there would be a way to cancel the contract before the eldest person bound to the contract came of age. Those sections aren't here, so they must have been excised. Worse, the contract can be activated once _Harry_ comes of age, so if they activate it on that very day there is a real possibility that Ginny could become a 15-year-old bride."

"Merlin," said Ginny in disbelief.

"The only thing that could void the contract is the virginity clause," said Daphne.

"What?" sputtered Harry, "that's barbaric!"

"If either of you isn't a virgin this contract is void," explained Daphne, "Unfortunately there are penalties for either of you doing this. Like pus-filled boils on your bits style penalties. This includes if you do it with each other mind you, so don't think you can get around it that way."

"So, what you're saying is that this contract is magically binding?" asked Harry.

Daphne pulled out her wand and swept it over the paper. It glowed with a pale blue light.

"Yes," she said angrily.

"Bloody fucking dammit!" roared Ginny.

"You two have to keep this absolutely quiet," said Daphne, "Even if we invalidate this, Molly and Dumbledore can make as many of these contracts as they want to. So, if they find out it's been broken, they can just sign another one."

Harry and Ginny nodded.

"This includes Hermione, Harry," said Daphne, "Hell, especially Hermione. She might be able to help us, but there is a principle of magical contracts known as referred binding. If you ask Hermione for help, she will be bound by the same strictures that you are in regards to the contract, because she is acting on your behalf. If you do end up telling her about this, under no circumstances should you ask her for help. Just send her to me. Referred binding doesn't persist through the first person bound."

Harry wasn't happy about it, but he agreed.

"At some point during the break we will have to meet up and talk to a legal expert," said Daphne.

"What about a goblin lawyer?" asked Harry.

Daphne's eyes widened. "That's brilliant! Most wizards don't trust goblins that much, and those that do usually can't afford a goblin lawyer. But they loathe the Ministry and love frustrating those in power in the wizarding world. That would definitely include the chief warlock of the Wizengamot."

"It looks like we have a plan," said Ginny.

Daphne nodded then sighed. "I am so sorry for both of you. I know you like each other, so this has to be extra difficult for you."

"If worst comes to worst, I'll just accept the penalties and break the virginity clause when I get older," said Ginny.

"Ginny…" started Harry.

"You aren't responsible for what Dumbledore does," said Ginny, "But my mother is family. I won't have you harming yourself for something a member of my family did. I won't allow it!"

"We can discuss this more when we come to it," said Daphne, "right now let's see if there is another loophole that we can find."

XXXXX

**November 25th, 1993**

The very next day Harry received another letter in the mail at breakfast. This one was from Molly Weasley. Harry shot Ginny a nervous glance, then opened it.

"Well, your mother is inviting me to stay at the Burrow for Christmas," said Harry.

"But my parents already invited you," reminded Hermione.

"Something I told my mum," said Ginny in what sounded like almost a growl, "and which she seems to have ignored."

"Is something wrong?" asked Hermione, "Surely they'll understand if you say that you have prior plans."

"I have a feeling that it won't be that easy," said Harry, "I suspect that Dumbledore is behind this, or at least in on it."

"Why?" asked Hermione.

Harry exhaled slowly. "Just work on your occlumency Hermione," he said.

Hermione nodded, "Fair enough. Dumbledore has already tried to read one of us once."

"I'll go talk to him," said Harry, "I have an idea. Were we all set for meeting on Boxing Day?"

Everyone nodded. "And that other thing the day after," said Daphne.

"Then maybe I can make everyone happy." said Harry.

Harry walked up to the Headmaster, who was again eating breakfast.

"If I might have a word, Headmaster," he said as he held up Molly Weasley's letter.

Dumbledore smiled, "Of course, Harry," he said kindly.

Dumbledore took him to the room with the portraits again.

"This is an invitation to the Burrow for Christmas," said Harry.

"And you wish to ask my permission to go?" asked Dumbledore.

"Well, yes, sort of," said Harry, "But you see, I have already made arrangements to go to the Grangers."

"Oh, that is a difficulty," said Dumbledore, "But didn't you go to the Grangers last year?"

"I did, and I would like to spend Christmas there again," said Harry, "Don't get me wrong, I love the Weasleys, they've been very good to me, but Hermione and her parents are the closest thing I have to a family."

Dumbledore looked troubled.

"Still, I don't want to snub Molly Weasley entirely!" said Harry, "So I thought I would go home with the Grangers, spend Christmas with them, then on Boxing day my friends and I were planning on meeting at Hermione's anyway. I'd just go to the Burrow with Ginny then and spend the New Year at the Burrow."

Dumbledore's face brightened, "That does sound like a good plan, Harry, you have my permission to do so."

Harry clapped happily and went back to his friends.

"I'll spend Christmas with the Grangers and New Years with the Weasleys," said Harry, "But before I suggested that compromise, he was definitely trying to push me towards the Weasleys."

Ginny's face went dark. Daphne's remained blank.

"This is weird," said Hermione, "Why would Dumbledore care about this?"

"Why indeed," said Harry. Hermione looked at him sharply. "I know what he's trying to do Hermione, but I have no fucking clue as to why."

"Language, Harry," Hermione said absently.

XXXXX

**December 18th, 1993**

Harry stepped off of the Hogwarts Express with a mischievous smile on his face. Bryant Greengrass really should have talked to him before he voted on the Dementor bill, and while Harry did understand that he had been thinking of Harry's best interests when he had, Harry was going to make him pay for that, if only in the currency of mild annoyance.

Sure enough, when Bryant Greengrass saw Harry, his face was shocked. What Harry hadn't expected was that Amelia Bones would be there was well. Harry considered his options here. A chance to talk to Bones without Fudge being present sounded great, but Platform 9 and 3/4 was a bit public for a conversation where he accused the Minister for Magic of breaking the law.

Bones and Greengrass both converged on Harry.

"What are you doing here Harry?" asked Bryant.

"Spending Christmas with Hermione," said Harry, "Dumbledore gave his permission."

"What on Earth is Albus thinking?" asked Amelia.

"I suggest you ask him," said Harry.

Daphne and Susan Bones had both walked up behind Amelia and Bryant. Susan was about to say something, but Harry just shook his head and she shut her mouth. Both Amelia and Bryant suddenly Disapparated. Philomena Greengrass ran up behind her daughter.

"Where did they go?" she asked.

"Hogsmeade," said Harry.

"We could have explained what happened, Harry," said Susan.

"Yeah, but then Mr. Greengrass wouldn't have to run all the way to Hogwarts and back," said Harry, "He owes me that much for voting for a bill that sicced dementors on the school."

"He'll have to go by the dementors, won't he?" asked Hermione who had just caught up with Harry.

Harry's heart fell, "I didn't think about that," he admitted.

"Well we just had to pass the dementors, so Daddy can too," said Daphne.

Harry nodded.

"Harry, Hermione!" shouted Robert and Helen as they waved them down.

"See you on Boxing Day!" said Harry to Daphne.

XXXXX

Harry dragged his trunk into the Granger home. Hermione had fallen asleep on his shoulder again on the car ride home, which Helen still seemed to think was cute. He deposited his trunk in the guest room, but he was surprised when Helen dragged Hermione into his room moments later.

"There isn't going to be any sneaking around at night from the two of you while Harry is here, is there?" Helen demanded.

"Oh, I haven't needed help from Harry like that for ages," said Hermione, "You, uh, were right, so we stopped doing it."

"We're not going to do anything inappropriate," said Harry.

"Glad to hear it," said Helen, "I'm glad that the two of you listened to me."

Helen made as if to leave, then stopped, a small smile appearing on her face. "That all being said, if you were to fall asleep together somewhere public, by accident…"

"Like in front of the fire?" asked Hermione.

"We will be making a fire one of these days," said Helen as she walked out of the room.

"She likes you," said Hermione.

"Good to know," said Harry.

XXXXX

Daphne was waiting when her father got home. It was quite late.

Bryant didn't seem to notice her at first, then started when he saw her. "You scared me!" he said breathlessly, "You didn't have to wait up," he said.

"You took a while to see Dumbledore," said Daphne.

"I take it you and Susan could have explained this whole mess to us, without necessitating a walk past a horde of dementors?" asked Bryant.

Daphne nodded, "Harry was a little put out about that bill. On a lot of levels."

Bryant grimaced. "He should be, honestly. Teaches me to think I know what's going on, I guess. None of you should ever have been subjected to dementors. And to think they attacked the Quidditch match. Plus, the whole thing with Black being actually innocent..." Bryant shook his head.

"Anyway, I was helping Amelia. She has told all the aurors that she trusts not to tattle to Fudge that Black needs to be brought in alive," said Bryant.

Daphne nodded absently. She had other things on her mind.

"Daddy," said Daphne, "You once told me that marriage contracts were banned. You told me that they were impossible to create anymore."

Bryant's eyes narrowed. "I did, didn't I? Why do I have a feeling that saying that is now going to come back to haunt me?"

"Some people I know, who I will not name, have been forced into a marriage contract," said Daphne angrily.

Bryant sighed sadly. "You have to understand that in many ways the Wizengamot is dedicated to the concept of easy solutions. Even the most bigoted purebloods are, for the most part, opposed to those sorts of contracts. But fixing it doesn't just require us to write a new law. It requires us to modify the magics that sustain magical contracts in Magical Britain. That would require the dedicated work of at least one, probably more, powerful arch witches or wizards with advanced legal degrees. As well as a costly ritual to actually modify the magic. Simply put, it was easier to leave the old laws in place and pretend they didn't exist, writing new laws to supersede them, than to actually change things. This is not a decision that was made in my lifetime, though I daresay it is one that every one of us in the Wizengamot has ignored."

Bryant looked at Daphne, his eyes filled with love, "I would never do that to you. Never."

Daphne nodded. "I know that, though it is nice to hear. But it doesn't help my friends."

"No, it doesn't," said Bryant. "Are they getting legal counsel?"

"I'm going to help them get some the day after Boxing Day," said Daphne, "Obviously, I do not require an escort."

Bryant nodded, "I understand. I hope your friends find a way out of it. Would you like me to try to do something in the Wizengamot?"

"Could you do it without alerting everyone that you know about the contract?" asked Daphne, "Would it even work?"

"No," said Bryant, "I see your point. I am so very sorry."

Daphne pursed her lips. "Well, it's a start."

XXXXX

**December 26th, 1993**

Christmas at the Grangers was a smaller affair than it had been last year. Hermione's family was all out of town, so they'd be doing Christmas with them in a few days when they all got back. As it was, Harry looked forward to spending the whole day with just Hermione and her parents. And he wasn't disappointed. Christmas was a long lazy day for them full of gifts and just enjoying each other's company. Harry and Hermione even managed to successfully pull off falling asleep by the fire together.

Boxing Day was another matter entirely. Daphne, Blaise, Tracey and Ginny all descended on the Granger home. And none of them had ever been in a muggle home before (except Tracey, who had been an infant at the time). The results had been bizarre. All of them had been very impressed by light switches. Blaise had been mystified by television, while Ginny had been convinced that the remote control worked on magic. All in all, the day had gone by quickly, and it was soon time for Harry to leave. Harry went up to the guest room to get his things, only to discover that Hermione had followed him up.

"Have fun at the Weasleys," said Hermione.

"I wish I was staying," said Harry as he hugged her goodbye. Taken by a sudden mood, he kissed her on the lips. A real kiss, not just a peck on the lips.

"Whoa," she said after he finished, "What was that?"

"I just wanted to prove that I really wanted to stay," he said.

"Am I the only girl you've kissed?" asked Hermione.

"I nearly kissed Ginny once, after she had some very bad news," admitted Harry.

"Oh," said Hermione, something dangerous entering her tone.

"I just felt sorry for her," said Harry, "she's had a rough time. I wish… I just wish her mother hadn't tried to force things like this."

Hermione nodded unhappily, "Me too."

Harry grabbed his trunk and began to drag it downstairs. Hedwig squawked anxiously.

"Yeah, girl, I know," said Harry sadly.

XXXXX

"It's so good to see you Harry!" said Molly Weasley. Harry smiled as best as he could. It wasn't hard to hide his reluctance while he was dragging his heavy trunk around.

"You'll be in with Ron," said Molly, "I mean we could put you in Bill and Charlie's old room I suppose…"

"Anywhere is fine Mrs. Weasley," said Harry. Harry wasn't all that enthusiastic about sharing a room with Ron again, but he realized that having his own room might attract a different kind of attention.

As Harry lugged his trunk up the stairs, the twins ran by with a wave. Ron also came down, but he stopped and helped Harry get his trunk up the stairs to Ron's attic. Once they got there Ron turned to Harry.

"Sorry Mum kind of blindsided you with that invitation mate," said Ron, "Ginny and I told her you probably already had plans, but Mum wouldn't hear it."

"Yeah, well I kind of expected something of the sort," said Harry.

"Listen, I know I can be a bit slow on the uptake, but even I can see that she's trying to play matchmaker with you and Ginny," said Ron seriously, "I'm not saying… I mean I don't really know if that's even a thing that is in play."

"I think it's a little premature for me to be dating someone, and it's definitely premature for Ginny," said Harry, "I'm not entirely sure what your mum is up to, to be perfectly honest."

"Me and Percy feel the same way," said Ron, "The twins, well, it's hard to get them to take anything seriously, but I think they think you and Ginny are cute together."

"We probably are," said Harry, "Listen, I like Ginny, but there are a lot of other factors involved there."

"I know, and this isn't a stay away from my sister speech," said Ron, "Just… don't hurt her, please."

"I have been incredibly honest with Ginny about all of this," said Harry, "And I promise I won't lead her on with false hopes. Whatever we end up with, I will always let her know exactly how I feel so that she doesn't get the wrong idea."

Ron smiled. "Good Potter, cause if you do hurt her…" Ron trailed off with a wicked grin on his face.

XXXXX

Hermione sat quietly in her room, moping. She wished she knew why Harry had gone along with this plan to go to the Weasleys, but she knew she had to trust him. She had to admit, the fact that he had almost kissed Ginny was a little unsettling, but she also knew that Ginny was still going through a lot. She very well might require that level of attention and affection. Again, Hermione trusted Harry, but she had to admit that this made her feel uneasy.

Her mother walked in with a worried look on her face. "Everything all right sweetheart?"

Hermione shook her head. "I… I think something might be going on with Harry and Ginny," she said.

Helen smiled at Hermione, "Yes, it is possible," she admitted, "I wouldn't be too worried though."

"Why not?" asked Hermione.

"Because at this age, romantic relationships aren't really romantic relationships," said Helen, "listen, I know that you have a lot of feelings right now. And your insecurities about losing people aren't helping. Everything you feel is so strong, because, well, you're feeling it for the first time. But you don't have the maturity to form that sort of connection, a real romantic connection. That experience only comes from… well experience."

"But if I love him…" started Hermione.

"Oh Hermione," said Helen with a strange smile, "You want to be carried away by your emotions. And that can be wonderful. But here's the thing, emotions are only part of it. It wasn't my emotions that told me your father was the one. One day, I sat next to him, and we worked together to plan how we would make our careers work together. It was a long and difficult conversation. But at the end of it, I knew he was the one, because he wanted to work out the annoying details of everyday life so that we could be together. That's what true love is."

Hermione shook her head. She didn't understand. "Surely my emotions matter," she insisted.

"Of course, they do!" said Helen, "Just don't think that the fact that Harry is interested in other people is bad for you. We all care about lots of people. And maybe, just maybe, at your age you shouldn't be trying to lock things up in a box. At your age do you know what I was doing?"

Hermione shook her head.

Helen laughed, "When I was fourteen, I went on four different dates. All of them were disasters. But I remained friends with all of those boys. I went on to date three people other than your father seriously. Each of those relationships was a failure, but each failure taught me something. Because at your age, a date isn't about love, it's about learning _how_ to have a relationship. I'm not saying that you need to see other people. I'm just saying that at your age being possessive is just going to hurt you."

"So, you think something _is _going on?" asked Hermione.

Helen sighed. "I really did think you were ready to hear what I just said," she said sadly, "Try to remember what I am saying before you do anything you might regret."

Hermione shook her head. She didn't understand. All she could get from this was that her mother felt that there might indeed be something going on between Harry and Ginny.

**December 27th, 1993**

Convincing the Weasleys to let Ginny go to Diagon Alley alone with Harry was more difficult than he thought it would be. After all, Harry had lived there alone for weeks. Molly, however, was very overprotective, and very insistent. Eventually after a brief huddle, Ginny and Harry decided that they would sound out Percy. They trapped him in his room.

"Percy, would you accompany us to Diagon so mum will let us go without her?" asked Ginny sweetly.

"Why don't you want mum to know?" asked Percy.

"If you come with us _and_ agree to keep it a secret, we'll tell you," said Harry.

"It'll make you think less of Mum though," said Ginny sadly.

Percy pondered this for a moment. "Is this one of those opportunities you've mentioned to me Harry?"

"It would be a favor," said Harry, "though I suppose it would make up for trying to stop me from rescuing Ginny."

Percy nodded, "All right then," he said.

With Percy agreeing to go along, Molly finally relented.

"What was with her?" asked Harry, "It was like she was worried about something."

"I think she's worried we'll get a bit too fresh with each other," said Ginny, "that contract does have some nasty penalties."

"I think we're a little young for that," said Harry.

"Mum's opinion is probably that there is no such thing as too young for that," said Ginny, "I think she's projecting her own wild youth on us."

"Molly Weasley's wild youth?" asked Harry sceptically.

"Harry," said Ginny in a tone that indicated Harry was trying her patience, "I am her _seventh _child. Seventh. In the matter of sex, my mother is an expert."

Harry had no response to that.

XXXXX

Harry noted Percy's surprise when Daphne showed up.

"I thought we'd be meeting Hermione," said Percy sheepishly.

"It's what I would rather be doing," said Harry.

"If you weren't so fucked," said Ginny.

"Ginny!" said Percy scandalized.

"Part of the problem is that I can't fuck," quipped Harry.

"Nice one," said Daphne deadpanned.

They soon went into Gringotts. Brokgut was there and immediately ushered them into the offices. Percy looked rather confused.

"Why are we at Gringotts?" he asked.

"We're consulting a lawyer," said Daphne.

"Oh," said Percy, "Are you trying to get Harry and Ginny emancipated or something?"

"Now there's an idea," said Harry.

"I'm afraid that not even a magical court will emancipate a boy as young as you are Mr. Potter," said an unfamiliar voice. An extremely old goblin walked into the room.

"This is Nokbog, one of our best lawyers," said Brokgut, "He is actually old enough that he worked on marriage contracts such as the one you are involved in."

"What!?" shouted Percy.

"Mum and Dumbledore put me and Harry into a marriage contract," said Ginny, "We're seeing what we can do about it."

Nokbog took out a copy of the contract and laid it on the table in the office, then sat down. Harry and the rest followed suit.

"Well this is a very archaic form of the contract, though the language was updated a bit, which has left us some wiggle room, but on the whole this contract is rather disturbing," said Nokbog, "Particularly disturbing was the removal of all ways to invalidate the contract."

"I knew it, I knew someone had cut those parts out of it," said Daphne.

"Indeed, if this contract had been drawn up 300 years ago, it would not be valid, as there were, at the time, many requirements for such contracts," expanded Nokbog, "Unfortunately, as that body of law has largely been dismantled, the creator of this document was not prevented from removing the pertinent sections."

"Wonderful," said Daphne, "So because they dismantled all the laws about marriage contracts, we have even less protection now. Just wonderful."

Nokbog nodded. "The contract isn't ironclad however," said the goblin.

"Oh?" asked Harry.

"The provisions against divorce that would normally be in such a document were in one of the excised passages," explained Nokbog, "There is no provision that would prevent you from marrying and then immediately divorcing."

Harry and Ginny both breathed a sigh of relief.

"You'd have to consummate the marriage first however," said Nokbog, "Marriage contracts cannot be invalidated by annulments."

"Oh," said Ginny, sounding very unsure, "I don't really want to be forced into that."

"Understandable," said Nokbog, "There is another option then. The language in the virginity clause was originally designed to invalidate the contract without incurring penalties if one party or another were raped."

"I don't think that's an option!" said Percy rather firmly.

"Of course not," agreed Nokbog, "But the language of that passage was updated extensively. But not well. It is now rather vague. If someone not party to the contract were to engage in sexual intercourse with one of you without you explicitly giving them positive permission, the contract could be broken safely. Now that would have to be rather carefully staged…"

"Uuuugh…" said Ginny unhappily, "This feels really weird and wrong."

"Yeah, I agree," said Harry, "We shouldn't have to be dealing with something like this!"

Nokbog bowed his head apologetically. "I am sorry I have been so matter-of-fact. Of course, this must be very upsetting for the both of you. You will need another person to make the arrangements for you, and that person can't be the one who...helps you."

"I think I've already volunteered to be the go-between," said Daphne.

"Good, you seem to understand the legalities quite well," said Nokbog. "I will leave you to discuss matters." The ancient goblin rose and left the room. Brokgut followed him.

"This is why I asked you to not tell Hermione about this," said Daphne, "I was worried it would come to this."

"Wait, you don't think that Hermione…" started Harry.

"We don't have to do this tomorrow Harry," said Daphne, "We have until you turn 17. I think by then Hermione will be, uh, more than interested in helping you."

Harry blushed. Ginny nodded sadly.

"I can't believe mum did this," said Percy.

"You will keep our secret, won't you Percy?" asked Ginny.

Percy nodded. "Of course, Ginny, I never imagined it would be this bad."

"Oh shit," said Daphne, "Does he know Occlumency?"

"A bit," said Percy, "It's a talent that is often recommended for those entering the Ministry, though that is seldom taken seriously by the recruiters."

Harry nodded. "Mind if I test you?"

"How can you without breaking the law?" asked Percy.

"I have a talent for legilimency," said Harry, "I can do it without casting a spell."

Percy was surprised. "That's a rare gift," he said, "I guess it won't hurt for you to try."

Harry took Percy's wrist and looked him in the eye. Percy's Occlumency did shield his mind relatively well. Eventually he pushed through the wall.

Into a rather embarrassing memory of Percy alone in the prefect's baths with Penelope Clearwater.

"Oops," said Harry, "guess I broke through."

"If you could forget you saw that Harry..." said Percy with a bit of a blush.

"What did you see Harry?" asked Ginny excitedly.

"I forget," he said, letting go of Percy's wrist, "Your shields are acceptable."

"But you broke through," objected Percy.

"He always breaks through," said Daphne.

"It was a lot less fun using wandless legilimency on you than it was on Hermione," said Harry.

"That's just because you like staring into Hermione's eyes," said Daphne.

Harry wasn't about to object to that.

As they left the room, Brokgut stopped Harry. "I just wanted to tell you that your godfather's will was activated when the Wizengamot passed that law. His holdings are now safely under the control of Gringotts. And you have access. So, you would have full financial freedom, should you need such a thing."

"Thank you Brokgut," said Harry, "make sure he has access. It is his money,"

"We will Harry," said the goblin.

XXXXX

Later that night Harry had a revelation. Ron was a snorer. Which for Harry was a problem. Hermione snored a very little bit, but it was so much quieter than Ron that he thought there might be something wrong with the boy. So, Harry made his way down to the living room and plopped himself down in front of the fire with a blanket. It reminded him of Christmas day when he and Hermione had fallen asleep in front of the fire.

Suddenly he felt someone sit down next to him. It was Ginny, she was wearing thick flannel pajamas.

"You love her, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes, I mean… I don't know if I'm in love with her, but she's basically my family," said Harry, "I guess I'd say that I really, really want to be in love with her."

"That's fair," said Ginny, "You're young enough that it's easy to be confused."

"I was surprised earlier," said Harry, "I thought that you had memories of Tom, well you know. Doing things. Intimate things. You were a lot more upset about things than I thought you'd be."

Ginny shivered. Harry instinctively threw his blanket over her.

"Tom's memories aren't the sort of thing that would give me comfort about that," said Ginny. "He did have sex, but each of his partners was a purely physical thing, other than one girl he was trying to manipulate. Everything about it was calculated and controlling, and it's from a male perspective. I don't see how any woman could have enjoyed what he did to them."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" Harry started to apologize.

"No need," said Ginny, "It was a good question. The truth is that until I actually experience it, I'm going to be a bit nervous."

"That's fine, good even," said Harry.

"Yeah," said Ginny, "Why did this happen Harry? It isn't fair. Do you think I would have had a chance with you if it hadn't?"

"I know you would have," said Harry as he put his arm around her, "Even as things are, you are very special to me."

Ginny rested her head on his shoulder. "I wish we could sit here all night. Despite what's happened, you make me feel safe. I need to feel safe."

"Well, why don't we?" asked Harry.

"If my mum finds out…" said Ginny.

"If your mum gives us trouble, we'll tell everyone what she has done, and to hell with the consequences," said Harry, "I just can't see your dad having agreed to this."

"Agreed," said Ginny.

Harry rested his head on top of Ginny's. They'd deal with it all tomorrow.

XXXXX

**December 28th, 1993**

Harry awoke to the sound of Arthur Weasley clearing his throat.

Harry suddenly realized that Ginny was still next to him. "Uh, Mr. Weasley!"

"Ron was snoring I take it?" asked Arthur.

Harry nodded, as Ginny opened her eyes.

"Dad, I can explain…" she started, but Arthur held out his hand to stop her.

"I don't think you did anything, if you had you'd certainly be in Ginny's bedroom instead of down here," he said, "But you should get up Ginny, before your mother sees you."

Ginny hastily stood up.

There was a strange knocking at one of the windows. Ginny ran over to the window and an owl flew through, dropping a long package. Ginny looked at the label. "It's for you Harry," she said.

There really was only one thing it could be. Harry opened the package. It was a broom. But not just any broom.

"That's a Firebolt!" said Ginny in sheer awe. "A professional Quidditch broom."

Harry shook his head. He should have guessed that the moment that Sirius had money he'd do something impractical like this. Still it made him smile. His godfather was still out there.

**Author's Note:** And there is the second big twist of the story. The big problem is, of course, that Harry and Hermione's living situation is now actually potentially dangerous to Harry. And it adds another mystery to what is going on in Slytherin.

As I said before, this isn't my favorite plot device. I think the idea that marriage contracts would be acceptable in the magical world, at least in Britain, a little dubious. So I made it completely unacceptable, but Harry and Ginny are stuck with it anyway. For the moment at least.

Brian1970, I read your comment on Bryant. I think part of your problem is that you are viewing Bryant like a politician, when what he really is, is a Roman patrician. His political, professional, and personal life are all bound together. And his personal philosophy is that his family's success is possible because of pureblood supremacy. Bryant's only concern is the power and status of his family and some of his friends. This is why his defense of his actions rings so hollow, because it is solely based on self-interest rather than any overriding philosophy. He tries to pretend otherwise to Daphne because Daphne finds that line of thought morally repugnant. If Daphne didn't owe Harry a life debt, Bryant wouldn't be helping Harry at all.

Bryant's only redeeming features are that he does care about his daughters, he refuses to support Voldemort (or violence of any sort really), and I guess he's not actively trying to make things worse for Muggleborns. But he doesn't care enough to help Muggleborns, just like he never cared enough to ban marriage contracts.


	22. An Argument and a Revelation

**Chapter 22: An Argument and a Revelation**

**January 2nd, 1994**

Harry waved at his friends as he approached them at Platform 9 and 3/4. They hadn't even opened the train yet, probably another security precaution. Still, Harry was surprised that they were able to wrangle the Weasleys so easily. It probably had more to do with the way that Percy had ridden everyone to get ready the night before. Harry looked at the man who was now standing nearby, searching for his girlfriend. Harry had to admit that Percy had come a long way in the last seven months or so. Harry was actually starting to like Percy now.

Harry had briefly considered just revealing the marriage contract to everyone in the Weasley household. He was certain that the entire rest of the family would have turned on Molly for that. Which was the main reason he didn't do it. Despite what she had done, he couldn't hate the woman, and he didn't want to destroy the Weasley family. Harry suspected that Dumbledore had asked for the contract, as there was virtually no way Molly would have come up with that idea on her own. No one in Magical Britain thought back fondly to marriage contracts. Arranged marriages had gone out of fashion in Britain long before the Statute of Secrecy.

No, Molly had done what Dumbledore asked her to. And he couldn't actually fault that. The man had stopped Grindelwald and held off Voldemort long enough for him to be defeated. Harry supposed that Dumbledore had a plan for him as well. So why wouldn't he just tell Harry what was expected of him? That didn't mean Harry was going to go along with it, of course. But maybe they could work something out if Harry understood what was going on. As it was, he was clueless.

This didn't mean that Harry liked or approved of what Molly had done. The truth was that Harry was beginning to feel as if he was being played, and while the evidence pointed to Dumbledore, something about that idea rubbed Harry the wrong way. There had been no reason for Dumbledore to file the document with the Ministry, and he could have informed Gringotts that changes to Harry's account were coming at any point in the next four or so years.

It was almost like someone other than Dumbledore had filed the contract under a secrecy clause. Which didn't make sense... unless that person knew that Gringotts would immediately inform Harry of what happened once they were informed. In which case that person could have been trying to warn Harry!

Harry sniled as he saw Hermione. She ran over and hugged Harry. There was something off about her though. She seemed a bit more distant than she had when he'd left her home.

"Everything alright?" he asked.

"It's fine," said Hermione, looking past Harry to her parents, "My mum, well, she thinks there is something going on with you and Ginny."

"Ha, I wish!" said Ginny bitterly, "My mum was sure trying though."

Harry suspected that a large part of the problem was that Hermione hated being in the dark about things. It preyed on her worst insecurities. Hermione probably wouldn't bat an eye if he was snogging Ginny in front of her, so long as she knew what was going on. It was the secret that was killing her.

Harry gripped both of her shoulders. "I promise you; we have a good reason for keeping secrets. You'll understand when we finally tell you."

Percy turned to them, "I assure you; they had a very good reason to keep this a secret. Once you find out what has happened, you may wish you hadn't."

Harry groaned internally. Hermione's eyes flashed, "You told Percy?" she demanded.

"They also told me first, and I gave them the legal advice not to tell you," interjected Daphne, "Please Hermione, this has been so hard on both of them. Don't make this harder. If you do, I'm telling you, you'll regret it when you find out what this is about."

Hermione nodded, but Harry knew she wasn't fully mollified. "I'm thinking that we should start work on our house elf project, we've been putting it off for far too long," he said.

Hermione nodded, "I actually did do a bit of reading on it last term…"

XXXXX

**January 5th, 1994**

The IUC was a rather big success. The attendance had remained high, and while they had all learned other things in other sessions, each session usually ended with people practicing their patronuses. And most of them could get a good Patronus shield going. At the first meeting of the new year, Harry surpassed that. He'd been practicing his Patronus with Justin when Hermione had snuck up behind him and kissed him on the cheek. The result was that Harry cast a fully corporeal Patronus, in the form of a stag.

Luna of course had immediately walked up to Hermione. "You should kiss me as well," she had said, "That way I'll be able to summon a Patronus."

To Hermione's credit, she did comply with the request (while laughing), but Luna's Patronus was not forthcoming.

"I guess we'll have to keep trying," said Luna to howls of laughter from the students around her.

"Really, what was she up to?" asked Hermione as she and Harry left the Great Hall.

"I don't think Luna's actually into girls," said Harry, "but she does like any sort of affection. She just saw an opportunity to get a friend to kiss her, so she took it."

"Well, okay then," said Hermione, "I guess I won't begrudge her that."

"Anyway, weren't we going to the kitchens tonight?" asked Harry.

"Oh right!" said Hermione, her face brightening. They had decided to start interviewing the elves, but first they actually needed to talk to them.

They followed the Marauder's map to the basement under the Great Hall. It pointed them to a painting of a bowl of fruit. The map suddenly said _Tickle the pear_. Shrugging, Harry tickled the pear in the bowl. It turned into a door handle.

"Convenient," said Hermione. She grabbed the handle and turned it, opening a secret door. The made their way into the spacious kitchens. There were elves working everywhere. As soon as they saw Harry and Hermione, they all cheerfully ran over to them, asking them what they wanted.

One elf in particular was very insistent. "Dobby?" asked Harry.

"Harry Potter!" cried the elf happily. The other elves were eyeing Dobby askance.

"It's good to see you again Dobby," said Harry, "You work at Hogwarts now?"

"Yes, yes!" said the excited elf. "The Headmaster was so very generous."

One of the other elves sniffed. "Dobby is _paid_. Shameful, shameful."

"What's so shameful about being paid?" asked Hermione.

"A house elf works for the joy of the work, and the good of their family!" said another elf angrily, "No self-respecting elf wants to be paid!"

Hermione was about to say something else, but Harry stopped her.

"That's very interesting," said Harry, "You see that is why we came down here, both of us have lived our whole lives in the muggle world, and we know next to nothing about elf culture. We think that there is something very wrong with a system that lets bad masters hurt their elves even when they haven't done anything wrong. So, we came down here to hear what you want out of life, and how you would want wizards to treat you."

This got quite the reaction. Most of the elves couldn't believe a wizard would care about them. They were practically crying with gratitude. Some of the older elves seemed to be more level headed, but also clearly sceptical.

One of these older elves took Harry aside, "Many people have tried to free us elves, but we are very happy as we are."

"That's good!" said Harry, "I'm not trying to force you to do anything. I just want House elves to have choices when a bad master treats them badly, and for elves to live happy, safe lives. But if I don't know what you want, how can I help you?"

The older elf nodded, "Others have said 'We will help you' before, but never have they asked for what us elves desire. Please promise you will not try to force us to do anything, and we will speak to you as much as you wish."

"Agreed!" said Harry instantly.

XXXXX

**January 27th, 1994**

Ginny was rushing to class. She didn't want to be late for potions again. Snape could be nasty to those who were late, and while he wouldn't do anything to her in front of the Gryffindors, he would punish her later. There was also something unnerving about him. She couldn't quite pinpoint it. Every time he spoke her name there was something, a slight hesitation. It creeped her out, and she didn't understand why. Maybe he just didn't like her because she was friends with Harry.

She was late because she'd stopped to watch Harry talking to Hermione. It was so obvious the way he felt about her. It would be so much easier on Ginny if he would just admit it! Then she could move on with her life happily. Hermione, on the other hand, was growing more and more suspicious of Ginny. She'd seen Ginny looking at her and she'd been, if not hostile, at least wary of her. Ginny wondered how much of that was residual fear of the girl who'd petrified her, and how much was jealousy.

Ginny was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she ran right in to Justin Finch-Fletchley. He had been walking with Susan, Ernie and Hannah when he came around the corner and Ginny slammed into him. The two collapsed on the floor all of Justin's books flying out of his arms.

"Watch where you're going Weasley!" he said angrily.

"I'm so sorry," said Ginny, "Let me help you pick those up."

"Just leave me alone, Weasley!" Justin snarled.

Ginny stood up and looked at him. Saw the hate on his face. And that was it. She burst into tears and ran for the Slytherin common room.

XXXXX

Susan watched Ginny running away in tears. "What the hell is your problem Justin?" she asked.

Justin scowled, "I just don't like her, I have the right you know."

"I don't know," said Ernie, "That was a little much mate. Yeah, she petrified you, but it's not like it was her fault. She was mind controlled. A lot of people were mind controlled in the last war."

"Justin," said Hannah, "Ginny is just a twelve-year-old girl. Imagine what having everyone think you are a dangerous murderer would do to any twelve-year-old. And you aren't just anyone, you are one of Harry's closest friends. It's messed up."

"I don't think she's a murderer," said Justin.

"Then stop acting like it," said Susan, "From what I've seen Ginny's had a real rough time of it. She gets possessed last year and this year she's had to deal with the fact that the boy she likes is clearly into another girl, while other people think she's about to start killing people."

Justin hung his head. "I…I'll try." he said.

Susan shook her own head. What was this boy thinking?

XXXXX

Harry knocked on the door to Ginny and Luna's room. Luna opened the door.

"Oh good," said Luna, "Ginny has a rather bad wrackspurts infection, and she could use some help clearing it up."

"So I've heard," said Harry. He entered the room and saw Ginny lying on her bed, just staring at the wall.

"Can we have a moment?" he asked Luna.

"Of course," said Luna, who turned to Ginny, "If the two of you do anything inappropriate, make sure to tell me all about it." She said this last with a straight face. Ginny snorted a small joyless laugh. Luna then left the room, closing the door behind her.

Ginny sat up in bed. Harry sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Justin told me what happened," he said, "He sounds genuinely sorry he reacted the way that he did."

"Hmmm," replied Ginny.

"What's this about," Harry asked, "Please tell me. It hurts to see you like this."

"Justin is right to be scared of me," said Ginny, "You're right to not want me. I have _his_ thoughts in my mind. I'm dangerous. I'm going to turn out just like him."

"We talked about this," said Harry, "You and Riddle are very different people. You won't end up like him."

"You can't be sure!" said Ginny, "Look at the pain I've already caused!"

"You are nothing like Riddle," said Harry, "People love you." He kissed her forehead.

"Thanks Harry," said Ginny as she pulled away. She didn't sound convinced. Harry wanted to say more, but he recognized the tone of dismissal in her voice.

Harry stood up, then turned back to Ginny for a final word, "Just because we're not together, just because I may be _in_ love with someone else, it doesn't mean that I don't love you. Because I do. I do love you. And I think it's time I started telling my friends that," he said.

He opened the door and left her in peace. As he went out into the common room Hermione ran up to him and latched onto his arm.

"How is she doing?" she asked.

"Not great," said Harry.

"Were you able to tell her anything that helped her?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know," said Harry.

"What did you say?" she asked.

Harry knew what this was. And in truth, he wanted to reassure Hermione. To tell her that she had nothing to worry about. But he couldn't. Not yet.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you that," he said.

"Oh," said Hermione, who seemed instantly deflated, "Okay."

XXXXX

**February 4th, 1994**

Harry was reading over his notes from his interviews with the elves at his desk. Hermione was doing likewise. Both of them were dressed for bed, but they had been up late into the night reading these notes. The picture they were painting was grim.

Daphne had tried explaining to them yesterday that the elves had been modified by magic to be more docile. Apparently, she thought that this would make Hermione less outraged. It had not. Hermione had gone into a rage, yelling about wizards destroying everything they touched. Harrey had to admit that she had a point. That was really fucking heinous.

And the interviews showed the elves to be far more intelligent than Harry's interactions with Dobby had suggested. Elves weren't educated of course, and they were intentionally kept in a state of childishness. Yet as they grew up, they could easily see the injustices in their world.

The problem was, they really did want to serve people. It was both a cultural and a magical directive to them. And the thing was, it wasn't entirely on the wizards. According to the elves themselves they'd always wanted to help humans; they'd just been more willing to stand up for their own interests in the old days. The elves described this older behaviour as bad, but Harry agreed with Hermione in that this was probably brainwashing. Probably magical brainwashing.

But how could they deal with this when the elves themselves didn't want it to change? Harry felt that there had to be some kind of magical effect currently in operation that was what had modified their behaviour. If that was the case then getting the ministry to remove it might let the elves express their displeasure more.

"I don't think we can move forward on house elf rights until we get rid of the magic that forces the house elves to be docile," said Harry.

"But that could take forever!" objected Hermione.

"I know," Harry replied, "But if we don't the house elves will fight us all the way."

"Maybe not," said Hermione, "Dobby seems more reasonable about things."

"And normal house elves think Dobby is crazy," said Harry, "We need the house elves to support whatever we do."

"So, we just let the house elves live like slaves in the meantime?" demanded Hermione.

Harry frowned. He hadn't expected Hermione to like this line of reasoning, but she was taking it a lot harder than he had expected.

"What choice do we have?" asked Harry.

"We push to free the elves!" said Hermione.

"Against their wishes?" demanded Harry. Now he was getting heated.

"They don't know their wishes! They're brainwashed!" said Hermione.

"We can't treat sentient creatures as if they can't make decisions for themselves!" yelled Harry, "We'd be no better than the people who are enslaving them!"

"You're saying I'm no better than the people enslaving the house elves then?" screamed Hermione angrily.

"That is NOT what I said!" Harry said defensively.

"Whatever," said Hermione venomously, "I'm done talking to you. I'm going to bed." Hermione jumped into her bed and turned out the light. Harry sat at his desk, stunned.

What had just happened?

XXXXX

**February 7th, 1994**

Harry thought that things would blow over the next morning, but when he awoke Hermione was already gone. When he saw her eating breakfast in the Great Hall, she barely said two words to him. Apparently when she had said she was done talking to him, she had meant for longer than that night.

He tried to engage her in conversation all day, but she ignored him. He tried to talk to her when she came to their room that night, but she just grunted at him. He asked Daphne to talk to her. But Daphne quickly learned that Hermione wasn't interested in talking about her irritation with Harry. With anyone.

Finally, on the third night of her silent treatment Harry snapped.

"What do you want me to do Hermione?" he demanded of her, "Please, just tell me, what do I need to do to get you to talk to me again."

"Admit I'm right!" said Hermione.

Harry's heart fell into his stomach. "I'm sorry Hermione, but I won't. This is too important."

"Then why are you bothering me?" said Hermione.

"Because I thought we were friends!" he roared as he jumped up and left their room. He went across the hall to Blaise's room.

"Can I crash here tonight?" asked Harry.

"Trouble in Paradise?" asked Blaise.

"Like you wouldn't believe," said Harry.

XXXXX

**February 19th, 1994**

For the next two weeks, Harry and Hermione refused to talk to each other. Ginny was determined to stay out of it. It was very clear to her that this argument was not about elves at all, but was about Hermione's insecurities about Harry and Ginny. Ginny just didn't want to make things worse. It didn't help that Harry was stubborn. Hermione had never been on the opposite end of his stubbornness before, but she was beginning to understand just how unpleasant that could be. At this point, Hermione would have to be the one to break the ice, which didn't look likely.

Harry had moved back into their shared room though. He might be mad at her, but he wasn't about to take any chances that the magical protections on that room would fail. Oh, he knew that was unlikely, but he cared about Hermione too much to take any risks. Which made their argument all the more baffling to Ginny.

Still, she figured that Hermione would have at least come to the Ravenclaw/Slytherin match, if only to root on Tracey and Blaise. But she was conspicuously absent. The game was a bit of a rout. Ravenclaw only had one of their Chasers from last year, even though their beaters were very improved, combined with a new Keeper, and their team was probably the worst in the school this year. Cho had handily taken the first game against Hufflepuff by catching the snitch 20 minutes in, but there was no such luck today. Harry hunted up and down the pitch for the snitch with the single-mindedness of a bloodhound. Ginny knew he was trying to ignore the absence of Hermione in the stands.

After he caught the snitch Harry simply nodded and began to descend. His depression was so evident that Cho, who had just lost the match, came over and comforted him! Even she seemed to know what was going on!

And at that point, Ginny just lost it. She couldn't take this anymore. She had to do something. She marched into the locker room and walked up to Harry.

"Don't go back to your room for a bit," she said, "Me and Hermione are going to have a conversation."

And without waiting to change her clothes she marched down to the Slytherin common room.

She went into the third-year hallway and knocked on the door. Hard.

"Open up Hermione!" she screamed.

"GO AWAY!" Hermione yelled back.

"NO," said Ginny, "You are going to open up, and you are going to explain to me why you are treating your best friend like garbage. I am not going away Hermione. I AM STAYING RIGHT HERE!"

The door opened. "Go away," said Hermione.

"No," said Ginny, "Why are you doing this? Why? It's killing Harry. It's killing all of your friends to watch it happen. Please, help me understand. Please."

Hermione sighed and motioned Ginny into the room. Hermione sat on her bed, while Ginny sat in the chair in front of Harry's desk. Sitting on Harry's bed would give Hermione the wrong thoughts here.

"We were talking about the house elves…" started Hermione.

"Oh no, that isn't why you're mad!" said Ginny angrily, "You know damn well that Harry cares about the elves as much as you do! Why are you blowing up over a minor disagreement?"

"That's not what's going on," said Hermione.

"Like hell it isn't!" yelled Ginny, "Okay, I'll tell you what I think. I think you're jealous. That you think Harry is keeping secrets from you because he's falling for me!"

"I…" Hermione was clearly trying to deny what Ginny had said, but understanding swept across her face as she realized the truth, "You're right." Hermione's head sank into her shoulder defeated.

"You idiot," said Ginny, "Harry loves you! I wish he loved me half as much as he loves you! But he never will. You've won already!"

"What?" asked Hermione, "But why all the secrets then? We never had secrets before."

Ginny looked at Hermione, and suddenly she felt a small bit of pity. Of course, these two idiots had been oversharing their lives this entire time. To Hermione it must feel as if he was pulling away.

So, Ginny had a choice. She could keep Hermione in the dark, keep her secret, and sow seeds of distrust that might destroy her relationship with Harry. She could take Harry's heart after all.

She could steal his heart.

_If you steal his heart, he will die._

Ginny wailed in consternation. Tears began to flow of their own accord. "Dammit this is so unfair!" she said, "I can't win, no matter what!"

No, she didn't have a choice.

"Harry didn't destroy the horcrux in the Chamber of Secrets," said Ginny, "I did. I absorbed its power. And it left me with all of Tom Riddle's memories."

Hermione gasped. "Why haven't you said anything?" she demanded.

"There are muggleborns who think I'm dangerous as is, can you imagine what they'd think if I told them I have young Voldemort's memories? Can you imagine what Fudge would think?" said Ginny hopelessly, "No, I've told Harry and Bill and that is it. Till now."

Hermione nodded. "I see. But there's more isn't there?"

Ginny nodded. "Last term, Harry got a package from Gringotts. My mother and Dumbledore bound me and Harry together in a marriage contract. Without telling either of us!"

"That's not possible!" said Hermione.

"That's what Daphne said until we showed her the fucking contract," said Ginny, "She was very upset."

"But if that is the case…" Hermione's entire body seemed to sag in defeat.

"Harry and I are trying to break this contract, but that is neither here nor there. What is important is that we have no intention of getting married," Ginny stomped her foot on the floor for emphasis.

"And that is because he's in love with you," said Ginny, "He may not be able to admit it yet, but he is. He does love me, as a very good friend. But he loves you as more than that. He just doesn't know how to say it yet."

Hermione shook her head, "How can you be sure?"

"Because he's my friend, and he's talked to me, and it's fucking obvious! And I've told him that he needs to tell you how he feels."

Hermione exhaled slowly. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"No," said Ginny, "Ask Daphne if you want to know anything else."

"What?" said Hermione, "You're just going to leave things at that?"

"Yes," said Ginny, "For a good reason. One which I assure you, Daphne can explain."

Hermione nodded again. Then she stopped and gave Ginny a sad look.

"It must be horrible to have his memories," she said.

"You have no idea," said Ginny, "Even as a boy, he was so evil. So horrible."

Suddenly, Hermione hugged her.

"I'm so sorry I made this harder on you," said Hermione, "I want to talk more about it later. I just don't know where to start right now."

"That's all right," said Ginny, "I'm used to it now."

"Now who's deluding themselves?" asked Hermione.

Ginny smiled. She had to admit, Hermione was right.

XXXXX

Hermione knocked on the door to Daphne and Tracey's room. Tracey opened the door and looked at Hermione sourly.

"I'm sorry I wasn't at the match Tracey," apologized Hermione, "I had my head up my arse, and I'm sorry."

"Is your head out of your arse?" asked Tracey.

"Yes, thanks to Ginny," she said, "But I need to talk to Daphne privately."

"Okay, I forgive you," said Tracey as she walked out of the room.

Hermione sat down next to Daphne. "Ginny told me about the marriage contract," she said simply. Ginny hadn't told Daphne about the thing with Riddle, so Hermione still had to be careful about that.

"I see," said Daphne, "What did she say about it?"

"Just that it exists and she wants to be rid of it, but she told me she didn't need my help and that I should ask you about it if I had more questions," said Hermione.

Daphne let out a sigh of relief. "Good. If Ginny had asked you for help directly it would have been a problem. Simply put, the only way out for them is for them to break the virginity clause in the contract."

"What!?" demanded Hermione.

"Not with each other of course, that wouldn't work," said Daphne. "But the way things are worded if either of them breaks the contract they will have some very bad… ill effects."

"So then how do we help them?" asked Hermione.

"Simple," said Daphne, "We need someone to break that clause without explicit permission. There are ways to do it, of course. One person tells him to leave if he doesn't want to take part, then another person comes in and does what is necessary. This person would have his implied consent, he just wouldn't be able to give it to them directly."

"You want me to do this," accused Hermione.

"I may have assumed that you would want to once you were older," said Daphne, "I mean you just have to do it before he turns seventeen. And I would never try to ask you to do this if I didn't think…"

Hermione held up her hand. "I see the problem. Thank you, Daphne. I will do my best to help, when the time comes."

"You will?" asked Daphne.

Hermione blushed, "The idea… well I'm not ready for it now. But I do kind of want that sort of relationship with Harry. In the long term."

"Well then it's settled. Just don't tell Harry you've decided yet. He might accidently thank you." said Daphne.

"And that would be him giving me permission," said Hermione, "Okay, I understand."

Hermione stood up. "Now I have to apologize to him for treating him so badly."

Daphne smiled. "He'll forgive you," she said, "He loves you."

Hermione smiled right back, "So I've been told."

XXXXX

Harry lay on his bed sullenly, absently petting Crookshanks. It had been a bad couple of weeks, and a bad day in particular. And with Ginny likely having enraged Hermione further, he didn't see much hope of things getting better. He got it though. He really did. Hermione was terrified of losing him, she'd shown that last summer. The entire thing was clearly still eating her up, and her parents probably hadn't intended to do it, but they'd stoked those fires rather effectively.

Then Harry noticed the door to the room opening slowly. Hermione peeked in then opened the door all the way and closed it quickly. She walked over to his bed and sat down on it, by Harry's feet.

"Can we talk Harry?" she asked timidly.

Harry sat up. "Go ahead," he said neutrally. He didn't want to discourage her, but at the same time he didn't want her to think that he was desperate to reconcile with her. Even though he was.

"First, I want to apologize," said Hermione, "I'm sorry I missed your Quidditch match. I know it means a lot to you that I'm there. And I'm really sorry I attacked you over the house elves. You were right about everything. I was upset, and while a very tiny part of it was with that situation, it was mostly about my own insecurities."

Harry didn't say anything. He'd let her finish.

"The truth is, I'm still afraid of losing you," she said, "and with all the secrets you've been keeping it felt like you were pulling away from me. I don't think I ever really recovered from my anxiety earlier in the year. I think I was just suppressing it. But it isn't just you. I feel like everything in my life that I want, that I hope for, could so easily slip away. Everything in the magical world is so corrupt, I just couldn't take it."

"You know there is a very good reason that I'm keeping those secrets right Hermione?" asked Harry, "I'm protecting Ginny from that same corruption."

"I know," said Hermione, "She told me everything."

"Everything?" asked Harry.

"She told me about the marriage contract," said Hermione, "and I am so sorry about that. I won't say anything more, but Daphne filled me in completely."

Harry gulped. That was ominous.

"She also told me about Tom," said Hermione, "so I know about her memories. I'm so sorry I made things harder on both of you."

Harry smiled warmly. "Thank you, Hermione, you have no idea what this means to me," he said earnestly, "So if I can ask, what did you and Daphne talk about?"

Hermione smiled. "Oh Harry, I understand why that topic might make you… curious. But I can't talk about it. And you know why."

Harry gulped. Had she agreed to…? He shook his head. No, speculating over this was not a good idea.

"Well, I'm glad you know those things," said Harry, "I really did want you to know them." He scooted over so that he was closer to her.

"I know," said Hermione. She turned her head towards him, and suddenly their faces were close together. Harry had a sudden urge to kiss her again.

_No, she wouldn't want that,_ he thought.

And then Hermione leaned in and kissed him. It was a lot like the kiss they'd shared over the holidays, but Harry sensed so much more behind it. Well, if this was a part of her apology, Harry wasn't going to complain.

When she finally pulled back, Harry was wearing a goofy grin, "Wow, uh, when do we get to do that again?"

Hermione giggled, "Well, how about now?" she asked as she went in for another kiss. This time she wrapped her arms around Harry. He quickly reciprocated, and suddenly they were full on snogging.

After a minute of two (or maybe five, Harry had stopped paying attention) Harry pulled his lips away. "Great as this is, I think we need to stop now," he said.

Hermione nodded and let Harry go. She looked vaguely disappointed.

"Want to go to Hogsmeade with me on the next weekend?" Harry asked.

Hermione gasped and hugged Harry again. "Yes, yes I do!" she said excitedly.

"It's a date then," said Harry almost as excitedly.

XXXXX

**March 3rd, 1994**

All of Harry and Hermione's friends seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief that the two of them had gone back to being friends. Oddly, Professor Flitwick had started giving them little winks and nods in class. Neither Harry nor Hermione could figure how he had figured out that something had changed in their friendship, but Harry had to admit that this wasn't the first time the small Professor had read the two of them like a book.

Daphne had started making a big plan for all of them to go to Hogsmeade together when the week finally came. Neither Harry or Hermione quite felt comfortable revealing that they would be going on a date, but ultimately, they realized it wouldn't be fair to the other girl to not let her know.

And so, they'd both walked up to Daphne while she was in the middle of planning.

"So, what do you two want to do in Hogsmeade?" she asked them as they walked up to her, "I have to plan our itinerary."

"We're not going to be going to Hogsmeade with you," said Harry bluntly.

"We're going together," said Hermione.

Blaise sat up with a wicked glint in his eyes. "Oh ho!" he said teasingly, "I see the two of you are finally hooking up."

Harry somehow managed to keep his composure. "I'm not sure about that, but I do know that we want to spend some time alone together."

"You spend all sorts of time alone together," said Tracey, "You room together! Not that I disapprove, mind you."

"You should invite some other people," said Harry firmly.

"Seamus, Ron and Neville might be fun," said Blaise suddenly.

Harry stopped for a moment. Blaise had been spending a lot of time with Seamus. Was it possible…?

"Ron Weasley?" asked Daphne, "No thank you."

"Ron isn't that bad," said Tracey, "Plus you seem to get along with him at the IUC." Harry noticed what might have been a hint of jealousy in Tracey's voice.

"What about Dean?" asked Hermione.

"Seamus said he's going with Parvati," said Blaise.

"Well you guys can figure it out," said Harry, "We have studying to do."

Harry and Hermione returned to their room.

"It was kind of cute the way Blaise was trying to get them to take Seamus along," said Hermione.

Harry's mouth dropped. "You knew about them?" he asked.

"Dean's a good friend of Seamus's and he's sort of seeing Parvati right now. As much as anyone our age is seeing anyone. And of course, Parvati likes to tell Padma things, and I'm pretty close with Padma. And apparently Dean has spent a lot of time with Blaise and Seamus and they are obviously super into each other," said Hermione.

"I knew Blaise was attracted in that way," said Harry, "but it wasn't until just now that it became obvious to me that he was interested in Seamus. I bet Daphne noticed it too."

"I bet _Tracey_ noticed it Harry, Blaise wasn't very subtle," said Hermione, "Luckily it doesn't seem that any of us care."

"I thought I detected Tracey being just a bit into Ron?" Harry asked.

"She probably is," said Hermione, "unfortunately, so is Daphne. She's playing hard to get."

"Ron's a good bloke, but there's no way he picks up on that," said Harry.

"I have to agree," said Hermione.

XXXXX

**March 11th, 1994**

"Harry, I want to sneak into Hogsmeade tomorrow," said Ginny on the Friday of the Hogsmeade weekend. Harry was sitting in the common room when the younger girl had approached him.

Harry gave Ginny a long appraising look. "You sure you won't get caught?"

Ginny shrugged. "I can disillusion myself," she said.

Harry shook his head. "That won't get you past McGonagall."

Ginny grinned evilly. "Fred and George told me you could help me with that."

Harry remembered the Marauder's Map. "Maybe I can help you," he said, a smile playing across his face.

XXXXX

**March 12th, 1994**

Peter Pettigrew hobbled into Hogsmeade in his Animagus form. This had been an absolutely dreadful year for him and no mistake. The moment Ron had mentioned Padfoot, Peter had known that Harry was on to him. He'd barely managed to get away, but that hadn't been the worst of it.

No, ever since that day, Sirius had been dogging him. He winced at the unfortunate pun he'd just made to himself. He'd been nearly caught by Sirius five times. The last time Sirius had bitten him in dog form, while Peter was in rat form. Hard. So, he'd come to Hogsmeade. Surrounded by dementors, it was the one place in Magical Britain Sirius Black wouldn't dare to come.

Or at least, so Peter hoped.

What Peter hadn't expected was that some (but not all) of the aurors guarding Hogsmeade were clearly searching for rats. Peter was pretty good at keeping a low profile, but he suspected that he would eventually slip up. The only thing that made sense was that Amelia Bones knew Sirius was innocent and was hunting for Peter to prove it. Which meant that Peter might not be able to stay in Hogsmeade very long anyway.

Security was worse because it was a Hogsmeade weekend at Hogwarts. On top of that the first two students Peter saw were Fred and George Weasley. Any of the Weasleys would likely recognize him, but Ron or Percy certainly would. Ginny too for that matter, though she wasn't likely to be here today. She'd always been a bit uncomfortable around him.

Peter supposed he'd had that coming. He'd often spent a lot of time looking at her, but it wasn't because of any attraction he'd had for the girl. It was just that when she was younger, she had looked so much like a young Lily Potter. It had been distracting, as he'd constantly felt as if she was Lily's ghost come back to haunt him. The last few years had seen Ginny change a lot though. She no longer looked nearly as much like Lily.

Luna had been another one he'd always watched, because she'd always seemed to look right through him. When Harry had said she was an aura reader, Peter had immediately realized it was true. From then on, he'd done his level best to avoid the girl. He supposed that if the girls remembered him staring at them dressing, they might have decided he was a bit of a pervert. Which he had to admit he probably was, though not in the way they thought. He wasn't interested in little girls.

The group that had included Ron Weasley had also been a bit of a worry. Ron was flanked by Greengrass and Davis. Peter actually wished Ron fairly well. The boy had always been fairly conscientious of his wellbeing. And if it hadn't been for his warning, accidental though it may have been, Harry Potter certainly would have exposed him. But Ron was by far the most likely to recognize Peter, even though Peter would think that he'd have more of his attention on the two girls who were clearly vying for his affection.

When he saw Harry and Hermione walking into the bookshop, however, an intense anger overtook him. There was the boy who was responsible for all of this. Harry had ended his comfortable life with the Weasleys. Harry was responsible for this last year of fear and flight and being bitten by Sirius Black. Peter wanted to just transform in the middle of the street and cut the boy down. But no, he'd be killed almost instantly. He could kill the girl. Clearly, he liked her. Then suddenly it clicked. If he could just get Harry away from her for a moment, he could finally have a bit of revenge.

**Author's Note: **Did a double Christmas post, so this note will be short.

Harry and Hermione's fight was something that had to happen. They need to understand that they are capable of hurting the other. But Hermione needed something she cared about a lot to be the excuse that allowed her to express her frustration. Thus, the argument was over house elves.

The scene where Ginny charges in and screams at Hermione for failing to understand how much Hermione means to Harry is one of my favorites. In fact Ginny getting angry is almost always great.


	23. A Black Night

**Chapter 23: A Black Night**

**March 12th, 1994**

Harry and Hermione had spent the earliest part of the day in the book store, then they'd gone to Zonkos. Hermione had made a large fuss about how immature most of the products there were, but she laughed at things there considerably more than she should have if that was the case. Harry suspected that she was putting on a front. Then they had picked up some quills and parchment at the Scriptorium.

It was getting towards lunchtime, and Hermione suggested that they eat at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. Neither of them had ever been there as they'd been told it was mostly frequented by couples. Harry was willing, though he had a feeling that it wasn't going to be all that interesting to either of them.

Sure enough, Harry and Hermione discovered the inside of the tea shop was gaudily decorated with lace and frills and all sorts of other decorations that were, in Harry's opinion, rather tacky. Also, the entire room was filled with kissing teenagers. Harry wasn't exactly sure what to think about that. While he certainly was interested in kissing, he wasn't so sure he wanted to do it in such a public place. Still, he was game for just about anything today.

That sat down and ordered drinks and some pastries. It wasn't really going to give them a big meal, but there would be a large meal at Hogwarts later, so Harry didn't feel shorted. The table they had been given was rather close to the front of the shop though, and Harry felt as if they were being put on display.

Once their tea got there they started talking. For once, Harry was nervous talking to Hermione. He didn't understand why. He'd never had this problem before. Then he realized that whether he wanted to or not, he was probably going to have to kiss her in front of all these people.

Well, if that was what Hermione wanted, he'd give it to her.

"This place is a bit tacky," said Hermione.

"Yeah," said Harry, "Looks like people only come here for one reason."

"And what is that Harry?" she asked.

Seeing an opportunity he leaned over and kissed her. The kiss was very nice, but Harry felt exposed to giving it.

As he sat back after the kiss, he noticed that Hermione had turned scarlet.

"Everything okay?" he asked her.

"Yes. It's just…" Hermione hesitated. "This is a little public for me," she admitted.

"Wait, I thought you wanted to do this in public," said Harry, "I thought that's why you asked me here."

"No, I wanted to come here because Daphne recommended it," explained Hermione.

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "She tricked us it seems."

The two of them finished their tea, having a good laugh about Daphne's trick.

"We could head back to the castle early and find a broom closet," Harry suggested.

"Sounds more fun than staying here." agreed Hermione, "let me just use the loo."

Harry nodded as Hermione got up. This date was suddenly looking up.

XXXXX

Hermione finished pulling up her leggings. She'd been rather careful to dress warmly, but hadn't wanted to wear jeans on her first date. She still couldn't believe that most magicals were comfortable wearing nothing but their skivvies under their robes. There were only two stalls in this tiny bathroom, plus one sink. She heard a skittering noise but didn't see anyone in the next stall. Curious.

She left the stall and went to wash her hands. She looked down at her soapy hands, then looked up into the mirror. And in the mirror, she saw a dirty unkempt man behind her. She instantly recognized him as Peter Pettigrew. She started to scream, but he grabbed her arm and suddenly she felt as if she was being sucked through a straw.

XXXXX

Harry heard something from the girl's loo, but it was too loud in the crowded tea shop to know more. He shook his head. It was probably the toilet flushing.

XXXXX

Justin was having an odd day. To be sure, he considered Susan Bones a very good friend, but when she'd asked him to Hogsmeade he hadn't quite known what to think. As it turned out, she had just wanted her first date to be with a friend she knew would treat her well, rather than with some boy of possibly more impure intentions. Still, Justin was fairly sure he didn't like Susan that way. Of course, that wasn't necessarily an impediment to the two of them fooling around a bit, especially in Hufflepuff where oftentimes friendships were a bit more… intense.

And so Susan had led Justin to the outskirts of the village. He wasn't entirely unenthusiastic about spending time with her, but he had rather hoped he'd do this sort of thing the first time with a girl who was interested in him.

They found a cozy spot under a tree that seemed fairly dry and sat down. But before either of them could start anything there was a loud pop from about 30 yards away. It was the sound of an apparition. Justin looked around the tree only to see a short dirty man who looked like a rat manhandling Hermione Granger! He was searching her rather roughly, and finally found her wand, which he tucked in a pocket. "Go on! That way girl!" he shouted at her.

Well there was just no good way to interpret this, thought Justin. Hermione had been kidnapped.

"Cast a tracking charm on me," whispered Justin, "Then get help. I'll follow them."

Susan nodded. Justin was better at moving quietly. As soon as the man began moving Susan snuck away, sparing one last glance towards Justin who was sneaking behind the kidnapper.

XXXXX

"What do you mean she isn't in there?" asked Harry, "She hasn't come out."

Madam Puddifoot just shrugged. It was probably not uncommon for teenagers to ditch dates in her shop. But Harry knew that wasn't what had happened. He paid for the tea and walked out the door.

Soon he saw his friends. Daphne, Blaise, Tracey, Seamus, Ron, and Neville were talking outside the Three Broomsticks. Harry ran up to them.

"Hermione has disappeared!" said Harry. "She went into the girl's loo in Madam Puddifoot's and didn't come out!"

"You went there!" laughed Tracey.

"She was probably so embarrassed that she made a runner," said Seamus.

"Hermione wouldn't do that!" said Harry.

"No, she wouldn't," said Ginny, who suddenly appeared in front of them. She was carrying several parcels, some of them containing potions ingredients. Harry wondered what her game was there.

Ron's eyes bulged, "Ginny what are you doing here?

"I'm doing some errands for the twins," said Ginny, "So they have plausible deniability. Draco's been causing Colin some trouble and they're getting a bit of payback."

Suddenly Susan Bones ran up to them. "I just saw a dirty man who looked like a rat disapparate on the edge of the village! He had Hermione with him, and he looked like he was holding her hostage."

"Peter," said Harry in a gruff voice. Suddenly all the Slytherins got very serious.

"Oh bloody hell, this is what we get for doubting Harry," said Blaise.

"Justin's following her, I put a general tracking charm on him so you'll be able to follow him!" said Susan, "Now I need to find a teacher or Kingsley. Aunt Amelia told me I should bring any news of Pettigrew to Kingsley Shacklebolt."

"Everyone, stay here!" said Harry as he cast the charm to follow the tracking charm. He then ran off in the direction it indicated.

"Like hell I will!," said Ginny as she followed him, dropping her parcel "But seriously, the rest of you get help! Peter Pettigrew killed 10 people at once!"

The rest of the Slytherins looked about to go after them, as did the Gryffindors. But Susan glared at them. "We need to get help you idiots!" she screamed.

"Bloody Gryffindors _and _bloody Slytherins acting like Gryffindors," she muttered to herself.

XXXXX

Pettigrew threw Hermione down in a hollow of a tree some small way into the Forbidden Forest. It was rather uncomfortable down there, but Hermione had no time to worry about that. Pettigrew stopping might be a very bad thing.

"So how should we do this!" said Pettigrew angrily, "I could just kill you now, leave your corpse to be found. That would devastate Potter, but I wouldn't get to see his face. No, no, I'll have to lure him here somehow. Kill you in front of him, then kill him. He ruined everything. I was comfortable and he ruined it ALL!"

Hermione stood up. "Then you need me alive," she said.

Pettigrew gave a wretched laugh, then suddenly decked Hermione, sending her sprawling. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, his hot breath shooting saliva over the side of her face.

"Oh no, I could do just as well throwing your severed head at him," he said, his eyes on fire. Hermione cringed away from him.

"Leave the girl alone rat," said a voice that was unfamiliar to Hermione. Pettigrew immediately grabbed Hermione by the neck and pulled her to her feet as he spun around and put his wand to her head.

Hermione recognized the man standing there. It was Sirius Black.

"Make a move and I kill your godson's girlfriend," said Pettigrew.

"You always were a coward," said Sirius, "Killed 10 innocent people rather than turn yourself in. Lived as a rat rather than pay for your crimes. You disgust me. To think I called you a friend."

"You always were condescending to me Black," said Pettigrew, "But I'll have the last laugh this time."

"_Expelliarmus!_" shouted another voice. Hermione was stunned as Justin Finch-Fletchley jumped out after his spell.

Pettigrew leapt behind Hermione and suddenly put his hand on the front of her throat as he began casting spells. One squeeze and she'd be a goner.

Suddenly another spell joined the fray. Harry was there, trying to disarm Pettigrew. And Ginny ran up behind him.

Ginny at least had the sense to cast a more effective spell. "_Accio Hermione!_" she shouted.

Hermione suddenly found herself jerked out of Pettigrew's grip as she flew towards Ginny. Ginny caught Hermione on the fly.

"_Stupefy!_" cast Sirius.

Completely exposed, Peter fell to the ground unconscious as the spell hit him.

"Nice summoning charm girl!" said Sirius, "Not many your age could pull that off."

"There's more to me than meets the eye," said Ginny a bit saucily.

"We have him!" shouted Harry, "We have Pettigrew!"

Hermione walked over to the unconscious rat and searched his pockets, recovering her wand.

"Ginny, Justin, go back towards town and find Kingsley Shacklebolt," said Harry, "Madam Bones trusts him. Once he gets here we'll be able to put Pettigrew away and clear Sirius."

The two of them both nodded and began to head back towards town.

"I've hunted this rat all across England and Scotland," said Sirius, "Good to have that over with."

"Sorry we didn't get to find that broom closet Harry," said Hermione with a weak smile.

"All that matters is that you're all right," said Harry.

Sirius laughed, "Looking for broom closets already? Your parents would be proud of you. Well, James would be. Lily would probably find it funny but tell you that there was no rush."

"I was thinking of inviting you to come with me on vacation this year Harry," said Hermione, "my parents are planning to do the vacation we had to cut short this year."

"Now that sounds like a good idea!" said Sirius with a wicked grin, "I insist you do it. I insist you use my money to do it! A pretty girl invites you on a vacation with her? I'd disown you if you didn't go!"

"If we can convince your parents, I'd love to go." said Harry, "Though Dumbledore might object. He seems to be trying to get me interested in Ginny for some reason."

"Leave Dumbledore to me," said Sirius, "I'll be your guardian soon enough."

Suddenly, Hermione's blood seemed to go cold, as did the air around her.

"Oh, bollocks," said Sirius.

XXXXX

Ginny and Justin made their way back to town. They walked quickly but didn't run over the uneven forest ground. Ginny felt awkward being alone with Justin. He'd shown no indication that he'd forgiven her.

"Ginny," said Justin, "I wanted to talk to you…"

"Shhh!" said Ginny as she stopped suddenly. "I hear something."

A sound like an eerie wind seemed to be getting closer. It was barely noticeable, but Tom had studied dementors extensively.

"Dementors incoming," she said.

"What?" asked Justin, "How can you tell?"

Suddenly the air seemed to get cold.

"They're here," said Ginny pulling out her wand.

Dozens of dementors began to fly past. Most of them seemed to be heading towards where Harry, Hermione, and Sirius were. But a few pushed towards Ginny and Justin.

"_Expecto Patronum!_" shouted Justin as he tried to cast his Patronus. His shield came out. Against one dementor it might have worked. But at least four were attacking him. Justin began to fall to his knees, as he tried to move his shield to hold off the dementors. But it was no use.

Ginny realized that none of the dementors had focused on her. It was probably her Occlumency. It made her less of an appetizing meal for them. She could just run, leave Justin here. No one would blame her. What could she do against four dementors?

Ginny growled that thought down. No, she wasn't going to do that. That is what Riddle would have done. And she was better than him. And the moment she accepted that she realized the truth. She was better than Riddle. She was her own person. And she'd be damned if she didn't hold to herself.

"_Expecto Patronum!_" she yelled. Her wand flared and a horse made of light leaped from her wand. The four dementors didn't hesitate, all four fled instantly.

Ginny ran over to help Justin. With her help, he managed to get back on his feet.

"Thanks for the help Ginny," he said, "I was going to apologize to you. For what I said a few weeks ago. I shouldn't have blown up at you. I know you didn't try to hurt me. And now you've gone and saved my life."

"Well don't go saying that," said Ginny, "The last thing I need is you owing me a life debt. You're a friend of Harry's. That's good enough for me."

Justin nodded in agreement. "Friends then?"

"Yeah," said Ginny, "Now we have got to get an adult! Those dementors are heading towards Harry!"

And as she turned around she ran straight into Professor Snape. An Auror Ginny recognized as Kingsley Shacklebolt was behind him.

"Funny," said Snape, "I could have sworn you were a second year."

XXXXX

The light fizzled on Sirius's wand again as dementors pushed against him. He was having a very bad time of it. Hermione had conjured her Patronus Shield, and Harry's shield was still holding, but neither could leave the other's side for fear of leaving the other unprotected. There were so many dementors!

Suddenly Pettigrew bolted upright! The dementors had awakened him. But instead of fighting the dementors, he immediately transformed into a rat and ran. There was nothing to be done. They had to let him flee. Hermione cursed that rat, but there was no time.

"You have to defend Sirius!" she shouted, "I can handle myself!"

"No, it's too dangerous!" shouted Harry back.

"Sirius will die!" said Hermione, "I'll stand my ground!"

Harry looked at his godfather, almost rendered catatonic by the dementors. At that moment Hermione kissed him.

"Save him," she said.

Harry's Patronus shield turned bright. And he charged the dementors. More closed in behind him, but he managed to drive those hovering over his godfather back. Still, the weight of numbers wore against them. Harry's Patronus shield quickly began to flicker. He looked over at Hermione. Her shield held, but she couldn't breakthrough.

"Save yourself!" Harry screamed.

No, no she couldn't leave him here. Hermione was not about to let Harry fall here. She couldn't lose him. Not like this. Her sadness began to manifest in her Patronus as it flickered even more than Harry's.

"Noooo!" shouted Harry as he fought to push through the dementors to her side. But he couldn't. Hermione smiled. Even now, when they were about to die, he tried to save her above anything else. She felt foolish for ever thinking that Harry would abandon her. He wouldn't abandon her, no matter what. He would die for her. He would die for any of his friends.

So why was she so worried about it? He wasn't going to abandon her! None of her friends were! This last year Hermione had allowed herself to become a victim. She'd allowed herself to depend on Harry completely, rather than using his strength to complement her own. But she had that strength. If she wanted to save Harry, it was up to her to do it!

And suddenly, her shield was strong again and concentrating all her love and hopes for the future into her spell, an otter leaped from her wand. It swept through the dementors surrounding Harry and Sirius driving them back. And as the dementors left, Harry's wand erupted into his stag. The stag tore through the remaining dementors surrounding Hermione sending them scattering.

The dementors began to reform on the edge of the small clearing, but then two Patroni, a horse and a doe, charged the dementors, and they fled. After a couple of moments, Ginny ran into the clearing, followed by Severus Snape and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Bloody dementors," said Kingsley, "There's a reason we keep them on Azkaban."

"Where is Pettigrew?" said Snape coldly.

"He got away when the dementors attacked," said Sirius wearily.

"He was here though," said Harry.

Kingsley shook his head. "That won't be enough for Fudge. He's dead set on silencing Sirius here. We'd have to have Pettigrew in custody or his corpse."

Harry growled. "That self-serving bastard."

Snape raised an eyebrow at that, but he didn't say anything.

"Sirius isn't in any condition to go anywhere right now," said Hermione, "But we need to get him to safety."

"What about Hogwarts?" asked Ginny, "If we can get him onto the grounds without anyone seeing him…"

Harry looked at Sirius. "That's possible," said Harry.

Hermione nearly hit herself. Of course, Sirius was an animagus!

"Well the less you tell me the better," said Kingsley, "I have to report to Scrimgeour, not Amelia. He has a talent for sniffing out liars."

"Why don't you see if you can find Pettigrew?" asked Hermione, "Even if you don't, you can say you were hunting for Sirius."

"Good idea," said Kingsley, "I'll see you later."

Snape seemed to stare at Sirius as if he was going to grow an extra head any minute. As soon as Kingsley was gone, Sirius turned to the Potions Master.

"Thank you, Severus," he said, "I know we've had our differences…"

"Don't thank me yet," Snape cut him off, "We have a long way to go before you are out of hot water."

"Of course," said Sirius, who then transformed into Padfoot.

XXXXX

Snape managed to bluff Sirius past the gates by saying he was bringing him to Hagrid. Dumbledore was waiting in the entrance hall, with Professors Flitwick, McGonagall, and Lupin. Otherwise, it was empty.

"We've heard all sorts of rumors about Peter Pettigrew in the village and dementors swarming," said McGonagall, "Do you four have any idea what is going on?"

"I was kidnapped by Peter Pettigrew," said Hermione, "He was trying to kill me to punish Harry for exposing the fact that he was Scabbers to the Weasleys."

"Pettigrew was an Animagus?" asked McGonagall incredulously.

"Please Minerva, don't act so surprised," said Snape, "It explains so much about the marauders."

"Sirius Black and Justin arrived at the same time but Pettigrew threatened to kill me. Then Ginny and Harry arrived and Ginny summoned me. So then Sirius stunned Pettigrew." explained Hermione.

"Ginny and Justin went back to get help, but then dementors attacked and Pettigrew got away," said Harry, "We managed to drive off the dementors with our Patronuses, but it was too late."

"Where is Mr. Black then?" asked Flitwick.

Remus snickered. "He's right here," he said as he scratched Padfoot's head.

"Another Animagus trained right under my nose," said McGonagall, "I must be losing my touch."

"I'll keep him hidden in the Dark Arts classroom," said Remus.

"He'll need to leave no later than tomorrow," said Snape, "Without Pettigrew, we can't prove his innocence to Fudge."

"I can't believe Fudge…" started McGonagall.

"Fudge knew Sirius did not get a trial," said Dumbledore, "as did I. While I offer no defense for my actions, Fudge will do almost anything to cover up his."

McGonagall nodded glumly.

"You three," Snape said to Harry, Hermione, and Ginny, "You've all done well, summoning Patroni. But you should all go to the hospital wing to get checked out. If you want to get dinner before going to bed you may, but I expect no detours from you tonight. Dealing with the aftermath of a dementor attack is difficult enough as it is."

Harry nodded, and Hermione and Ginny joined him.

"Oh, and Miss Weasley?" said Snape, "We'll discuss your punishment for leaving the school without permission tomorrow."

Ginny grimaced.

XXXXX

Madam Pomfrey was quite impressed with Harry, Hermione and Ginny's conditions given that they had just been attacked by dementors. She gave them all chocolate, and orders to eat a big meal and get a good night's rest. The three of them decided to head down to the Great Hall as dinner was starting in less than an hour. When they reached the Entrance Hall, they heard Fudge arguing with Dumbledore.

"There is no validity to the idea that Pettigrew is still alive Albus, I just can't see it," said the Minister.

"I do hope you are right Minister," said Dumbledore, "But what if you are wrong? Would you condemn Sirius Black to a fate worse than death not knowing what is happening?"

"I know what is happening," said Fudge, "Black is trying to convince us to break off the search!"

"Ugh, let's go outside," said Harry, "I don't want to deal with Fudge right now." The three of them went out onto the grounds. The sun was just beginning to set, and in the distance, Harry saw carriages returning from Hogsmeade.

"Was Justin all right?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, he was fine," said Ginny, "He even forgave me for petrifying him after I chased the dementors away for him."

Harry laughed.

"Sorry your date got ruined," said Ginny.

"We were coming back to the school for a quiet snog anyway," said Hermione.

Harry blushed, but Ginny just laughed. "Good for you guys," she said.

Suddenly, Harry felt a chill on the breeze. A dementor chill. Looking up, he saw hundreds of dementors throwing themselves at the school wards.

"Bloody hell," said Harry, "Fudge must know Sirius is here! He must be keeping Dumbledore distracted while he sends the dementors in."

"But the wards will hold right?" asked Hermione.

"No," said Ginny with certainty, "The wards aren't equipped to handle hundreds of dementors. The wards aren't equipped to handle hundreds of anything! Even a single wizard could break through if they are determined enough. They'd just be detected."

"But they'll kill Sirius!" said Hermione.

Harry shook his head. "The castle isn't safe. Ready or not, Sirius has to get away now."

All of a sudden a group of dementors broke through the wards and made a beeline for the defense against the Dark Arts office.

"How will we get there in time? And we can't get Sirius out the front gate!" said Ginny.

Harry turned towards the Quidditch pitch. "We need to get our brooms," he said. The three of them ran into the Slytherin Locker room and Harry and Ginny opened their lockers. They'd been keeping their brooms here under special security spells all season as aside from Harry's Firebolt and Nimbus, all the brooms technically belonged to the team. Ginny grabbed her Nimbus 2001 while Harry pulled out his Firebolt and his old Nimbus 2000.

"Hermione, hold onto me, but also hold my old broom," said Harry. Harry mounted his broom and Hermione climbed on behind him. Ginny was already off. Harry kicked off and soon he and Hermione were climbing into the air. She gripped him tightly as if she were afraid she would fall.

Ginny had taken point and had somehow deployed her Patronus already. "A few got inside!" she yelled as she staved off more dementors flying through the wards.

Harry flew into the window of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Remus was fending off dementors mostly successfully. Hermione summoned her Patronus and the dementors fled.

"Fudge knows Sirius is here!" shouted Harry.

"That's a little obvious!" replied Remus, "What do you want to wager Snape sold Sirius out?"

"We don't know it's Snape that sold you out," said Hermione.

Sirius and Remus both gave each other incredibly guilty looks. "Yes we do," said Sirius cryptically.

"Well, take this broom," said Harry, "We have to go."

Hermione threw Sirius Harry's Nimbus. Sirius mounted up and took one last look at his friend. "Goodbye Remus, I hope to see you soon."

"Goodbye Sirius," said Remus.

Harry and Hermione flew out the window, with Sirius close behind. Harry flew straight for the mass of dementors.

"Hermione!" he yelled.

Hermione directed her Patronus at the dementors. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ginny's Patronus as well. The Dementors scattered, and the three students and one fugitive flew out over the Forest.

They flew for sometime when suddenly they saw a beam of light from the forest. It flew by, a Patronus in the form of a phoenix.

"Dumbledore's down there," said Sirius.

They flew low and sure enough, there was the Headmaster, with his real phoenix on his shoulder. All of them came in for a landing.

"Well done Harry!" said Dumbledore, "Fudge had me distracted, but luckily you showed a remarkable presence of mind. Unfortunately, we were not able to clear you, Sirius."

Sirius shook his head. "I'm alive and free, that's all that matters now."

"I would suggest that you leave the country for a time," said Dumbledore.

"Probably good advice," said Sirius.

"The three of you had better get back to the castle," said Dumbledore, "Perhaps you should check in with Madam Pomfrey again."

The three students nodded.

"Mind if I keep the Nimbus Harry?" asked Sirius.

"I guess I traded a Nimbus for a Firebolt," said Harry, "A pretty good trade."

Harry walked up and hugged his godfather.

"I will clear your name Sirius, I promise you," said Harry.

"Take care of him, Hermione," said Sirius, "If he's anything like his father he'll need it."

"I will," replied Hermione.

XXXXX

As soon as the kids were gone, Sirius turned to Dumbledore. "I do have a favor to ask Albus," said Sirius more somberly.

"Of course Sirius," said Dumbledore.

"I should be Harry's guardian, don't you agree?" Sirius asked.

"Of course," said Dumbledore, "Though legally speaking…"

"Yes, yes, I know I can't legally take care of him now," Sirius interrupted, "That doesn't change the fact that I think I should have at least a small say in how Harry is taken care of,"

"I agree with that," said Dumbledore.

"I don't know if you've noticed," Sirius began, "but my godson seems rather taken with Miss Granger."

Dumbledore's eyes glinted, "Is that so?"

"She wants to invite him on vacation," said Sirius, "If she can get her parents to agree, let him go. My godson deserves some fun in his life, especially after having to deal with the Dursleys."

Dumbledore seemed to hesitate, then he bowed his head, "Very well Sirius, I can hardly deny your request. Perhaps a vacation is precisely what he needs."

"And a piece of advice," said Sirius, "If he's anything like his father, trying to force him to be with a girl is unlikely to work. It's more likely to drive them apart. Harry noticed. He's not going to play along."

Dumbledore shook his head. "I should not forget that Harry is a Slytherin."

"You really shouldn't," said Sirius, "because from what I see he's a damn good Slytherin. Which means you won't be able to hide things from him for long. But he also has the courage of a Gryffindor and the loyalty of a Hufflepuff. Trust him!"

Dumbledore looked a bit troubled, but Sirius didn't know if he had gotten through to him.

"Farewell Albus," said Sirius.

"Farewell Sirius," said Dumbledore.

XXXXX

To say that Madam Pomfrey was upset to see the three dementor fighters back in the hospital wing was an understatement. She was positively enraged that the three of them had gone out to fight dementors AGAIN. She'd immediately ordered them confined to the hospital wing for the rest of the night.

"You'll get a good meal and a good night's rest, even if I have to force it down your throats!"

"We're not going anywhere," said Harry. "No more dementors for us."

"At least today," said Ginny.

Madam Pomfrey looked briefly as if she wanted to strangle Ginny. The food brought up by the elves was very good though, and then Ginny's brothers came up to make sure she was all right. Luna also stopped by as a representative of the Slytherin contingent. Luna had brought some enchanted lights with her that took the form of various creatures (to cheer them up). Fred and George tried casting a spell of some sort on one of them, and it exploded, leading to the Weasleys and Luna all being ejected from the infirmary.

Finally, Madam Pomfrey told them it was time for bed. Harry climbed into his bed sadly. It had been a rough day. Hermione had nearly died. He'd been so close to having his godfather back, but everything had fallen apart. Harry sighed sorrowfully. Rough didn't cover it. It was a _disaster_ of a day.

Suddenly he felt someone crawling into bed in front of him. He opened his eyes to see Hermione.

"I thought we weren't doing this anymore," said Harry.

"Special occasion," said Hermione.

"Ooh, can I join!" said Ginny.

Harry wondered how they'd all fit. These hospital beds were made for only one person after all.

"The more the merrier," said Hermione, "I don't think any of us want to be alone right now."

Ginny slid onto the bed behind Harry and wrapped her arms around him, while Hermione held him from the front.

And at that moment, Harry knew true peace. Held by his two best friends, he drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note: **And that wraps up the main plot of year 3. There's still the aftermath to deal with next chapter, but Year 4 is on the horizon now.

One point. Some people seemed to think that I had a problem with the concept of arranged marriages as a whole being used in stories, which I don't. My problem is with the history of arranged marriages in Britian; they stopped being a thing except for very high nobility centuries ago. Shakespeare made fun of arranged marriages because they were seen as old fashioned in his time. So I just don't like stories where everyone treats arranged marriages in magical Britain as normal, because arranged marriages stopped being a thing in mainline British culture before the Statute of Secrecy. Which, I guess would make it not British culture because that's also before the Act of Union, but you know what I mean! (Can you tell I'm a giant history nerd?)

Also I dropped a huge fucking hint as to who was behind Harry and Ginny getting sorted into Slytherin in the last two Chapters. Obviously I didn't bring it up in relation to the sorting, that would give the game away. But I think you actually have enough information now to guess correctly based on evidence.

Oh and yes, for those who are going to ask, Ginny/Justin is where I'm headed with that relationship. I wrote Justin into Chapter 1 on a whim originally, and very quickly decided he was going to end up with Ginny. I mean I have never, I mean EVER seen that pairing.


	24. Preparing for the Worst

**Chapter 24: Preparing for the Worst**

**March 13th, 1994**

Harry woke slowly the next day. He did feel content wedged between his two friends. Ginny's hand was on his shoulder, while Hermione had put her arm around his neck. He'd managed to get one arm around Hermione's waist. All in all, it was a pretty nice way to wake up.

"You awake Hermione?" he asked.

"I've been awake for about half an hour," admitted Hermione, "you seemed comfortable though."

"Are you all right Hermione?" Harry asked. "I know we kind of rushed by things yesterday."

"I'm getting there," said Hermione, "It isn't every day someone says they're going to cut off your head and throw it at your best friend. Not to mention going through two separate dementor attacks."

"He threatened to kill you?" asked Harry, his voice very subdued.

Hermione nodded.

Harry somehow managed to get his other arm around Hermione and he pulled her as close to him as he could. Hermione rested her head on his shoulder contentedly.

"That's pretty fucked up," said Ginny.

"You been awake this whole time?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah," said Ginny, "I've been watching you two. You're rather cute together."

"Well I'm sure they are glad that you approve Miss Weasley," said the rather harsh voice of Professor McGonagall.

"Oh, hello Professor," Harry said lamely. This was, perhaps, not the best situation to get caught in.

"Care to explain what the three of you are doing?" asked McGonagall.

"We slept together," said Ginny, "Emphasis on slept." McGonagall's face seemed to go scarlet, whether, from anger or embarrassment, Harry couldn't tell. Probably some combination of the two.

"Not a bad idea either," said Madam Pomfrey as she hustled into the room, "It's a good way to keep away bad dreams the night after a single dementor attack, never mind two of them."

"Well, still..." McGonagall said, trying to regain her composure.

Harry very regretfully stopped hugging Hermione. "It was all three of us together ma'am. We weren't doing anything. We just didn't want to be alone."

McGonagall's compassion won out over her sense of decorum. "Oh, just don't make a habit of it Potter," she said finally.

"Is Professor Dumbledore available?" asked Hermione. Harry wondered that as well. He had a few things to discuss with the old man.

"Minister Fudge is expected shortly…" said Minerva, which prompted Harry to jump out of bed.

"Potter!" yelled Madam Pomfrey.

"I'm fine Madam Pomfrey, but I have to talk to Fudge!" said Harry as he ran out of the infirmary door.

He made his way down to the Entrance Hall. It was early enough that there were very few people here. Fudge was just arriving, flanked by two Aurors, Kingsley and another Auror Harry didn't recognize.

"Minister," said Harry with a wave, "Do you have a moment?"

Fudge gave Harry a shrewd look, then nodded toward a corner of the hall.

Once they reached the corner, Fudge cast several charms around them. Against eavesdropping Harry assumed.

"You had a busy day yesterday, Harry," said Fudge.

"Oh yes, Minister," said Harry. "My friends and I are all rather eager to talk about it too. Though, under the right circumstances, I might be able to convince people to keep quiet. For the moment at least."

"Oh?" asked Fudge.

"Let me be clear," said Harry, "The only reason I am willing to do this is that I don't want you removed as Minister for Magic. You're current politics are useful to me. That being said, I want Sirius to be alive more, so if you want my silence, I want the manhunt for Sirius Black to end."

"If you think I can pardon Black without evidence, you're crazy," said Fudge, "I've been playing him up in the press as You-Know-Who's right-hand man. I can't pardon him. Not without real evidence."

"I know," said Harry, "I'm asking you to call off the manhunt, not exonerate him. He's left the country for the moment, so it shouldn't be too hard."

"The dementors are already gone," said Fudge, "I suppose we could call off the Aurors as well. You'll agree to stay quiet on this if I call off the manhunt then?"

"Until I can prove that Pettigrew is alive, yes," said Harry, "If I do that, all bets are off."

The Minister smiled. "As long as you allow me to act completely surprised by it, I suppose that could work," said Fudge.

A thought occurred to Harry. "How did the dementors know Black was in the school though?"

Fudge smiled, "Come now Harry, you don't expect me to tell you that, do you?"

Harry shrugged. He'd suspected someone had blabbed on Sirius. He knew Sirius and Lupin thought it was Snape, but he couldn't rule out Dumbledore, could he? After all, with Sirius out of the way Dumbledore would stay in charge of Harry. But Dumbledore had helped Sirius escape. Though he supposed even if Dumbledore wanted Sirius out of the way, he didn't necessarily want him dead.

In any case, he'd at least bought Sirius a little time. That surely had to count for something.

XXXXX

Harry met up with Hermione and Ginny in the Great Hall.

"A month of detentions," said a dejected Ginny, "but Snape agreed that he wouldn't let this affect my ability to go to Hogsmeade next year. And Ron even kept my package."

"So was it worth sneaking out?" asked Hermione.

"I got Justin to forgive me and I saved your life, so yeah, I'd say so," said Ginny.

"What were you doing in Hogsmeade?" asked Harry, "No way you were just getting things for the twins."

Ginny tilted her head. "Can't slip one past you, huh? I decided to visit Aberforth Dumbledore."

"Who?" asked Harry asked.

"He's the owner of the Hog's Head," said Ginny, "He's also the Headmaster's brother. Let's just say that he has very few good things to say about his brother, and you might do well to make his acquaintance."

"Dumbledore has agreed to apparate my folks into Hogsmeade this afternoon," said Hermione. "We could probably arrange it so we can swing by the Hogs Head after."

"Aberforth wasn't interested in talking to me, but when I mentioned you he suddenly got very interested," said Ginny, "I'd go with you, but…"

"You're completely incorrigible, you know that, right?" said Hermione.

Ginny shrugged while grinning impishly.

XXXXX

"Everything will be okay," said Harry comfortingly as he brought two butterbeers over to the table he was sharing with Hermione at the Three Broomsticks.

"I know," said Hermione, "but I keep ending up in lethal peril every year."

"And your parents will be upset. But you'll be fine. They can't pull you from school though, you know that," said Harry.

Hermione nodded, but still looked nervous. Harry supposed he couldn't blame her.

"Before they get here," started Hermione, "There is something I want to talk about."

"Oh?" asked Harry.

"Do you think we're moving a little too fast?" asked Hermione, "I'm not talking about us kissing or anything like that. What I mean is, aren't we a little young to be getting together, especially if we want it too last?"

"That's a legitimate point," said Harry, "At the same time, I can't deny that I'm starting to feel something for you."

"I know I care about you, and I care a lot," said Hermione, "but my Mum tried to explain something to me, and once again, she's right. We're not ready for a real relationship yet. We're children, and we have no idea what we are doing."

"But…" started Harry.

"We just got done hurting each other more than we have ever been hurt before," said Hermione, "and we will do it again and again unless we are smart about this. I think we're too young to be seeing _anyone_ exclusively. So I think we should just both do as we please. I think we should be willing to try to see whoever we want."

"And you, the girl who just wouldn't speak to me for over two weeks because she was jealous, is fine with this?" asked Harry skeptically.

"I was afraid I was going to lose you," said Hermione, "But I'm over that. When I summoned my Patronus I put that behind me. Here's the thing I realized. We can't just be dependent on each other. We have to be our own people. And part of that means that we need to figure out what we mean to each other. I know you would die for me, but you would die for any of your friends. I just… if we go any further with our relationship, we'll be committed. And I am not ready yet. The fact that I was so worried about you being with someone else proves that I am not ready for that."

"What about me going on vacation with you?" asked Harry.

"Let's call it a summer fling," said Hermione, "that being said, we won't have a rule against us being together. That would defeat the whole purpose of this. I just think that we should… I think we should examine all of our relationships before we commit to anything. We both need to be kids for a while still. We aren't ready to be adults, are we?"

"No, we aren't," said Harry after a long time.

"So from here on out, no jealousy," said Hermione, "we just try to have as much fun as we can. When we are ready to move on, if we move on, we'll do it because it's right for us, and not because we chose to room together three years ago."

"All right, I guess I'm game," said Harry. He wasn't exactly thrilled by this, but it made a little sense. But deep inside, he knew the truth. Hermione was willing to do this for the same reason he was. He was terrified that if they started dating exclusively that they would accidentally go too far and trigger the penalties from the marriage contract. And they needed something to distract from the fact that they couldn't be together in the way that they wanted. If they hadn't been rooming together it wouldn't be an issue. But as they were, the temptation would be too great. They had to slow down.

"Thanks, Harry," said Hermione, who leaned over and kissed Harry on the lips.

"And what do the two of you think you are doing?" asked the voice of Hermione's father. Both of Hermione's parents had just walked up. Robert might have been a little amused, but it was hard for Harry to tell. Helen, on the other hand, seemed to be on the verge of laughing.

Harry blushed furiously. He had not intended for Robert Granger to see that. Hermione, on the other hand, was unperturbed.

"We were kissing Daddy. And it was a well-earned kiss," she said without a hint of embarrassment.

Albus Dumbledore was also present, having accompanied Hermione's parents there. "I also have a matter which I wish to speak to you about, but after we are done here," he said cryptically.

Harry managed to keep his face straight. Dumbledore's presence meant that they would have to be a bit more circumspect about what they revealed. While he had no intention of telling Hermione's parents about the marriage contract, he wouldn't even be able to hint at his knowledge of it. Worse, how would Hermione be able to explain their fight properly?

Hermione sensed this as well. "Headmaster, is there somewhere we could go that's a bit more private? There are some rather… personal things that I want to tell my parents."

A few moments later, Dumbledore had them ensconced in a private room. "Once you're done, I will be in the bar," he said. He gave a meaningful look at Harry.

"Harry can stay," said Hermione, "By which I mean I need him to stay. I won't get through this without him."

"If this is just for family..." began Dumbledore.

"As far as I'm concerned, Harry is family," said Hermione. Harry wanted to hug her but realized it wasn't the time.

Dumbledore bowed his head, then left the room.

"That could have been a little inconvenient," said Hermione.

"Oh?" asked Helen.

"Some of the things we'll be telling you are a bit critical of Dumbledore," said Harry, "It would have been awkward for him to be here."

"So everything kind of started because Harry and I fought," said Hermione, "Most of that rests on me, I was being a bit jealous. Though, you did rather adroitly fan my doubts over the break."

"I was trying to do the opposite sweetie," said Helen.

"I realize that now," said Hermione, "But I wasn't ready to hear it. In any case, I wasn't able to see how messed up the situation with Harry and Ginny was because I was too wrapped up feeling sorry for myself."

"Ginny and I had some real problems, problems largely caused by the Headmaster," said Harry.

"I barely spoke to Harry for two weeks before Ginny got fed up and agreed to tell me what was happening," said Hermione sadly, "And once I found out what they were facing, I was pretty ashamed. What Dumbledore is trying to do to them is just _horrible_."

"What is it?" asked Helen.

Harry shook his head. "I wish I could tell you, but Dumbledore doesn't know that we know about this yet. We can probably get out of it if we manage to play our cards right, but if he knew what we were planning…"

"Dumbledore can read your mind, Mum," said Hermione, "If we tell you what's going on, it will be all you can think about, and you can't defend your mind."

"Plus it's Ginny's secret as well," said Harry, "Which is why I couldn't tell Hermione."

"This doesn't sound like the reason we were brought here," said Robert.

"No, it's just the setup to prepare you for what comes next," said Hermione, "The two of us made up after Ginny explained things, but after that, it became hard to ignore the five thousand pound elephant in the room. So yesterday, we went to Hogsmeade together. On a date."

Robert narrowed his eyes at Harry. "Go on," he said dangerously.

"Behave," said Helen, smacking her husband on the shoulder.

"We did some errands together, then we decided to stop at a local teashop for a light lunch," said Hermione, "But it was...weird in there."

"There was a lot of rather vigorous public kissing," said Harry, "And while I have nothing against kissing, it was a little public for me."

"Oh?" said Helen, clearly remembering what she and her husband had just walked in on.

"We aren't talking about a quick peck on the lips Mum," said Hermione, "In any case, we decided to leave, and I went to the loo first. But while I was there I was kidnapped by Peter Pettigrew."

"WHAT?" said both of her parents at the same time.

Harry reached over and took Hermione's hand. This next bit was going to be difficult.

"He apparated me out into the woods, and then he…" Hermione paused, "He told me he was going to use me to lure Harry out and then he was going to kill us. Well, I assume he meant us, but he was only talking about killing me. And when I tried to talk my way around it, well he let me know he didn't need me alive."

"Oh, that's when he…" Harry started to say before trailing off. Her parents didn't need to hear that. Both of them were already clutching each other's hands.

"Yeah," said Hermione, "Anyway, Sirius Black and Justin Finch-Fletchley showed up, Pettigrew tried to use me as a shield. Moments later Harry and Ginny showed up and Ginny summoned me away from Pettigrew, and Sirius was able to capture him."

Both of her parents seemed very relieved at that. "So Sirius is cleared now?" asked Robert.

"No," said Harry, "That's when the dementors showed up."

XXXXX

All in all, Harry thought the Grangers had taken the whole story well.

"Is there any action that can be taken against the dementors?" asked Robert.

"They're gone dad," said Hermione, "be happy about that."

"I have a mind to ban letting you leave the school," said Robert, causing Hermione's face to fall, "But I know that wouldn't be fair."

"As things stand, maybe you should consider transferring to another school," said Robert.

"No," said Hermione. Harry remained silent, though he rested his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"I don't think there is much to be gained here, dear," said Helen.

"We can invite Dumbledore back in now," said Harry.

Harry opened the door and waved the Professor in.

"I take it Hermione explained what happened?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes," said Robert, "and my takeaway is not at all complimentary as to the stability and safety of magical society."

"It has not been our finest hour, I must admit," said Dumbledore.

"What did you want to talk to us about?" asked Helen.

"Ah, yes!" said Dumbledore, "Sirius Black wished me to do something for Harry, and while it is not necessarily what I would do, I feel I must respect the wishes of his godfather. Has Hermione asked you about Harry spending the summer with you?"

"We told Hermione we were going to try to go to France again," said Robert.

"So much the better!" said Dumbledore, "Sirius wanted Harry to take a vacation."

"I'm not sure we can afford that," said Helen.

"You wouldn't have to," said Harry, "I can pay for it."

"Harry, you shouldn't spend your parent's money like that," said Helen.

"Oh, that isn't the money I'd spend," said Harry, "I inherited Sirius's fortune thanks to Fudge, and while I'm sure that one day he'll want it back, he told me specifically that if I don't use his money to fund this vacation he'll disown me."

"He said that?" asked Robert worriedly.

"Sirius is a bit of a joker," said Harry.

"Harry would have to spend the first week off of school at his aunt and uncle's place," said Dumbledore.

"We can't get away then anyway," said Helen. She looked at Robert significantly.

"Pleeeease," asked Hermione, almost desperately.

Robert finally just shrugged.

"All right, Harry can come," said Helen.

Hermione leaped up and tried to hug both her parents at once. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said excitedly.

Harry walked over to Dumbledore, "Thank you as well. I know that you are trying to lead me in... other directions, so this was unexpected."

Dumbledore sighed, "As your godfather pointed out, me trying to force your hand would likely be futile. I needed to give you space, so here it is."

Harry nodded in agreement. It was a small thing, but it felt like he had finally made some progress with the old man.

XXXXX

The Hog's Head was, in Harry's opinion, a dive. Which probably meant that all sorts of unsavory types would come here. This opinion was confirmed when he saw Madam Zabini walking out of the back room. He gave her a very slight nod as she passed. She wasn't one of his favorite people, but there was no need to be rude.

"Is Blaise in Hogsmeade today?" she asked him. She was rather pointedly ignoring Hermione.

"I saw him at the Three Broomsticks a few minutes ago," said Harry, "They'd been there a while though so he might have been getting ready to leave."

She nodded. Then made for the door. A short somewhat disheveled wizard with ginger hair ran after her.

"Dung!" screamed the bartender, an older man with grey hair, "Get out of here! I told you that you aren't welcome here anymore!"

The short wizard fled.

The bartender glanced at Harry and Hermione. "I should kick out Zabini too, but she can cause me more trouble than it's worth," he said, "Harry Potter I presume? I'm Aberforth Dumbledore."

"My friend Ginny said you wanted to see me," said Harry as he took Aberforth's proffered hand.

"Where is the girl?" asked Aberforth.

"She's a second year, and she got caught when the dementors attacked yesterday," said Hermione, who took Aberforth's hand after Harry was done, "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way."

"I'm curious as to what you think of my brother Potter," said Aberforth, "I've found him to be a meddlesome annoyance, but he's my brother, so I assume that goes with the territory."

"Is there any reason you wonder this?" asked Harry.

"Cause he's your guardian now," said Aberforth, "Don't be surprised that I know. Despite everything he still comes and asks me for advice from time to time. He rarely gives me information in return, but he has been worried enough about you that he's mentioned you."

"He tends to interfere in my life in ways I'd prefer he didn't, it's true," said Harry, "Also in ways that I find completely inappropriate."

"I was afraid of that," said Aberforth, "He's been Headmaster for decades, but as far as sole personal responsibility for the health and welfare of another person, that's something he only had once. And it ended badly. I'll give my brother some credit, he doubts his abilities in that regard, which is why he's come here asking for help. But the accounts he's been telling have been troubling. As in it sounds like he's trying to justify controlling you."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"He says you're accumulating power and establishing a faction within Hogwarts," said Aberforth, "I say you're trying to put paid to all the pureblood garbage, but you remind him a little too much of another student he had."

"Tom Riddle," said Hermione.

"I assume you know the significance behind that name?" Aberforth asked, only continuing when Harry had nodded, "Also he's worried that you don't know how to love. He thinks you are just using those around you for power, and only pretending to care about them. He's desperate to get you to show some affection for someone."

"Has he not paid any attention to our friendship?" demanded Hermione.

"Albus thinks he's using you for your brain," said Aberforth.

Harry was disturbed. This made too much sense. He'd suspected Dumbledore had thought he was turning towards becoming a dark wizard. But his was far worse. Had Dumbledore tried to force him to love Ginny through a marriage contract? The idea was ridiculous, yet Harry wondered if Dumbledore might have been desperate enough to try it. Was Dumbledore so clueless that he couldn't see how much Harry adored Hermione? Harry felt like he was missing several pieces to this puzzle, yet the whole thing worried him.

However, if this was the reason Dumbledore didn't trust him, then it made no sense that Dumbledore would sort him into Slytherin. Unless of course there was no more to the plan than to put Harry under the watchful eye of Snape. Still, Harry couldn't square this with Dumbledore being behind his sorting.

"Just for the record Hermione," said Harry, "I do love you, you know." He threw an arm around her shoulders.

"Oh?" Hermione asked. She sounded a lot like her mother when she said that.

"As my best friend and part of my family," he said.

"I don't doubt that you do boy," said Aberforth, "Albus has failed to see a Dark Lord rising twice before though. Once obviously with Riddle, but he was also friends with Grindelwald before his ascent to power. I'll give Albus this, at the end of the day he's always been on the right side. But he might see rather innocent things that you do as far more sinister, just because of his biases."

"So he's going to keep trying to save me then?" asked Harry unhappily.

"Almost certainly," said Aberforth.

"This explains why he let you go on vacation with me," said Hermione.

"Well, thank you Aberforth," said Harry, "this conversation has been most illuminating."

"One last thing," said Aberforth, "Take care with Snape. He's either entirely loyal to my brother or he serves himself. And I don't know which. Either way, he isn't to be trusted."

Harry sighed. Of course, that had to be the case.

XXXXX

Later that day they discussed their conversation with Aberforth with Ginny.

"Something is very wrong here," said Ginny, "The excuse Aberforth says his brother gave him? That Harry doesn't know how to love? It's pathetic."

"Dumbledore does believe that love is the most powerful magic," said Harry.

"It doesn't fucking matter!" said Ginny, "Your adoration of Hermione is obvious. A blind person could hear it in your voice! Dumbledore would have to be an idiot to not notice it. And Dumbledore is not an idiot."

"This would explain the marriage contract though," said Hermione.

"How would Harry being in a marriage contract that he can easily get out of by marrying, shagging, and then divorcing me make Harry love me?" said Ginny, "No matter that he has found out about it early, Harry's reaction was the exact opposite. It killed any chance of us having a relationship."

"So what are you suggesting?" asked Harry, "That Aberforth lied to us?"

"No, not necessarily," said Ginny, "But maybe his information has been manipulated. Maybe Dumbledore is spreading a false trail, or…"

"Or?" asked Harry.

"I don't know!" said Ginny irritably, "But just because we don't know doesn't mean an alternative explanation doesn't exist. For fuck's sake, the two of you are such Gryffindors sometimes!"

And Harry had to admit that he hadn't been expecting and didn't know how to respond to that.

**May 3rd, 1994**

From that point on, the year went back to a semblance of normalcy. The biggest news was in mid-April when Draco Malfoy lost 50 points and got a month's detention for bullying Colin Creevey. Members of the IUC had seen Malfoy hexing Colin and not only had they reported him to the teachers, but they also stunned him to boot. Fred and George had managed to get to him as well, and his blond hair was briefly a rather vibrant red and gold.

By early May Harry and Hermione had finally concluded their house-elf investigation as well. They had set up a meeting with the older house elves to discuss what they had found. The spokes elf for the elders was named Jinxy, and he was the same elf who had spoken to Harry in the kitchens when they'd first met.

"Ultimately, we've found that a huge part of magical history has simply ignored the house elves," said Hermione, "That being said, house-elves in Magical Britain are treated very differently than elves in other areas of the world. Part of that is simply enforcement, the laws that protect House Elves in Magical Britain are just not enforced. But there is more."

Daphne had found their efforts to understand what was happening with the house-elves puzzling. She had one point tried to justify the status of the house-elves by saying they had been magically modified to make them enjoy their enslaved status. This had set Harry and Hermione in motion to find what magic had been used to modify the house-elves.

"Magical Britain has specific wards that modify house-elf behavior,' said Harry, "They are sustained wards, meaning it's a constant active effect. While elves in other countries still like to bond with families, they are willing to leave a family which abuses them, they don't refuse to wear clothes, and they accept payment for their services. Simply put, elves are naturally helpful, but the wizards in Britain are suppressing your self-preservation instinct."

Jinxy frowned. "Hows do we deal with this?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head. "We'll have to get someone to deal with the wards, not an easy proposition," she said, "you're able to resist the magic a little bit, otherwise you wouldn't even be able to conceive of trying to resist this magic. We think Dobby is so strange in this regard because of how badly he was abused. His mind was changed from that of a normal house-elf just enough that the magic doesn't affect him in the same way it does you."

"Poor Dobby," said Jinxy, "Elves has always been treated badly, but this makes sense."

"We want to change the laws, but doing so without input from elves is a bad idea. But you can't tell us what's wrong without getting this magic removed," said Harry, "So those controls have to go."

Jinxy smiled at Harry. "Harry Potter is noble indeed to give so much thought to us house-elves. Even if he is not successful, we will be in his debt."

Now Harry just had to find a way to convince people to revoke those magics. He added it to the list of reforms that Magical Britain needed.

XXXXX

**May 14th, 1994**

The Hufflepuff/Slytherin Quidditch match was perhaps the most anti-climactic match of the season. The Hufflepuff team had improved a lot this year, but not enough for people to think they would win in any way other than Cedric Diggory catching the snitch. But as it turned out, Harry just got lucky this time and flew right by the snitch ten minutes into the match. The whole thing was a bit of a downer, even for the Slytherin team who had now swept their opponents. Slytherin was awarded the Quidditch cup again, but Harry privately wished things had ended a bit more excitingly.

As a result, the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw match was meaningless, though there was the redemption angle in play here. Colin's loss to Cho last year had been thoroughly embarrassing. It was obvious that Wood was looking for redemption.

Unfortunately, once Cho was out on the pitch, it immediately became clear that not only was Cho going to try the same thing she had last year, it was still working! She was blowing kisses at Colin, batting her eyelashes, and just being a general flirt.

"That's pretty shameless," said Hermione, watching the match next to Harry.

"Anything's fair game in Quidditch," disagreed Tracey.

Right as the match was supposed to start, Cho flew over and kissed Colin on the cheek, making him blush furiously. Wood tried to get Madam Hooch to call a penalty, but he was refused when Colin said he was fine with it, which led Wood to fly off angrily fuming over his stupid Seeker. Cho's antics had their intended effect. Colin was distracted for the whole match. It wasn't quite as bad as last year where he had missed the snitch solely because Cho flirted with him, but Cho was still consistently outflying him. Gryffindor did manage to pull out a 100 point lead before Cho caught the snitch. Colin did try to fight for the snitch, but the first time he bumped into Cho he seemed to decelerate a bit as if to avoid her. Cho managed to beat him to the snitch easily.

"Harry, you never seem to have trouble bumping into Cho," said Daphne faux-innocently.

"I like to win," said Harry, "though if I were Colin, and he thinks Cho is attractive, I'd want to bump into her _more_ often."

"And do you think Cho is pretty Harry?" teased Ginny.

"Sure, she's good looking," he said, "But I don't have a chance. She's clearly into Colin."

That sent most of Harry's friends into fits of laughter. Hermione just shook her head at them, though she was smiling.

XXXXX

**June 8th, 1994**

The last IUC meeting was another success. Ever since the dementors had left, the IUC had concentrated on other defense topics such as shielding and how to escape opponents who are magically stronger than you. Lupin had been a fantastic sponsor for the club, but he looked a bit glum when the last session was over.

"Another great job Professor Lupin," said Harry.

"Thanks, Harry," said Remus, somewhat dispiritedly. He looked out across the room. Harry followed his gaze to see students from all four houses socializing together. In particular, he noticed that Daphne and Tracey were talking to Ron. Harry had noticed that Daphne had been talking to Ron a lot all year. Tracey had been joining them a lot lately though. Harry wondered…

He shook his head. Remus was upset about something.

"What's wrong Professor?" asked Harry.

"My contract was not renewed for next year, at the urging of the Board of Governors," said Remus, "Apparently someone told them about my condition. They were polite about it, but they made it clear that they don't want werewolves at Hogwarts."

"Making their bigotry polite is so nice of them, don't you think?" asked Harry with a sad shake of his head. He looked over at Daphne. Her father had probably voted for this. When Harry told her what had happened she was probably going to go ballistic.

Harry patted Remus on the shoulder. "Keep in touch with me, all right? You've been a great teacher and mentor." And Harry meant it. The IUC had been a huge success, largely because of Remus' expertise.

"You know," said Harry, "I have the Marauder's map. If you wanted me to sow some chaos next year…" Harry noted in his head that Ginny still had the map. He'd have to get it from her one of these days.

"No," said Remus, "Though you should ask me again after I'm not a teacher."

Harry laughed. This one sucked, but at least this one he couldn't put at the feet of Dumbledore. The old man supported Remus, as was shown by the many times he had given him a chance, both in letting him attend Hogwarts as a child and in letting him teach there. Harry suspected Snape, and he was sure Lupin did as well.

Harry was getting fed up with Snape's pettiness. Now if he could only figure out how to do something about it.

XXXXX

**June 11th, 1994**

The train ride back to London was rather uneventful. In retrospect, Harry should have realized that boded poorly for what they would find on their return.

As the train neared London Harry moved between compartments, saying goodbye to all his friends. By pure chance, the last compartment he visited was the compartment that contained Justin, Susan, Ernie, Hannah, and a few other Hufflepuffs. It was then that the train reached its destination.

As the Hogwarts Express pulled in to platform 9 and 3/4 it was immediately obvious that something was very wrong. There was a crowd gathered, but not by the train. As Harry disembarked he heard a voice screaming, though he couldn't tell what over the sound of the crowd. Harry

"What's going on?" Harry asked a nearby adult, whom he recognized as Parvati and Padma's father.

"One of the muggle parents is yelling at the Weasleys," said the twins' father, "Apparently they aren't happy that their daughter was allowed to return to school."

Harry looked at Justin sharply, as the Hufflepuff let out a moan. "I told them I'd made up with Ginny," Justin said despondently, "I guess they didn't take _that_ news well. Dammit! It's just like them to do something like this!"

Harry and Justin tried to forge their way through the crowd. They needed to stop this before it became a bigger incident than it already had. The magical opinion of muggles was already bad enough.

"I've had enough of this prevarication! I want some answers as to why your daughter, a dangerous individual, is still attending this school!" shouted a loud man's voice as Harry and Justin approached.

Harry and Justin pushed their way through to the center of the crowd where there was a clear space. Molly and Arthur Weasley were there, both looking positively mortified. Justin's mother Jillian also looked as if she wanted to crawl into a hole. Justin's father was there as well, a big man with an angry red face. He was glaring at the Weasleys. Harry vaguely recalled that his name was Harford.

"Stop this at once, Father!" said Justin, "You're making a scene!"

"How dare you…" started Harford, but Justin cut him off.

"The Weasleys have been supporters of muggle and muggle-born rights for generations," shouted Justin, "And Ginny has not only earned my friendship, but I owe her my life."

The crowd buzzed at this, as Ginny ran up followed by Percy, Hermione, and Luna.

"No!" shouted Ginny, "Don't say that!"

"Here she is!" shouted Harford, "The girl who petrified our son."

"Don't talk about her that way!" roared Justin, "She saved me from dementors, so I owe her my life!"

"Justin, please!" begged Ginny.

Hermione had a different tactic. She turned to Justin's parents and said, "You have to calm down! You have no idea what will happen if this continues! You have no idea what you are doing. Let Justin explain it to you!"

"I don't need to know what's going on to see that it stinks," said Harford, "That girl should be in prison, not school."

Ginny blanched and that just made Justin angrier. "She was being controlled," said Justin through gritted teeth, "That's something that can happen to witches and wizards! I didn't understand that before, but I do now. She's as much a victim as I was. So leave her alone."

"I'll not have you talking like that boy!" screamed Harford, "You're coming with us!"

Justin looked at Ginny apologetically. The look on his face said everything. Ginny shook her head sadly, but then she lifted her chin and nodded.

Justin turned back to his parents. "I owe Ginny Weasley my life," he said.

The entire crowd gasped. Molly seemed to look horrified, which nearly made Harry smile. Okay, she deserved that for what she was putting him and Ginny though.

Harford finally seemed to get it through his head that something was going on that he didn't fully understand. "What does that mean?"

"It means that your son owes my little sister a life debt now," said Percy.

"Unless Justin saves Ginny's life, he'll always feel the need to help her, and come to her aid," said Luna, "If he doesn't, he will constantly feel guilty about it. His magic will hold him to that debt."

Daphne had pushed her way through the crowd. "The feeling you get when you fail someone you owe a life debt to is beyond guilt. It feels as if you would rather be dead than fail them. I know. I owe a life debt to Harry. But since Justin is your son, your blood, if you treat Ginny poorly he'll feel it. Your actions are binding on him!"

Harford seemed taken aback by that, "But…" he started.

"But nothing," said Justin, "Ginny is my friend now. Lay off her and her parents."

"Honey," said Jillian, "We need to do what he says."

"Fine, we will be civil," said Harford, "But no more of this nonsense! Come now Justin, we're leaving."

"Goodbye, everyone," said Justin as he followed his parents. Harry noticed that most of the people in the crowd watched him respectfully. Justin had just shown a fine degree of knowledge of magical customs, and most of that watching must have seen him as a model muggle-born, even as they saw his parents as the very opposite in terms of muggle parents. Harry found the whole idea rather patronizing actually, but that was far from the first time he'd felt that way.

As the crowd cleared out, the rest of the Weasleys showed up as well as the Grangers.

"That was different," said Robert.

"Oh that poor boy," said Molly, "That he would go so far!" Harry tried not to snicker. The easiest way to repay a life debt to someone of the opposite gender was to marry them. She had to be terrified that this was what Justin had in mind. Harry was pretty sure Justin hadn't thought about Ginny that way, at least not yet. But Molly sure was worried about it. Harry had to admit that he had no idea of how a life debt would interact with a marriage contract.

"I told him not to do that," said Ginny angrily.

"He's a rich boy from a gentrified family that puts on airs of nobility," said Harry, "People like him tend to get obsessive about debts and honor. And he's young enough that he still believes in all that stuff."

"Oooh, maybe he likes you," said Daphne, who was trying hard not to look at Molly.

"Well I suppose a handsome, rich suitor wouldn't be entirely bad," said Ginny mischievously.

Percy had to cover his mouth so that his mother couldn't see his grin. Molly's eyes were bulging.

Harry had to admit that the fact that Molly was concerned about this was a good sign. As far as Molly knew, Ginny was doomed to marry Harry. She would only be worried about things if she was worried about Ginny's happiness. Maybe Molly wouldn't be so eager to sign another marriage contract if they voided this one.

Harry and Hermione waved goodbye to everyone and then followed her parents out of the platform. As they walked they finalized details for the summer. Harry again saw his aunt and uncle waiting for him along with Dudley.

"I'll see you in a week," Harry said to Hermione as he hugged her goodbye. Then he kissed her; a light peck on the lips. No need to get her father mad.

"A week," she repeated.

Harry walked over to his rather grumpy looking relatives.

"Are you done boy?" demanded Vernon.

"For the moment," said Harry.

"Your headmaster convinced us to take you back in boy, but if your godfather comes for you…" Vernon started to threaten.

"If he does, it will be to punish you for mistreating me," said Harry, "Turns out he's a rather nice bloke. He just hates people who treat me poorly."

"Are you saying…" started Petunia.

"I'm saying my godfather who was in prison for mass murder will pay you a visit if you mistreat me," said Harry.

Dudley whimpered. Harry felt a little bad at how good that made him feel.

**Author's Note:** Year 3 was mostly about Ginny and Hermione figuring themselves out. Year 4 will shift the emphasis back to Harry. The next chapter is Harry and Hermione's vacation, and the chapter after that has the Quidditch World Cup. For those of you still worried about Harry and Hermione going on dates, you really shouldn't be. Let's just say Hermione's plan is well intentioned, but it breaks down in a hilarious way.

So one note about Year 3, the original ending was far more bleak. Originally it was supposed to go down very similarly to canon, with Sirius being captured by the Ministry because of Snape and Fudge deciding to have the dementors kiss him. But Hermione wouldn't have had her Time Turner, so they would have reached Sirius too late. As I've said before, the original story was far, far darker. There are a lot of reasons I changed my mind on this, but a major one is that Harry simply wouldn't tolerate Fudge as Minister after that, and he would never, ever consider trusting Snape after that either. The original version didn't fit the tone the story had taken anyway.

Oh, and one last shameless plug! I have begun to publish Part 2 of Harriet Potter and the Guardians of Atlantis: Harriet Potter and the Holy Grail. Chapter 1 is up and chapters will be coming about once a week.


	25. Respite

**Chapter 25: Respite**

**June 12th, 1994**

"Are you ready for this?" asked Daphne.

"I guess," said Astoria, "I've never stood up to father like this before."

"It's pretty fun actually," said Daphne.

"_I_ don't enjoy getting into trouble, thank you very much," said Astoria.

"Father has never punished me for standing up to him personally," said Daphne, "He's only ever punished me for when I did something publically, like when I insulted Draco."

Astoria shook her head quietly. Daphne knew that Astoria had always liked Draco, but this year at school had been a bit of a shock to her. The confident, wealthy young man she had always known had been replaced by a vile person who lashed out at everyone around him. At school, Draco wasn't in control like he had been in the pureblood social scene, and the Draco Astoria had seen there had been very disappointing.

"I need to thank Harry and Hermione," said Astoria, whose thoughts had followed the same pattern, "If I had been associated with Draco…"

Astoria smiled at her sister, "Well, at least I know why you never liked him now."

Daphne nodded. "If you're ready, then let's do this."

The two of them marched into their father's study. He smiled at them as they entered.

"I'm in trouble about something, aren't I?" he asked.

"How could you tell?" asked Astoria.

"Your faces are rather grim," said Bryant with a faint smile. The truth was, Bryant liked it when his daughters challenged him. He disliked open rebellion from them, but in private he expected them to question him and challenge him. Daphne had known this from a very young age, but Astoria was far less confrontational.

"Remus Lupin," said Daphne simply.

Bryant scowled. "He wasn't supposed to tell anyone," he said sourly.

"He only told Harry," said Daphne, "Which I'm sure you'll agree, is perfectly understandable."

Bryant nodded begrudgingly. He couldn't deny that Harry had a right to know why one of his father's best friends was not going to be teaching him any longer.

"Harry hasn't been spreading it around," said Daphne, "But he did tell his closest friends."

"Daphne, you have to understand…" Bryant started to say, but Astoria interrupted.

"What I understand is that you took one of my favorite teachers and fired him because of something he can't control," said Astoria indignantly.

"Even if you set aside the fact that Professor Lupin was an exceptional teacher, and the fact that he survived the supposed curse on the position of Defense against the Dark Arts, there remains the fact that the reason you fired him had nothing to do with his work as a teacher," said Daphne.

"He's a werewolf!" insisted Bryant.

"He's a werewolf who was on the Wolfsbane Potion, and took himself away from people when he transformed!" shouted Daphne, "He was exactly what a model werewolf was supposed to be, and yet he is still being fired."

"He was around children!" persisted Bryant.

"Not when he was dangerous!" argued Astoria, "He made certain to be off school grounds and safely locked in whenever he transformed."

"No," Astoria continued, "This isn't about the danger he posed to the children. It's about what he was teaching them. Every student who took his unit on werewolves figured out that Professor Lupin was a werewolf. And he stood there as proof that a werewolf could be just as safe as any other witch or wizard. But he couldn't be allowed to be that kind of role model. The children might grow up and decide to pass laws that helped werewolves instead of oppressing them. No, he had to be fired as quickly as possible, so that those children can grow up to fear werewolves properly."

Daphne was impressed. Even she had rarely taken a tone as cynical as that with her father. She silently re-evaluated her sister.

"Do you think my vote would have made a difference?" demanded Bryant.

"No," said Daphne, "But who cares? Pragmatism is all well and good, but there are some principles that you have to stand up for, no matter what."

"Even if it hurts you in the long run?" asked Bryant.

Daphne sighed, "Father, that's the problem. Your influence over the long term could have significantly changed the course of Magical Britain for the better. If you'd been trying beforehand, I could understand being politically pragmatic on this one issue. But you haven't been doing any of that. You've been actively opposing progress."

"So what you are saying is…" asked Bryant.

"If you want any credit from us, you have to do something good," said Astoria.

Bryant grimaced. It was a rather blunt way to put that.

"Well, the two of you will make decent prefects with smarts like that," he said.

Astoria looked at Daphne impishly. Daphne realized that she needed to tell her father the truth.

"Daddy," said Daphne, "You do understand I won't be a prefect in my fifth year, right?"

"What?" asked Bryant.

"You'll get it the seventh year," said Astoria, "Hermione's a cinch for Head Girl."

"Hermione will be the female Slytherin prefect in our year," said Daphne, "I knew that the moment I made friends with Harry."

"I…" started Bryant, who was, for once, speechless, "I didn't know."

"Please don't be upset about it," said Daphne, "I'm not. Harry and Hermione have given me lots of opportunities to take leadership roles at the school. The IUC for example."

Bryant sat back, he looked somewhat stunned. "Harry's putting a faction together, isn't he?"

Daphne nodded. "Next year we're going to start deciding what our goals are beyond school. We're going to turn this into a real political movement."

Daphne put her hand on her hips, "And if you don't get with the program, we're going to be on opposite sides."

And she stormed out. That should get him thinking.

XXXXX

**June 25th, 1994**

Harry stacked his things in the hallway of his aunt and uncle's house as he waited to be picked up by the Grangers. His Uncle Vernon was pacing angrily. Typical of him.

"Can you stop that?" asked Harry testily, "It's annoying."

"Don't take that tone with me boy," said Vernon, "I can still put a stop to this you know."

"No, you can't," retorted Harry, "You lost all right to tell me to do anything the day you kicked me out of this house."

Vernon glared at him, but he knew Harry had him dead to rights. Petunia was sitting in the kitchen. She looked as if she wanted to say something to Harry, but of course, she wouldn't. Petunia almost had a bit of a conscience, but she could never quite find it when Harry needed someone to stick up for him.

"How are you paying for this trip?" asked Dudley, who was staring down at Harry from the staircase. Dudley had been almost polite to Harry this year. Harry had long concluded that Dudley would have been a decent boy if he had been raised by parents who had ever set him any sort of limits. Harry wasn't quite ready to forgive his cousin all the indignities he'd suffered at his hands for so many years, but he did feel that it wasn't entirely Dudley's fault.

"My godfather is rather wealthy," said Harry, "And since he's currently on the run, I inherited his wealth."

"Wait, you're rich?" demanded Vernon.

"I've always had a fair amount of money that I inherited," said Harry, "I might have shared that wealth with a LOVING family."

Vernon seemed about to say something, but his mouth snapped shut. Even he had to realize that after his actions last summer he couldn't pretend that he'd been magnanimous in letting Harry stay there all these years.

The doorbell rang. Harry ran to the door and opened it, only to be tackled by an enormous hug from Hermione.

"A-a-a-ir…" stammered Harry after a few moments.

Hermione reluctantly let go, as Helen Granger walked in.

"I guess your ribcage needs some strengthening against Hermione's hugs," said Helen, who suddenly reached down and gave Harry a hug of her own.

When she released Harry, he could feel the tears building in his eyes, but he refused to shed tears in front of the Dursleys. Still, the very fact that Helen accepted him in that way was huge. Hermione, of course, was beaming in delight that her mother had hugged her best friend.

Harry and Hermione grabbed Harry's things. Harry turned to his relatives. "I'll see you next summer," he said simply. And then he dragged his stuff to Helen's car. Helen had stayed behind for a moment as she glared at the Dursleys.

"Daddy had to work today," said Hermione, "So mum decided to pick you up herself rather than wait a day. We dropped Crookshanks off with the Weasleys yesterday. He didn't like the floo very much."

"Your mum wants to talk to us I bet," said Harry, "So when she asks about what we plan on doing..."

"Oh, I hadn't thought about that," said Hermione with a blush.

"I have," said Harry, "I kind of had to. So I'll field that one. But I don't think either of us is ready for a physical relationship beyond what we've already done."

Hermione nodded in agreement, though there was a slightly mischievous glint in her eyes. A few moments later Helen walked out of the Dursleys' home. Her manner initially seemed calm, but the fire in her eyes belied the lack of it in her step.

"I just had to give the Dursleys a piece of my mind," explained Helen, "I hope I didn't embarrass you."

"No, I... well, thank you," said Harry, "It isn't embarrassing, I just didn't expect it."

"Well our daughter has made you a part of our family, so I guess it's time I started treating you that way," Helen said laughingly.

"I've come to see you like family as well," said Harry.

"That's good," said Helen as she ushered Harry and Hermione into the car. The two of them got into the back seat together.

"One of you doesn't want the front seat?" joked Helen.

"No offense Mrs. Granger, but I don't think you'll be able to hold my hand while you're driving," said Harry.

Helen laughed. "Call me Helen, Harry."

"All right… Helen," said Harry a bit hesitantly.

Soon they were on the road, Hermione talking about all the places they were going to go, and all the preparations they'd made.

"We'll stop at a clothing store on our way home," said Helen, "as I assume you need new swimming trunks."

"I already got a new bathing suit, Harry," said Hermione quietly, but with a playfulness that matched the glint Harry had seen in her eyes, "I hope you like it."

"I'm, uh, looking forward to it," Harry said honestly.

Helen seemed to be staring at them through the rearview mirror. "So the two of you are getting pretty close, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes," said Harry, "We are. Though we've decided to not pursue a serious romantic relationship. At least not yet."

"So Hermione has told me," said Helen, "Still, it seems like you two are, how shall I put this, experimenting a bit."

"We do plan to, yes," said Hermione, her face now scarlet.

"I just want to make sure that you aren't trying to do too much for your age," said Helen, "You're still very young…"

"We've only started kissing," said Harry, "And I don't think we're all that ready to move on yet. We are going to stay above the belt, no matter what else we do."

Helen nodded. "That's VERY good to hear," she said, relief in her voice, "That's a very good line for your age and I'm very impressed by the maturity it takes to come to it."

Harry felt a bit proud of himself for a second. But he wondered if he would have been so certain about his line if it hadn't been enforced by a rather nasty curse. One look at Hermione and he knew she was thinking the same thing.

XXXXX

**June 27th, 1994**

Harry had never flown on an airplane before. It had been a novel experience for him, but after flying on a broom he found muggle air travel to be a bit boring. Hermione found it a bit nerve-wracking, though he thought she might be putting on a bit of a show. She'd shown remarkable courage riding behind him on his broom after all. Either way, she spent most of the trip clinging to his arm, which as far as he was concerned was perfectly fine. Robert Granger seemed to see this as a personal affront, however.

Hermione had studied up on France in the past year, as in Magical France. She'd learned that there was no restriction on underage magic use in France so long as the Statute of Secrecy was observed and underage magicals did not experiment with unknown spells. She'd also learned that it was possible to magically translate French to English as modern English was heavily influenced by French. The moment they had set down on French soil Hermione had cast the spell on Harry and herself. Hermione didn't need it, but she thought it would be helpful anyway.

The first few weeks would be for relaxation, and a second couple of weeks would be to go see historical sites across southern France. Then they would also take a train up to Paris to see the French magical district at the end of the trip, before catching a flight back to London. All in all, it sounded brilliant to Harry.

And then Harry had discovered how very poorly prepared he'd been for a French beach. It was all he could do to prevent himself from staring at the many attractive and barely clothed women on the beach. But then Hermione had taken off the long shirt she'd worn to the beach, and he'd finally seen her new swimsuit. It wasn't the most daring suit he'd ever seen, but it was a rather standard string bikini. The moment she'd shown it off, Robert had started glaring at Harry. Harry himself was having difficulty looking anywhere but his feet.

"Maybe you and Harry should take a walk?" said Helen to Hermione, while giving her husband an annoyed look.

"Come with me Harry," said Hermione as she took his hand and grabbed a large beach umbrella and a bag carrying towels and other assorted items.

Once they were out of sight of her father, Hermione stopped them. "Harry, please look at me. I know you are embarrassed, but I'd appreciate it."

Harry looked at her. She was gorgeous. He'd always thought she was cute, even with her uncontrollable hair and her buck-toothed smile, but in this outfit, she looked amazing. Hermione spun around to give him a better look. The view from the back was incredible as well.

"Do you like it?" asked Hermione.

"You look fantastic," said Harry, "I just need to get used to it. I have to admit, it's easier to get used to the topless women, as I don't know them." Hermione snickered at that for some reason.

"What do you like most about it?" asked Hermione.

Harry blushed. "Your, uh, your bum," said Harry embarrassed. He was surprised at how difficult it was for him to say that. He needed to loosen up a bit.

Hermione laughed. "I'm glad you like it," she said. And then she grabbed his arm and put it around her waist, while she reached around his.

Harry pulled her close as they started to walk again. "I think I could get used to this," he said.

As they walked the beach Harry found himself looking at Hermione more and more. There were a lot of women wearing far less than her, and showing off bodies that were far more physically impressive. But Harry was caring less and less. After all, Hermione was right here. As far as he was concerned she was the best-looking thing on the beach.

So it was decidedly odd when he felt his attention turned toward two women sunbathing on the beach with a younger girl. One of the women was not quite middle-aged in appearance, the other Harry realized was a girl only two or three years older than him. Harry sort of wanted to look away, but he was finding it difficult.

"What are you looking at?" asked Hermione. She looked over to where he was looking then gasped delightedly.

"OOOH!" she said with understanding. She let go of Harry's waist and ran towards the women, pulling Harry by the wrist.

"Fleur!" she yelled, waving her free hand as she ran up to them.

" 'ermione!" shouted Fleur. The girl stood up to greet Hermione. It was only then that Harry realized that the girl's top was still on the ground. Harry tried to look away, but only managed to look at a middle distance between Fleur and Hermione where everything was still quite visible.

"These are the Delacours," said Hermione excitedly, "the older woman is Apolline, this is Fleur, and the young girl is Gabrielle."

She pulled Harry up in front of her to greet the Delacours, "This is my friend Harry Potter."

Gabrielle gasped a bit, while both Apolline and Fleur seemed to be slightly impressed.

"Pleased to meet you, Harry," said Apolline.

"As am I," said Fleur.

Harry did try to keep from staring at Fleur. He gave it a heroic effort. But ultimately it was a futile effort. He turned to Fleur and said, "I'm very pleased to meet you as well," he said, trying very hard to get his eyes to move away, "Hermione has mentioned you a few times."

"Fleur," said Apolline, "perhaps you should…"

Fleur blushed a bit when she realized what was happening. She grabbed her top and put it on.

"I am very sorry 'arry," said Fleur, "I did not think about what would 'appen." Harry still felt a bit of a pull toward her, but with her chest covered it was much easier to ignore.

"Fleur is a quarter Veela," explained Hermione, "Her allure might be a bit much for you."

"I think I can manage it now," said Harry, "That was just a bit much all at once." And he managed to tear his eyes off of Fleur. And onto Hermione. As he looked at her for a moment, he felt the pressure on his mind fade even further into the background. Steeling himself, he turned back to Fleur. Luckily the intense pressure did not return, and he found himself able to look at her normally.

"Very good!" said Fleur, a knowing smile on her lips, "Few men could shake even a quarter Veela's allure so quickly. Unless…" she trailed off as she looked at Hermione. Hermione blushed.

"We're not quite together yet," said Hermione quickly, "Though I guess we kind of is for the duration of this vacation."

Apolline smiled. "A good arrangement, to take a friend for such a purpose," she said knowingly, "Fleur, I suppose you want to spend some time with them?"

Fleur nodded excitedly. "Of course," she said excitedly.

"Have fun," said Apolline, "And be back before lunchtime."

XXXXX

Hermione was delighted at how quickly Harry had managed to get used to Fleur's presence. The boy seemed to genuinely get along well with her, and Hermione was fairly sure it wasn't because he was attracted to her. She had to admit that when she'd initially seen the nearly vacant stare on his face she'd been worried, but he'd dealt with it quite quickly.

Harry wasn't with them at the moment, however. Hermione and Fleur were trying on clothes in one of the shops near the beach, and Harry was outside the changing room.

"You are very lucky to 'ave a boy like 'arry," said Fleur, "'e was thinking of you when he pushed my allure out of my mind. 'e must like you a great deal for that to work."

"I know how lucky I am," said Hermione, "And I have plans to show him how grateful I am as well."

Fleur laughed, as she had some ideas as to what those plans might be.

"Your English has improved," said Hermione.

Fleur grinned. "I admit, I was a bit embarrassed by my pronunciation when last I met you, so maman hired a tutor for me. It is steel a bit difficult for me, but I think I have a better grasp of things now."

"Much better Fleur," said Hermione.

"I am glad to see you more confident 'ermione," said Fleur, "You were so timid when we last met."

"I realized that I was just scared of losing the people I love," said Hermione.

"You need something else in your life 'ermione, not just your friends and family, but a purpose that is for you," said Fleur, "I have long had the opposite problem, in that I had few friends, but a purpose."

"I'm surprised to hear you say you have so few friends," said Hermione.

Fleur nodded, "Unfortunately, most men make leetle effort to overcome my allure. Of the boys at school only one is a friend to me, and 'ee is, shall we say, not particularly motivated by my feminine charms?"

"I understand," said Hermione, "A couple of our friends are the same way if they'd ever admit it."

"Many girls are jealous of me of course," continued Fleur, "And a few are also affected by my allure. And of those who remain, only a couple 'ave personalities that I can be friends with."

"I'm so sorry," said Hermione.

"I am not so sad, I 'ave always wanted to apprentice as a cursebreaker, and that is what drives me," admitted Fleur, "But I could use a bit more balance, on the whole. It is the same as you but in the other direction. You've found your friends, and now you must find what you want to make of your life. But it needs to be your decision, not one forced on you."

"Though I suspect this next year I will find it easier to find a friend at school," said Fleur.

"Oh?" asked Hermione.

"You are probably not aware, but this year they are 'olding the Triwizard Tournament at 'ogwarts. I will be part of the Beauxbatons delegation, so I will be at your school this year."

"That's wonderful!" said Hermione, who gave Fleur a crushing hug.

"I see why 'arry likes being hugged by you," said Fleur after she had managed to extricate herself from Hermione's grip of iron, "Your hugs are most powerful."

"So I'm told," said Hermione.

Hermione and Fleur decided to model two outfits each for Harry. The outfits Fleur chose were more cute than sexy, though Hermione had to admit that on Fleur just about anything looked sexy. Hermione was looking to get a reaction out of Harry with her outfits. The strapless dress she wore had a fairly short skirt, while the jean shorts she wore on her second trip were a bit on the tight side. Harry had the good sense to look at her in all the right places.

As they changed back, Fleur suddenly asked, "Will you be at the World Cup Finals?" she asked.

Hermione nodded. "One way or another. Minister Fudge is trying to win Harry over right now, and we have a feeling he's going to give Harry a bunch of tickets for the Minister's box as a bribe. If not, our friends the Weasley's will be able to get our tickets."

Fleur looked at Hermione strangely, "The Minister is trying to bribe Harry?"

Hermione waved exasperatedly. "That's a long story, but yes," she admitted.

Soon they had left the store.

"I must be getting back to my family," said Fleur, "But I have enjoyed speaking with you. Hopefully, I will see you at the Quidditch World Cup Finals."

"We still have about an hour and a half before my parents will come looking for me," said Hermione, "at least that's what my mum said when we planned this out."

Hermione suddenly realized something Fleur could help them with. "Fleur! Before you leave, could you put a muggle-repelling charm down for us? I've never actually done one before. Well I have, but I did it at Hogwarts which already has a muggle-repelling charm on it, so I don't know if I did it right."

Fleur grinned wickedly, "'ermione! It sounds to me like you wish to do something naughty with poor 'arry here."

But Fleur picked out a clear area of the beach and made a quick wave with her wand.

"How do we know it worked?" asked Harry.

Fleur seemed to think for a moment, then she turned to a young man sitting on the beach nearby. Fleur waved at him. He didn't respond. Fleur blew him a kiss. He just sat there scratching his nose. Finally, she pulled off her top. He just sat there.

Putting her top back on, Fleur looked at them. "I think it is working."

Harry had a little grin on his face, but it wasn't the vacant stare he'd had earlier. Hermione was impressed, as was Fleur.

"Best take care of this one 'ermione," said Fleur, "If you cast him aside I might be tempted to steal him from you."

And she then took off.

Harry laid down their beach towels, while Hermione put up the umbrella.

"So did you like what you saw there?" asked Hermione.

"Even without the allure, she is very pretty," said Harry as he sat down, "But all in all I'd rather look at you."

Hermione sat down on her towel. "That's so sweet," she said, "And I'm so proud of how you dealt with that. I think you deserve a reward."

"A reward?" said Harry, his eyes curious.

Hermione grabbed the back of Harry's head and leaned in close. This angle must have given him a very interesting view. After a moment she moved in the rest of the way and began kissing him. No reason for him to get all the fun.

XXXXX

**August 13th, 1994**

The rest of Harry's vacation was probably the most fun Harry had ever had. They went to old historical sites throughout Southern France. When they wanted a day off they went to the beach. He spent almost all his time with Hermione, who was often more than willing to drop everything and find a hidden corner for a good snog. On Harry's birthday, they had a special meal to celebrate as it was also their first day in Paris. Aside from that he and Hermione had been left largely to their own devices. It had been a _very_ memorable day. He may have gone a little bit past kissing on that day.

But beyond all that, Harry found France to be a revelation. He could use magic whenever other people weren't around. Harry and Hermione both couldn't resist the chance to use magic outside of school. Both managed to master the Muggle repelling charm, and they began to practice more advanced magic like the summoning charm, the disillusionment charm, and even began to experiment with conjuration. They also tried dueling a few times. It was one of those times that her parents came to check on them.

"Come in!" said Hermione as she heard a knock on the door.

Helen and Robert walked in. "You've been in here most of the afternoon," said Robert.

"We've been studying," said Harry.

"Mostly," corrected Hermione, which made her father start glowering at Harry. Robert still wasn't comfortable with Harry kissing Hermione. He certainly wouldn't approve of Harry touching Hermione, even if it was only on top of her clothes.

And Harry was disappointed in Robert Granger's reaction to Harry and Hermione's (admittedly rather frequent) private time. It was quite clear that he did not approve of Harry touching his daughter. Harry had been willing to cool things off a bit, but Hermione insisted her father just had to get used to things. Luckily, Helen was the one calling the shots on this matter, and she seemed to support Hermione's decisions, so long as they were made responsibly.

"Anything interesting?" asked Helen, closing the door behind her.

"We were actually about to practice a few things," said Hermione.

"Can we watch?" asked Robert.

Harry looked at Hermione, who shrugged. "Just sit over there and don't interfere," said Harry, pointing at the head of the bed.

As Hermione's parents complied, Harry stood near the door, while Hermione stood on the other side of the room. Both raised their wands to their faces.

"Could you give us a count of three?" Harry asked Robert.

"One, two, three!" said Robert, who seemed to have guessed what was happening.

Hermione led off with a stream of spells. "_Expelliarmus! Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus!_"

Harry ducked forward as he cast, "_Protego!_"

The first two of Hermione's spells missed, the Stunner just barely missing Harry's head. The last spell hit Harry's shield.

Hermione was immediately on the defensive. "_Protego!_" she cast.

Unfortunately, in her haste to cast it she made a small mistake. Hermione's wand motion had been just a bit off. Harry grinned.

"_Expelliarmus_!" cast Harry. The spell tore through her shield and struck her in the midsection. Hermione's wand flew out of her hand, only to be caught in mid-air by Harry.

"Whoa," said Robert.

"That _damned_ disarm spell of yours," said Hermione, "You're too good at it. If I make even a tiny mistake you treat my shield as if it isn't there."

"Tsk tsk Hermione, language," said Harry, with a huge smile.

"You swear all the time," said Hermione.

"And you give me trouble for it," he said as his smile turned crooked. He handed Hermione's wand back to her.

"We had a question for you," said Harry, "I've been offered tickets to the Quidditch World Cup, good seats. I was going to invite most of my friends from Slytherin, but Luna won't be able to come, she's still out of the country with her father until the next day. So I thought I'd invite Ron, but Arthur already got tickets for Ron and Ginny. Now my seats are in the Minister's box, so I know Ron and Ginny would probably want to watch there, so Arthur asked me to ask you if you want to go. You'd be sitting with Arthur and the older Weasleys."

Robert looked at Helen. "I would be interested in seeing a Quidditch match," he admitted.

"Well we're both off that day, so sure, we'd love to come," said Helen.

Harry grinned, "It's too bad you can't come to see our games at Hogwarts. Our team is pretty good. But I think you'll have a good time."

XXXXX

That night Harry slept fitfully. A dream intruded on his sleep. A dream of Peter Pettigrew, a snake, and a_ thing_. They were on a train, somewhere in France. Harry couldn't even wrap his head around the monstrous thing he could see glimpses of. It looked like a horrible monstrous baby. Some glimpses came through stronger though.

"I do so want you to kill the Potter boy, my lord," Pettigrew said wistfully, "He exposed me, left me at the mercy of Black. I could have strangled him in his cradle, and this is the thanks I get from him?"

"You are a true rat, aren't you Wormtail?" said a voice that Harry would never forget. It was Voldemort.

"But even rats have their uses I suppose," said Voldemort, "But enough of that. I will kill the Potter boy when the time is right. And at that moment, you too will have your revenge."

"A pity you had to kill Bertha Jorkins, back in Albania," said Pettigrew, "She was rather useful to us." His voice was full of disgusting longing. Harry wanted to gag on hearing it.

"She was less than a shell once I finished with her," said Voldemort, whose voice was growing further away, "But yes, she told us so much; where one of my most loyal followers still can be found. If we could only free the younger Crouch we…"

The dream grew hazy again, and Harry couldn't see anything else.

Harry woke with a start. That had not been a dream. Not really. His Occlumency had partially shielded his mind from something being broadcast into his head. Which meant that Voldemort was in France, on a train. Probably fairly close by. Harry reached out in his mind. And for one moment he felt a presence.

Harry didn't hesitate, he got up and walked down the hall, and knocked on Hermione's door urgently. Her door opened.

"Harry? Is something wrong?" asked Hermione.

Harry marched in. "Voldemort is nearby. I can feel him. I saw him in one of my dreams. He's found some sort of twisted form to take. He killed someone named Bertha Jorkins."

"What do we do?" said Hermione as she picked up her wand, "Should we warn my parents?"

Harry thought about this, then reached out with his mind again, very, very carefully.

"I think he's moving away," said Harry finally. "I think he came near us by coincidence. I think…" Harry stopped as he realized the full implications of what he had felt...

"He's heading north. I think he's heading to Britain." said a horrified Harry.

Hermione put her arms around Harry. "We'll stop him," she said as she held him.

But one word echoed through Harry's mind.

_How?_

XXXXX

**August 24th, 1994**

Harry had to admit, the French magical quarter had been interesting. Harry had liked magical France in general. He and Hermione had even managed to catch a portkey to tour the grounds of Beauxbatons, which was a rather impressive place.

And now he was trapped in Magical Britain, unable to use magic again. The ban on underage magic was just another example of the extent to which the Ministry would go to oppress the muggleborns. While the ban was enforced equally, it had an outsized effect on muggleborns who didn't have magical relatives to help show them things when they weren't at school. France's system made much more sense. And with Voldemort likely returned to Britain, Harry wished he could use magic.

The day after his encounter with Voldemort's mind, he'd written Sirius and Dumbledore. They both needed to know that Voldemort had returned to Britain. Sirius had written back and said that Harry needed to be extra careful, and made several recommendations as to security precautions Harry could take. Dumbledore had been less helpful, but he'd thanked Harry for letting him know what had happened.

Harry and the Grangers were at the Burrow now. Hermione had been happy to see Crookshanks again (he had seemingly had a delightful time staying with the Weasleys), while Harry spent a lot of his time catching up with Ron and Ginny. Percy was still living there, though he had privately told Harry that once Ginny had gone off to school this year he would move out. "I'm only still here to support her," he said, "I'm still furious about what Mum did to her." Bill and Charlie were also there. Bill had given Harry some odd looks but hadn't approached Harry to talk yet.

Daphne had been at the Burrow when Harry and Hermione had arrived. She'd been watching the Weasleys play Quidditch, and this wasn't the first time. This struck Harry as odd. Daphne was largely indifferent to Quidditch. Daphne claimed she was there to root on Ginny, but Daphne and Ginny weren't all that close. Harry suspected that Daphne was more interested in watching Ron. Which did support his idea that Daphne was into him? Harry didn't want to say it, but he suspected that Daphne was mostly into Ron because dating him would piss off her dad.

The Grangers and Harry would be camping with the Weasleys the night after the World Cup. Arthur had acquired two magical tents which they would be staying in. With so many people in the Burrow, Harry had suggested they test them out the night before. So Ginny and Hermione took a tent, while Harry and Ron took the other tent.

Robert had been a little worried about Harry and Hermione being out there unsupervised, but Ginny had laughed at him and insisted she would be out there with Hermione. Ten minutes later she'd snuck up behind Harry.

"You're free to sneak into our tent tonight if you want," whispered Ginny, "Hermione might appreciate it."

"Uh," said Harry lamely, as Ginny ran off.

When Harry asked Hermione about it, she had different ideas.

"Maybe this is a good time for you to spend some time with _her_," said Hermione, "Just remember she's a lot younger than me."

"You think I want to be with Ginny?" asked Harry, "Have you been paying attention at all?"

"I think that she likes you and that you need to at least talk to her about it before you go off and trying to get with every other girl in school," said Hermione, "I also think you care about her, whether you want to date her or not. And technically she is your fiancée."

"Don't remind me," groaned Harry, "But you're right. I'll do it if _she _wants to do it."

Hermione suddenly leaned over and kissed Harry lightly. "That's what I like to hear. How about this, I'll ask her what she wants to do when we get to the tent. If she doesn't want to do it we can have some time to ourselves, all right?"

Harry just grinned.

XXXXX

Ginny was waiting for Harry when he showed up. But outside the tent. "Follow me," she said. She led Harry into a nearby copse of trees. She sat down next to a particularly large tree and gestured for Harry to sit next to her.

"Hermione told me what you are planning," said Ginny, "I just want to know, why me? At least, why me first? Is it just because of convenience?"

"No," said Harry honestly, "The truth is I'm closer to you than any girl, other than Hermione. If I'm gonna start dating, I want to be on the same page as you. And I do like you. I, uh, guess I'm not opposed to us trying something."

That wasn't quite true. He felt extremely awkward about this whole thing and would much rather have been with Hermione tonight.

"All right then," said Ginny, "I want you to kiss me. A real kiss, open mouth, the works. I want that, and afterward… well, we'll see."

"All right," said Harry. He leaned in, held her by the shoulders, and started to kiss her. At first, it was tame, with his mouth barely open. But as it went on he got bolder, and by the end, he had to admit, it was rather fun. But it also felt a bit weird. He didn't have any sort of romantic feelings for Ginny.

As Harry pulled away, he saw that Ginny had closed her eyes. Her face was almost rapturous. Finally, Ginny sighed and opened her eyes.

"Thank you, Harry," said Ginny, "I do love you. But as a friend. I realized over this summer that even if you were fine with being with the person you were put into a marriage contract with, I'm not. I just… was it wrong of me to still want to have that kiss from you? The one I've dreamed of?"

"No," said Harry, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close, "it isn't wrong. I liked it too."

"I think you're my best friend Harry," said Ginny as she hugged him closely, resting her head on his shoulder "Would you mind just holding me for a bit? I'm suddenly very sad. My first childhood crush is over."

"As long as you want," said Harry, "I'm a bit sad too you know."

"Oh?" asked Ginny.

"Your crush was flattering," said Harry, "It made me feel good about myself. But this is better. And I love you too. I want you to know, I've always wanted a family. And maybe I consider you part of mine."

"Who else is in this family?" asked Ginny.

"Hermione, her mother, Daphne, maaaaybe Blaise, Tracey, and Justin. Ron's pretty close too," said Harry. "Sirius too I guess. And Remus. Hermione's dad, even though he hates that I'm with his daughter. He doesn't hate me though. He's just a protective dad."

"Good company then," said Ginny, "you know, I had a thought. Maybe we should snog each other ONE more time. In the future I mean. To teach my mum a lesson. If she thinks we're about to become intimate..."

"You're evil," said Harry, "I love it."

Ginny sighed as she rested against him. "Evil," she said absently.

Suddenly she pulled her head away from Harry. "I feel _him. _I can feel him, close by."

Harry's heart sank. "I don't feel him. And I would. My scar hurts when he comes by."

Ginny stared at Harry's scar. She came closer and closer to his head, then put her forehead directly against his.

"Your scar feels just like the diary!" moaned Ginny, "It's a Horcrux!"

And then she sank her face into his shoulder again as she started to cry.

**Author's Note:** The thing that is the best about this part of the story is that I finally start to get to paying off some of the things I set up in earlier chapters. Ginny absorbs the horcrux, so now at close range she can recognize horcruxes. The only reason she didn't before was because the horcrux in Harry is contained within his scar. Also Fleur shows up again. Fleur actually ends up being kind of important, so I give her a lot of scenes.

Seros 109, your point on the Goblet is an interesting one. But I would point out that the magic on the Goblet predates the ban on underage competitors. The only thing that kept someone from entering underage in canon was the age line. That being said, Harry being entered into the Triwizard Tournament is definitely going to free up Harry in one way, but for totally different reasons.

To the guest commenting on McGonagall, she definitely regrets what she does to Vernon immediately. Magicals in general in the Harry Potter universe treat Muggles very badly. Even good magicals. Muggles are constantly getting transformed and Obliviated. McGonagall knows she shouldn't use magic on Vernon, but he just drives her nuts.

Josamen, I know I wasn't intentionally quoting Delenn in that scene, but I may have been channeling her. I'm a big Babylon 5 fan.

Anyway, next chapter is the Quidditch World Cup.


	26. Coming to a Boil

**Chapter 26: Coming to a Boil**

**August 24th, 1994**

Harry held Ginny close to him, his mind unable to accept what she had just said.

"I'm a Horcrux?" said Harry.

"Your scar is a Horcrux!" said Ginny, "But you might as well be! It's in your head, Harry! We can't use basilisk venom or fiendfyre on your head! Just imagine us using the killing curse on you! Again! Oh, Merlin, what are we going to do?"

"What about what you did?" said Harry. "You absorbed a Horcrux."

Ginny stopped crying. "Maybe, just maybe that would work. But I don't know how! We'd have to figure out how to connect your mind to the Horcrux."

"We need a book on advanced mind magics then, don't we?" asked Harry.

Ginny nodded. "And that'll be _so_ easy to get," said Ginny sarcastically, "There might be something in the Restricted section at school, but anything touching on magic this dark was likely taken out by Dumbledore."

"Maybe if I tell Dumbledore that I want to boost my Occlumency…" mused Harry. He stopped that thought cold. Had Dumbledore known that he had a Horcrux in his head this whole time? The thought was chilling, but it would explain why Dumbledore hadn't told him about the Horcruxes if he was trying to hide this from Harry.

"Why would he agree to that?" asked Ginny.

"I forgot to tell you," said Harry, "I felt Voldemort's mind in France." He quickly described his dream to Ginny.

"The Horcrux must be giving you this connection to Voldemort," interrupted Ginny after he explained the circumstances.

That made sense to Harry. He continued on. When he described the horrible baby thing, Ginny hissed.

"A homunculus," said Ginny, "it's a form of artificial life, created by alchemy. They usually take years to make. I have a feeling that Riddle sped up the process."

"How would you do that?" asked Harry.

Ginny visibly hesitated."You use the appropriate living tissue," she practically whispered, "In this case, from a baby."

Harry couldn't even comprehend what she had just said for a moment. And then the true horror of what she had said set in. "That fucking monster," raged Harry, "I… I ... "

And he couldn't speak anymore. He just clung to Ginny like a lost child.

XXXXX

**August 25th, 1994**

The next day they had to make an early start. Their portkey left very early in the morning. As they made the hike, Robert stopped and pulled Harry aside.

"Ginny seems rather down this morning," said Robert to Harry in a voice that sounded angry, "Did you sneak into their tent last night?"

Harry shook his head. "That... I did sneak out to the woods with Ginny. We had a conversation. The two of us… well, I don't think we're going to be together at any point. And then I told her about my Voldemort dream a little later."

Robert's anger vanished off his face. Harry hadn't told him that the dream was real, only that he thought it meant Voldemort was on the move. "Oh," he said lamely, "I guess I overreacted there a bit."

"More than a bit," said Harry, "Listen, I've not said anything so far, because you're Hermione's dad. But everything we've done this summer had been because she asked me to. I can deal with you being angry with me for what _I've_ done. But you haven't just been doubting me when you've acted the way you have. You've been doubting your daughter's judgment as well."

Robert hung his head, "You're right Harry. I know Hermione trusts you. I guess I'm playing the overprotective Dad a bit too well."

Harry patted his arm, "Don't worry, you have nothing to worry about," Harry said before pausing and grinning, "Yet."

"Oh, now you are asking for it Potter!" shouted Robert. But he was joking. Probably.

XXXXX

The campgrounds for the Quidditch World Cup final were buzzing with magic users using magic. "No wonder they are using so many memory charms on the gatekeepers!" said Arthur, "can't these people control themselves?"

"I have a real problem with the casual way he was memory charmed," said Robert.

"As do I," said Harry, "Memory charms are dangerous. If they have to memory charm him, why not just wait till the end and do it once?"

"I agree with you," said Arthur, "Unfortunately the current head of the Obliviators office is a proponent of the 'Obliviate early, Obliviate often' mentality. Fudge's influence no doubt."

"The magical world is pretty screwed up, you know that right?" asked Helen.

Percy nodded. "I've only worked in the Ministry for a short while, but it seems obvious that Fudge's influence has had a very detrimental effect on things. The only Department that has any independence left is the DMLE, and that is almost entirely because of Amelia Bones. My boss, Mr. Crouch, hates Fudge, but doesn't dare oppose him publicly."

"Fudge has Crouch over a barrel," said Harry, "Crouch was the one who sent Sirius to Azkaban without a trial. So long as Crouch is in the Ministry, Fudge could cover up his complicity in the scheme by dumping it all on Crouch." And Harry hadn't forgotten that Voldemort mentioned "the younger Crouch".

"Bagnold was so weak Fudge could have stood up to her if he'd wanted to," said Arthur, "He just never saw any advantage in it."

"Here's our site!" said Bill, who was ahead with Ginny.

"Time to pitch the tent!" said Arthur. Looking at Helen and Robert rather nervously, he attempted to set up the tent without magic. This was a horrible failure of course. Finally, he gave in and asked for Bill, Charlie, and Percy to help him. With magic, they managed to set up the tents in just a few minutes.

The inside of the tents was well appointed, as they had full bedrooms inside. They were much larger on the inside than on the outside. Hermione, Ginny, and Helen had their tent, while the boys all stayed in the other tent.

"It's a bit windier than I anticipated," said Hermione, "I'm going to change my shirt quickly."

She went into her tent. Moments later four girls walked up to the Weasley campsite. Two of them were Daphne and Tracey. But Harry was shocked to see that the other two were Fleur and her little sister Gabrielle.

"Fleur!" he shouted, "How wonderful to see you."

Hermione poked her head out of her tent. "Fleur!" she said running to greet the girl with a hug. Unfortunately, she had already taken her shirt off, so she was only in her bra.

Daphne and Tracey started to giggle. Fortunately, most of the Weasleys were still in the tent with Helen. Unfortunately, Robert chose that moment to come outside.

"Hermione!" he yelled. Hermione looked at her father as if he was crazy.

"'ermione," said Fleur, trying to contain her laughter, "Maybe you should go put a shirt on."

"Oops," said Hermione with a slight blush. She walked quickly back into the tent.

Robert gave Harry a rather dirty glare. "You don't look all that surprised to see her like that."

"Of course he isn't surprised," said Daphne quickly, "Hermione gets excited like that in the Slytherin dorms all the time. This isn't the first time she's gotten so excited she didn't put on some article of clothing."

"In any case, Hermione's underwear covers far more than her bikini did," noted Harry.

"Unfortunately, I see your point," said Robert, "But you don't have to stare."

"Harry can stare if he wants to," said Hermione, emerging wearing a slightly heavier shirt, "It isn't any of your business."

Robert grumbled.

"What was the commotion?" said Fred, who left the tent, followed by George and shortly afterward by Helen.

"Oh, you just missed seeing me in my bra," said Hermione, "Not that I'm upset that you missed it mind you."

Both of the twins snickered.

"You need to keep better track of things, Hermione," said George.

"I mean we know you always remember the big things like when the sixth Goblin Rebellion started," said Fred,

"Or what the properties of flobberworm spit are," continued George.

"But you need to keep your eye on the little things," segued Fred.

"Like covering your lady parts," finished George.

Hermione grinned evilly. "I'm going to enjoy being a prefect, you know. I'm going to make your lives hell."

"She wouldn't!" insisted Fred.

"You know she might," said George thoughtfully.

"Our deepest apologies," they both said, bowing to Hermione. Hermione smiled slightly.

"Have you seen Blaise?" Harry asked Daphne.

"Oh I saw him talking to Seamus," she said, with a knowing tone.

"Ah," said Harry and Hermione. Fleur also nodded, though how she had figured out what was going on was beyond Harry. Even the twins snickered a bit.

Gabrielle began speaking to Harry in French. Harry was stunned to realize that he could still understand her! The spell Hermione had cast had not worn off yet.

"How are you doing Harry! This is my first time in Britain. Is it always so grey here?" she said, speaking incredibly quickly.

"Very often it is," replied Harry in French, "And I am doing fine," Harry realized that there were some large holes in his French vocabulary. He still remembered the French that he had learned and used in France while under the spell, but everything else was gone. Still, he had managed to learn a huge chunk of French in a very short time.

"I didn't know you spoke French Harry," said Daphne in flawless French.

"I couldn't," said Harry, "But using that translation spell all the time left the stuff I used in my head."

"Brilliant!" said Daphne, in English.

"We will be sitting in the Minister's Box with you Harry," said Fleur, "As my father is senior Undersecretary to the French Minister for Magic, he was able to get us tickets there. We will be sitting right by you."

"That's great!" said Harry.

"You just want to spend time with my sister because she is a part-veela!" said Gabrielle in French again, though her tone indicated she was teasing him.

"I do like spending time with your sister," said Harry, "But it is not just because she is a part-veela. She was very kind and hospitable to us in France, and I wish to return the favour."

Gabrielle seemed to become thoughtful at that.

It was at this point that Blaise arrived. "Hey everyone! I got waylaid by Seamus on the way over here," he said before he stopped and saw Fleur and Gabrielle, "Well, I have to say that I haven't had the pleasure, my name is Blaise Zabini. And who might you lovely ladies be?"

As Fleur introduced herself and her sister to Blaise, Harry sidled next to Daphne. "What do you know about Fleur?" he asked.

"Her father is one of the most important people in the French Ministry, and an ardent opponent of pureblood supremacy," said Daphne, "My father gets on well enough with him, as my father's foreign policies are generally more pro-muggleborn than his domestic policies."

Harry thought about it for a second, "Maybe we should let her in on the war council then. Having the Senior Undersecretary to the French Minister on our side might be helpful."

"So you've heard about the Triwizard tournament then?" said Daphne. Harry nodded.

Ginny approached them quietly, "I think we need to fill in Daphne, Percy, and Bill on what's going on," she said to Harry.

Harry nodded, "Hermione should probably be there, but her parents might be suspicious. It's one thing to tell them that we have secrets, it's another thing to hold secret meetings when they're present."

"She needs to know though," said Ginny.

Harry sighed. "Maybe we can get Fleur and Blaise to distract them for a few minutes."

"Well Fleur can distract my dad," said Hermione, "Poor guy is completely defenseless against her."

"Maybe we should have Blaise do that one then," said Daphne.

"That's a good idea," said Harry.

XXXXX

It proved quite easy to get Bill, Percy, and Daphne alone for a few minutes in the girl's tent.

"So what is this about?" said Bill, "You've all been super secretive."

"We have reason to be," said Ginny, "We've decided that everyone here is trustworthy. So we are going to let you in on all our secrets."

"All of your secrets?" said Percy.

"Well the marriage contract Mum signed for me and Harry is the less shocking thing," Ginny admitted.

"What!?" shouted Bill.

"We're taking care of it," said Daphne, "I can't say anything else, and it would just make you madder if I did."

"The bigger problem is that Harry didn't destroy Tom Riddle's diary with a basilisk fang," said Ginny, "I absorbed it, and now I have Riddle's memories."

"Okay, that is so much worse than the marriage contract," said Daphne, "And it explains so much of why Harry defers to you."

"Anyway, Harry has a link to Voldemort with his scar," said Hermione. "And when we were in France he felt Voldemort."

"And I still occasionally feel his presence now," said Harry, "He's returned to Britain."

"How is he not dead?" asked Percy.

"He created Horcruxes, items which store a piece of his soul," said Ginny, "They keep him alive no matter what. The diary was a Horcrux but it wasn't his only one."

"The news which we haven't even told Hermione, is that we've found another Horcrux," said Harry.

"Where?" asked Bill.

Ginny pointed directly at Harry's scar. "It's there," she said.

"My scar is a Horcrux," confirmed Harry.

Everyone stared at Harry. "Well,_ fuck_," said Percy.

XXXXX

Harry had to admit he was disappointed. He'd hoped that Bill Weasley would know how to deal with his Horcrux problem. But Bill was completely mystified. They'd have to come up with another solution.

As Harry and his new confidantes left the tent, they saw Arthur was talking to two men. One Harry recognized as Ludo Bagman, primarily from Tracey's rather bizarre crush on the man he had seen in her thoughts. Bagman had looked m7ch younger in her thoughts though. The other he didn't recognize, but Percy dealt with that.

"Hello Mr. Crouch," said Percy.

Harry tensed. That was Barty Crouch. That man was responsible for Sirius being sent to Azkaban. Hermione put both of her arms around his arm.

"Hello Weatherby," said Crouch to Percy's extreme annoyance.

"You do need to find poor Bertha Jorkins," said Arthur to Bagman, "Even for her, this disappearance is odd."

Harry gasped. Bertha Jorkins was the woman Voldemort had killed.

Crouch had noticed Harry's reaction. "You know something Potter?" he asked.

Harry shook his head, "Bertha Jorkins is almost certainly dead," he said sadly, "I think she fell into the hands of Lord Voldemort's shade in Albania."

"How could you know such a thing?" Crouch scoffed.

Harry snarled. "I had a dream. Lord Voldemort's… shade was talking about all the things she had told him. To… one of his servants."

Barty Crouch went white. "Do you have prophetic dreams often?" asked Crouch.

"No, but this is the very first time I'd heard the name Bertha Jorkins outside of that dream," said Harry.

"Harry mentioned the dream to me at the time," said Hermione.

Crouch grew visibly anxious. "Excuse me, We must look into this."

Crouch wasn't worried about Bertha Jorkins, realized Harry as the man walked away. He was worried about what she might have told Voldemort. Did this have to do with the Younger Crouch? That was just terrific. All Harry needed was another mystery.

"That was odd," said Bagman, "Plenty of time to follow this up tomorrow. Not much we can do now with the World Cup on. Anyway, anyone wants to place a wager?"

Everyone (including a very shocked Tracey) glared at him.

XXXXX

The Minister's Box was probably the very best place to see the match. It was perfectly situated so that the field below could be seen but at the same time was on the level at which most of the play would probably occur. Harry and his friends were among the first to arrive, with Fleur and Gabrielle in tow. On the way to the stadium they'd purchased omnioculars, which were like binoculars, but more magical. Particularly useful was their ability to slow down the action to get a better view of a particular play.

The box began filling quite quickly. A house-elf arrived soon after Harry and his friends had arrived. Hermione tried to talk to her, but aside from giving her name (Winky), she seemed uninterested in talking. Other wizards began to file into the box shortly thereafter, mostly foreign dignitaries or Fudge cronies. But about 10 minutes before the introductions were about to start, Harry saw Ginny go tense.

Lucius Malfoy had entered the Minister's box, along with his wife, Narcissa, and Draco. The Minister had also entered the box at about the same time, though from the other side. He was accompanied by another man whom Harry guessed was the Minister for Magic from Bulgaria.

"Potter," said Lucius, his nose flaring somewhat, "What a… pleasant surprise."

"My thoughts exactly," said Harry.

"Lucius Malfoy," said Ginny quietly, her eyes hard as diamond, "It's been a while. I don't have a cauldron on me, so if you are going to try and murder me again you won't be able to just drop a Horcrux in it and let it possess me. You'll have to try something new."

"How DARE you…" started Narcissa, but Harry cut her off.

"I agreed I wouldn't cause a fuss over this, but Ginny didn't," said Harry, "But I would be very willing to add my testimony to hers. And to Dobby's. So by all means, cause a scene in front of TWO Ministers for Magic."

"You broke your word a day after you gave it," said Lucius.

"Because your moron son publicly asked me about it," said Harry. Lucius and Narcissa looked at Draco sharply.

"I haven't said a word since then," Harry continued.

"But understand that I haven't forgotten anything Lucius," said Ginny, "The day WILL come when I make you pay for what you've done. I look forward to showing you some of the things your master taught me."

Lucius went white. That was a possibility he had never considered apparently.

Harry put his arm around Ginny and shepherded her back to the group. "Well said," he said to her.

"Malfoy tried to stay in the background last year," said Ginny, "but he won't this year, not after that."

"We'll have to be vigilant," agreed Harry.

Upon rejoining his friends, Harry soon found himself up against the front railing of the Ministers box wedged between Blaise and Gabi. Hermione was talking quietly to Daphne, Tracey, and Fleur, and from their giggles and glances at him, it was quite obvious that he was the subject of their conversation. He didn't think he would be welcome there right now.

Gabi looked at Harry oddly. Finally, she spoke up, again in French. "I think my sister likes you," she said.

"I think she does too," said Harry, "But she's too old for me and she knows it."

"Age is less important to a Veela than some other things," said Gabi, "But I don't think she intends to pursue you either. I don't know why though. Is it because you are with Hermione?"

"I'm not with Hermione exactly," said Harry, "Maybe I will be soon, I don't know, but right now we're trying to see other people."

"A full-blooded Veela would see how you felt for each other, but to me, it feels as if you two are pulling towards each other if that makes sense," said Gabi.

"It doesn't, but that's okay," said Harry, "I'm pretty dense sometimes."

Gabi smiled at Harry. "Somehow, I don't think that is true," she said mysteriously.

"Looks like things are starting!" said Tracey.

The front row of the box had been given over to Harry and his group. Gabi was on the right-hand end of the row, sitting next to Fleur. Fleur had sat next to Hermione, who was on Harry's immediate right. On his other side was Tracey who had pushed her way into that spot, and Harry suspected that it had something to do with Ron's presence on the other side of her. Daphne had similarly pushed her way next to Ron, leaving Ginny and Blaise on the other end. The Malfoys had sat a couple of rows back, in the center, just in front of Winky, and next to the Minister and his Ministerial guest from Bulgaria.

Harry was starting to get a little worried about the situation with Ron, Daphne, and Tracey. It had all the makings of a love triangle forming. Their little group had just avoided one with Hermione, Ginny, and himself. They didn't need another one starting up now.

The arrival of the mascots from Bulgaria, however, caused quite a stir. It was a whole troupe of stunningly beautiful women. As soon as they entered the pitch, Harry could feel the pull of their allure. Veela.

Fleur seemed a bit angry. "They are not supposed to use their allure in that way, to influence a Quidditch match. It goes against everything the Veelas has done to advance ourselves over the last century," she said. Harry supposed this was hitting some hidden fault line in Veela society, but he had no idea what it was.

Ron was rather agitated, and Harry laughed at Draco's contortions. Draco was trying very hard to get the attention of the Veela and nearly dived through Harry and his friend's party to leap out of the Minister's box. Luckily Narcissa was able to pull him back. There were plenty of adult men who were having similar problems. Blaise seemed rather unaffected though.

"My Dad is probably having fits," said Hermione glumly.

"Don't worry, Arthur and Bill can probably keep him in check," said Harry.

"You are doing very well this time," said Fleur, looking rather astonished.

"I can feel it," said Harry, "But I guess I know how to shake it off now."

Fleur just shook her head. "Do you understand how rare that is in someone your age?" she finally asked, "At your age most are either completely vulnerable or not affected at all. I suspect you have a strong resistance to mind-controlling magic."

The Irish mascots came on the field next, and they were leprechauns. They sprayed leprechaun gold all over the stadium.

"Look at all this gold!" shouted Ron excitedly.

"It isn't real," said Blaise, "It'll disappear in a few hours."

"Oh, did Seamus tell you that?" asked Daphne suggestively.

"Just because the bloke's Irish, it does not mean he knows everything about Leprechauns," said Blaise, "My Mum told me that one. She's had some troubles in Ireland, and she loves to tell me horror stories about the place. Course she doesn't go there anymore, not since the Irish magical underworld put a kill on sight order on her."

"So what do we do with this gold?" said Ron.

"We throw it at Malfoy," said Ginny, who pointed at Lucius and Fudge, who had moved away from the box for a moment to have a private word.

And before Harry could say anything, Ginny, Ron, Blaise, and Tracey were throwing Leprechaun gold at Draco. He wasn't expecting it, so he was knocked back into the aisle behind him, right in front of the seat Winky had been saving. Winky seemed to take this rather badly, wailing loudly, and helping Draco back to his feet quickly.

"Oh stop it!" said Hermione, "You're behaving like hooligans."

Ron and Tracey both looked a bit shamefaced, but Blaise and Ginny seemed defiant. Fortunately for them, Draco didn't know the secret of Leprechaun gold and was scrambling to pick up the pieces.

"Poor Draco," said Harry sarcastically.

XXXXX

The World Cup final match was Quidditch unlike any Harry had seen played before. The speed of the players, the precision of the passing, it was all far beyond the level played at Hogwarts. The Irish chasers were good. So good that Harry couldn't understand how anyone could stop them. Both on offense and defense they dominated the pitch. The game was going to come down to whether the Bulgarian seeker could catch the snitch before Ireland got an insurmountable lead.

The Bulgarian seeker was Viktor Krum, and Harry knew why they called him the best in the world. He was possibly the most skilled flyer Harry had ever seen. He pulled a long dive called a Wronski feint perfectly, causing the opposing seeker to slam into the ground. His skill at avoiding bludgers was amazing. And he was the first Seeker who consistently saw the snitch at around the same time Harry did. Unfortunately, the opposing beaters managed to keep him away every time. And when the Irish team finally went up 150 points, Krum knew that they were beaten. Moments later he saw the snitch and caught it, ending the match.

"Why'd he do that?" asked Daphne.

"The Irish chasers weren't going to be stopped," explained Tracey.

Ron agreed, "If he'd waited any longer, the Bulgarian team would have probably lost by over a hundred points. Krum just stopped the bleeding."

"Are we partying over at the Weasleys' tents?" asked Blaise.

"The more the merrier!" said Ron excitedly.

"Unfortunately, Gabi and I must return to our parents," said Fleur, "But I will see all of you later this year."

"Goodbye, Fleur!" said Hermione, hugging the older girl.

The group made their way back to the tents. Daphne, Tracey, and Blaise had all made arrangements to spend the night in the Weasley tents. Daphne's family was there as well, but according to her she and her father were still at loggerheads. Tracey's parents were working, while Clarice Zabini was not a Quidditch fan.

Still, the Weasleys had no intention of going to bed so early. They'd mostly been rooting on the Irish, and as such, they were in a mood to celebrate. Fred and George were particularly exuberant as they'd bet a large number of galleons on Ireland winning and Krum catching the snitch. Arthur tried to send them to bed, but with Blaise, Daphne and Tracey there he eventually decided to let them celebrate a bit longer.

There was a lot of noise coming from the rest of the camp. It would be a mess for the Obliviators to deal with in the morning. Then there was a subtle change in the sound. Harry and Ginny noticed it first. What had originally sounded excited, suddenly shifted to sounding hectic. Harry and Ginny both ran to the entrance to the tent.

Outside they saw fires cropping up all over the place, and could hear the faint sounds of screams and people casting combat spells.

Harry ran back into the tent. "Someone's started a riot!" he said urgently.

"And it's heading this way," said Ginny seriously.

Arthur stood up and ran for the door. Looking outside they ran back in. "We need to get out of here," he said. "Bill, Charlie, Percy, we need to join the Ministry response, they'll need all the help they can get. The rest of you need to get away as quickly as you can. No heroics."

"Right,' said Harry as he pulled out his wand. The rest of the kids did likewise. If there was a riot, this qualified as a life-threatening situation. They could use magic to defend themselves if need be.

As Arthur and his group made their way away, Harry gestured with his wand and the rest of his friends formed a ring around Helen and Robert.

"What's that for?" asked Helen.

"You're completely defenseless," said Harry, "And at any rate, I bet we know who is causing this riot. There's only one group in Magical Britain that would."

"The Death Eaters," said Hermione.

"You stay in the middle too Hermione," said Daphne, "To them, a muggleborn is no better than a muggle."

As they moved through the tents, they saw the main group of Death Eaters. It was indeed making its way towards them. The could see the masked and cloaked Death Eaters marching down the streets. They were levitating several people in the air, spinning them around and holding them upside down. They were all wearing sleeping gowns. Harry recognized the gatekeeper who had let them into the grounds the day before. The others must be his family, including his wife and children. Harry's blood ran cold. He was about to charge the Death eaters when he felt an iron grip on his shoulder.

It was Ginny. "We can't Harry, we have to protect our friends," she said.

"Let's move!" he said, his voice disgusted, "If those Death Eaters get too close to us though…"

Everyone nodded at him. None of them were thinking of stunning spells at this point.

Their group made way towards the nearest cover, a small wood on the edge of the camp. Right before they got there, they ran into a familiar face. It was Draco and his goons, Crabbe and Goyle. Draco was complaining about something.

"I don't know where my wand went, It's not like I use the damned thing outside of school," said the blond boy.

Harry laughed, casing Malfoy to spin around suddenly. "Has poor Malfoy lost his wand?" he asked mockingly, "Not able to join in the fun with your father?"

"Potter!" shouted Draco, but he was nervous. Harry and his friends had him very outnumbered, and without his wand, he had to be feeling rather vulnerable.

"If my father was out there, and I'm not saying he is, he's smart enough to not get caught," said Draco, "But you should all hang around. They're heading this way. I wouldn't mind seeing Granger's knickers again."

Robert tried to lunge at Malfoy, but Fred and George both held him back. Harry simply nodded towards Daphne. Daphne and Blaise suddenly raised their wands and stunned Crabbe and Goyle. Harry didn't bother with magic. He simply walked up to Malfoy and punched him in the face. Malfoy fell to the ground bleeding from his now broken nose.

"Thanks for reminding me what a scumbag you are," said Harry, "But the good news is, I'm done beating you up. The bad news is, you're staying with us. What do you want to bet that pointing a wand at your head stops those Death Eaters cold?"

"Harry…" said Helen nervously.

"Oh I'm not going to hurt him anymore," said Harry, "But Lucius doesn't need to know that."

"You'll pay for this!" said Malfoy.

Harry nodded. "I might. But…"

Suddenly a voice from some way off said "_Morsmordre!_"

And the sign of a skull swallowing a snake flew in the sky.

Harry gasped. "The Dark Mark!" he said, his voice horrified.

"The Dark Mark?" asked Robert puzzled.

"You-Know-Who's mark," said Hermione grimly.

Suddenly they heard the crack of disapparating as all the Death Eaters began to flee.

"Why are they fleeing?" said Draco in disbelief.

"Because if Voldemort was back those Death Eaters would be in big trouble," said Ginny with a twisted grin, "They all denied him to keep their freedom. The only Death Eaters who wouldn't be in trouble are those who went to Azkaban for him."

"You dare speak his name?!" demanded Malfoy angrily.

"Thanks to your father I know Voldemort more personally than you ever will," said Ginny contemptuously.

"We should head back to camp," said Harry, "No Death Eaters would stay around after that, and we might be able to lend a hand if people are hurt."

Everyone agreed. The mystery of who cast the Dark Mark could wait till tomorrow. They left Draco behind with an unconscious Crabbe and Goyle.

When they got back to the campsite, they immediately noticed that the girls' tent had been trampled. The other tent was still standing though. Moments after arriving, Bryant Greengrass ran up with Tracey's father as well as Clarice Zabini.

"Thank Merlin you're all right!" said Bryant.

"I wasn't in much personal danger," said Daphne, "But I guess if the Death Eaters had caught us we'd have probably had a firefight on our hands."

"Because you were with muggles of course!" said Clarice angrily. Harry saw Hermione clench her fists.

Blaise wasn't having that though. "No, because some pureblood bastards decided to attack muggles!" he said angrily, "Let's put the blame where it is due, not on the innocent people just trying to have a good time!"

"Well said, Blaise," said Bryant, "This sort of barbarism is a huge step back for the whole magical community. It makes us look worse than anything the Muggles have done to us since the witch burnings."

Harry recalled that Bryant was opposed to muggle baiting. It was a politically convenient position, and Bryant's comment had sounded rather empty. Like a practiced statement. Looking over at Hermione, he could see she was still enraged. She caught his gaze, and he saw that she needed to talk to him for a bit.

Blaise, Daphne, and Tracey all apparated home with their parents. This still left all the rest of the Weasleys, Grangers plus Harry to fit in one tent. Things got easier when Bill, Charlie, and Percy arrived. Bill expanded Robert's bed so that Helen could share it with her.

"Ginny, you can take my bed," said Harry, "I'll take the couch."

"Where is Hermione going to stay?" asked Robert.

"Well…" said Hermione, trailing off as she tried to figure out how to put this.

Ginny decided to cut through it. "She's staying on the couch with Harry," she said, "The two of them need to talk."

"She is not…" started Robert, but Ginny cut him off.

"You know that what happened tonight was bad, but you don't understand how bad," said Ginny quietly, "Your daughter is scared and enraged. Do you know what to say to her?"

Robert hung his head as he shook it. "Sorry, it was just a reaction," he said sadly, "Of course you can stay on the couch, Hermione."

And with that, they all went to bed.

XXXXX

**August 26th, 1994**

Everyone was rather exhausted when they woke up the next morning. Harry had talked to Hermione for a while, but she had gone to sleep angry. He'd felt her quivering next to him. Neither of them had been willing to tempt her father's wrath by trying to sleep on the same side of the couch. As a result, they'd slept on opposite sides of the couch and Hermione had kicked him in the chest multiple times. He might have done the same actually, at least going by her giggles. She'd been a bit calmer when she woke up but was still visibly upset.

Arthur had helped with the aftermath of the riot, and he was even more exhausted than everyone else. "We found a house-elf near the site where the Dark Mark was cast," he said, "Her name was Winky. There was also a wand nearby. It had cast the Dark Mark. You'll never guess who the wand belonged to though."

"Draco Malfoy," said Harry.

Arthur looked at him with a stunned expression. "How did you know?" he said incredulously, "I thought you said Malfoy was with you when the Dark Mark was cast?"

"He was," said Harry, "but Winky was sitting right behind Draco in the Minister's box during the match, and he didn't have his wand when we met him near the forest."

"Well that should clear Draco's name then," said Arthur, "Though I find it hard to believe that the elf stole the wand. She was Crouch's elf apparently, and he fired her on the spot."

Harry also didn't believe that Winky had stolen Draco's wand. He remembered how flustered she had been when Draco had fallen right in front of the seat she'd been saving.

"Winky said she was saving a seat for someone," said Harry, "But I think that someone was there. I think they were either disillusioned or under an invisibility cloak. She was trying too hard to prevent people from entering the physical space of that seat. That's who cast the Dark Mark."

Arthur shook his head, "I do not doubt that you're right Harry, but proving it will be impossible. And why would a guest of Mr. Crouch's cast the Dark Mark? Barty Crouch hates Death Eaters more than anyone. He sent his son to Azkaban as a Death Eater."

"Could it have been his son?" asked Fred.

"No way," said Percy, "Barty Crouch Jr. is dead. Died in Azkaban. His mother followed him soon after."

Harry suddenly realized what Voldemort had meant by "the younger Crouch". Looking over at Ginny he saw that she was having the same thoughts. The fact that Winky had been Crouch's elf was too convenient. No, this all had to be linked.

"How soon after?" asked Ginny.

"She died as soon as she got the news," said Arthur sadly.

"So what you mean to say is that Barty Jr. died, and then no one saw his mother again after that," said Harry.

"Mrs. Crouch was very ill," said Arthur.

Ginny's eyes widened. "So she was going to die anyway?"

"Oh, bloody hell!" said Daphne as she realised where Harry and Ginny were going.

"What?" asked Arthur.

Suddenly Percy seemed to get it. "Polyjuice potion," he said, "His wife and son switched places with polyjuice potion."

"The Dementors can't see!" said Harry excitedly, "A corpse is a corpse to them. They can only tell living people apart."

"And they sometimes have trouble telling living people apart," said Hermione, "I bet it is even harder with family."

"I bet you Crouch kept his son captive this whole time!" said Ron

"Winky was saving a space for Barty Crouch Jr." concluded Blaise, "And he stole Malfoy's wand, and he summoned the Dark Mark..."

"And now he's loose," finished Charlie.

"And Voldemort's back in the country," said Harry.

"We have no proof," said Arthur.

"No we don't," said Bill, "But do you doubt our conclusions?"

Arthur shook his head. "No, I don't. Not that it matters."

"We can't prove it," said Harry.

XXXXX

Hermione was slated to stay at the Burrow for the remainder of summer break. After the attack, the Grangers were hesitant to let her do so but ultimately relented as they had few other options. Logistically, they both had to work on the first, so neither could take her to the station. Still, before her parents left Hermione and Molly gave her parents a more detailed rundown of the Death Eaters and what they stood for. Ginny sat watching the whole thing grimly.

On the 28th, they all went to Diagon Alley to get their school things, where they met Daphne and Blaise. The trip was rather uneventful. Harry met with Brokgut, and he had indeed finished the arrangements for the rebuilding of Harry's ancestral home. After a bit of light haggling, Harry signed off on the plans and set the rebuilding in motion.

Harry also noted that his list of supplies included dress robes. He supposed this had something to do with the tournament. Still, it took a little extra time to get fitted for them. Daphne had given him some advice on the styling, so Harry was confident that he would look moderately stylish. As it was, Harry was more than prepared for what was to come this year.

One small hiccup was that Molly and Arthur had refused to sign Ginny's Hogsmeade letter. Supposedly it was punishment for her sneaking out of Hogwarts last year. Still considering that Ginny had saved Hermione, Justin, and even Harry's life by doing so, he thought it was a little unfair.

So he managed to find a spot that was in full hearing of Mrs. Weasley but where he couldn't see her, where motioned for Ginny to come over. She seemed curious as to what he wanted to say. He put one finger over his lips in a shushing gesture.

"It's too bad you can't go to Hogsmeade,' said Harry so that Mrs. Weasley could easily hear him, "How am I going to get you out on a date now?" Harry winked at Ginny.

Ginny barely managed to stifle her laugh. If that didn't get her mother to change her tune, nothing would.

**Author's Note:** I don't have much to say over this chapter. Some of you seem to think Harry and Hermione are going to be having sex soon. They aren't. It definitely doesn't happen in fourth year.

Next time school is back in and the plot finally starts moving again.


	27. Spiraling out of Control

**Chapter 27: Spiralling out of Control**

**September 1st, 1994**

The ride to Hogwarts had been relatively uneventful, at least so far. Harry had no intention of keeping it that way. He'd gathered the war council together, including some of his biggest supporters from the other years. From Hufflepuff came Justin, Ernie, Susan, and Hannah and Cedric. From Gryffindor came Ron, Neville, Seamus and Parvati, plus Colin Creevey. From Ravenclaw came Padma, Sue, Michael and somewhat surprisingly, Cho Chang. Harry, Hermione, Daphne, Tracey, Ginny, and Luna all represented Slytherin.

Blaise had elected not to stay on the war council, mostly so that no one thought that his mother was involved in it. If they were going to become political, he had insisted that it would be important. Harry wasn't convinced. Blaise might have been getting pushback on some things from his mother.

They'd managed to get a large enough space to meet in by Cedric's intervention; he'd simply let them into the prefects' compartment. It wasn't used at all after the Prefect meeting.

"I've called all of us here so that we can enter a new phase in our plans to save the magical world from itself," started Harry, "I think the IUC can handle Hogwarts from now on, so I think we need to start looking at what is going on outside of the school."

"Is there anything we can do outside of school right now?" asked Ernie.

"Not right away," said Daphne, "But we can start laying the groundwork for what we plan to do."

"The riot at the Quidditch World Cup was a national disgrace," said Cedric, "We have to make it clear that such horrible displays are unacceptable."

"But that won't happen so long as anti-muggleborn laws are still on the books," said Ron, "As long as the law sees muggleborns differently, people will use that to justify their hatred."

"The Wizengamot passes the laws though," said Susan, "How can we do anything?"

"The Minister, along with a core of Wizengamot members could change the makeup of the Wizengamot if they chose to do so," said Hermione.

"All we'd need to do is get a Minister elected, and try to pool all our allies in the Wizengamot," said Daphne, "Between all of us, we could probably get enough support. All we'd have to do is add members, members whose loyalty is to our ideals. Once we got a solid majority, we could do what we wanted."

"And that would include driving the pureblood bigots off the Wizengamot," said Harry.

"I thought you might be pushing for democratic reforms," said Cho, who sounded disappointed.

"We are," said Hermione, "But all of that would require a new charter for the Ministry of Magic. Until we control things, it isn't possible."

"We need to write our protections _into_ the charter," said Harry.

"We're also looking at the relations between the Ministry and other magical creatures," said Daphne.

"Regardless of what we do regarding the laws, anything we do in regards to magical creatures is going to require extensive negotiations," said Luna.

"And the House Elf stuff will be another can of worms," said Hermione.

"What do you mean?" asked Neville, "Not all of us treat our elves badly."

"Yes, but all House Elves have been affected by the magic that prevents them from defending themselves or leaving their masters," said Hermione, "I think that elves that are genuinely treated as members of a family will want to stay with their families. But what we do will give the elves control over their own lives. Some of them are going to surprise people who thought they were treating their elves well, and that isn't going to go over well."

"So why remove the magic?" asked Susan.

"Because it's no better than using the Imperius Curse on them," said Ginny, "If you truly do love your elves like family, you should be willing to let them lead their own lives."

Most of the pureblood witches and wizards seemed a bit upset at this, but Daphne cut through the gloom, "I know that I want my elf to be happy, even if she can no longer live with us," she said, "I never looked at things like this before, but I'm not going to look back now. We have the ability to be better people, so we have the responsibility to be better people."

Everyone nodded, though some of them were a bit reluctant.

"Is Malfoy going to try to organize against us?" asked Padma.

"If he finds out what we are doing, he will try," said Harry, "The IUC may be helpful there. Malfoy isn't done making his power plays, though. And there is one other thing you all need to know."

Harry sighed before he dove right into it. "Lord Voldemort's spirit has returned to Britain. He is currently trying to restore his body and his power. We all need to be watchful. If you see something suspicious take it to McGonagall or Dumbledore."

Harry thought that he could have heard a pin drop after he'd made that announcement.

XXXXX

"I can't believe they cancelled Quidditch," said Tracey disconsolately as they started to eat at the beginning of term feast.

"It works out well for us though," said Harry, "We don't really have a Quidditch Captain. Everyone on the team is fourth year or younger."

"There have been fourth year Captains before," said Blaise.

"Not since the nineteenth century though," said Ginny, "It just isn't done anymore."

"Think this way," suggested Hermione, "this means that one of you is almost certain to be made captain."

Everyone knew that by one of you Hermione meant Tracey, but no one wanted to jinx it by saying it.

"I still say that Moody was trying to make an entrance," said Daphne, trying to steer the conversation away from Quidditch.

"Moody's name sounds familiar," said Harry, "I'm not sure from where though."

"My dad mentioned him the other day," said Ginny, "He was the one who was casting all those defensive spells where muggles could see them."

Something about that didn't sit right with Harry. He couldn't pinpoint it, but there was something about that story that set him on edge. Maybe everything was setting him on edge. After all, with Voldemort back he had to be careful.

"I'm going to talk to Dumbledore," said Harry, "I want to warn him about Crouch Jr. I suppose I can ask him about Moody. If he'll say anything."

The Headmaster was talking to Moody when Harry approached him. Moody had a magicked eye that seemed to look at everything except what Moody's real eye was staring at. The man turned to Harry as he approached.

"You must be Potter," he said, "You'd best be cautious boy, there are all sorts who would want to do you in."

"Don't I know it," said Harry with a sigh.

Moody nodded and walked off, taking a swig from his hip flask.

"Odd man," said Harry.

"But one of the best Aurors in British History," said Dumbledore.

"Mr. Weasley had to go visit him to calm him down a few days ago," said Harry, "though I have no doubt that living through the war made him a bit paranoid." Something still nagged Harry about this, but that wasn't his purpose here.

"Did you have something new to tell me Harry?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry nodded, "This theory is a little crazy, and I know I have no proof, but I think Barty Crouch Jr. is alive, and that he was the person who summoned the Dark Mark at the Quidditch World Cup."

Harry quickly explained his reasoning. Dumbledore's face grew grave as Harry spoke.

"Arthur mentioned this, and I agree that you have no proof," said Dumbledore, "But I also agree that there are too many coincidences here. There are also a few things that you don't know that make this even more worrisome. For one thing, I spoke to Arthur regarding his search for Crouch as well. From what he said, I believe that Barty Crouch Jr. was recaptured by his father."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"That is possibly the worst thing that could have happened Harry," said Dumbledore gravely, "because of the news that you brought earlier in the summer, that Voldemort captured Bertha Jorkins. She may have told him where one of his most loyal followers could be found."

"But how would Bertha Jorkins know about Crouch Jr.?" asked Harry.

"She has been working with the Department Of International Magical Cooperation on the Triwizard Tournament for months," said Dumbledore, "I do not know the exact nature of this connection, but I fear it exists. Crouch Jr. may already be free."

"Would that mean that Crouch Sr. is under the Imperius Curse?" asked Harry.

Dumbledore suddenly looked very upset. "I cannot say, but that is a rather disturbing possibility. I may need to take a more active role in preparing the security for the tournament."

"Maybe I can ask Ginny to ask Percy to keep an eye on him," said Harry. Dumbledore just nodded. Harry could write Percy himself, but something told him to keep this casual. Percy should keep a low profile and a letter from Harry would be a giveaway.

Harry left the meeting feeling worse than he had come to it, which was no mean feat. He immediately made his way down to the Slytherin common room, then went down the third year corridor and knocked on Ginny's door.

"What are you doing down here, Potter?" asked a girl. She was one of the new prefects this year, and she had followed him down the hallway.

"Nothing involving you," said Harry, "I need to talk to my friends, and it isn't curfew quite yet. And even if it was, there's no rule against being in someone else's room after curfew."

"Snape told us to keep an eye on you," she said defensively, "make sure you aren't getting into trouble."

Luna opened the door. "Oh hello Harry," she said in her normal, rather dreamy tone, "I'd have expected you to wait a few days before trying to seduce us, but you are very welcome all the same." And then she pulled Harry into the room.

"Luna, there was a prefect right there who was accusing me of just that," said Harry chidingly.

"Oops," said Luna rather insincerely.

"You need something Potter?" asked Ginny, who was standing up and had wrapped her blanket around herself, "I was getting dressed for bed."

"Sorry," said Harry, "but it was Luna who pulled me in here. Anyway, I need you to write to Percy and tell him to keep an eye on his boss. Dumbledore and I believe he may be Imperiused. By Voldemort."

"Well, that would be bad," said Ginny, "Okay, I'll write him."

"Thanks," said Harry, who then turned and left the room. Harry saw the prefect coming down the hall with Snape as he came out. Snape glared at the poor girl.

"I somehow doubt that even Potter could be over and done with in this amount of time," said Snape, "What are you up to Potter?"

"I just needed to bring a message from the Headmaster to Ginny," said Harry, "I can't help if your new prefect insists on taking Luna seriously."

And Harry returned to his room. Hermione was already in bed when he got there, petting Crookshanks, but she hadn't gone to sleep yet.

"How bad was it?" she asked as he quickly changed into his pajamas.

"Bad enough," he said. After he finished changing he walked over and gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll tell you about it in the morning. Good night," he said.

"Good night," said Hermione.

XXXXX

**September 14th, 1994**

Moody was crazy. It was the only thing that made any sense to Hermione. From what the Weasleys had said she'd known he was probably a little eccentric, but she had been utterly unprepared for the reality. Moody was probably crazy, certainly was out of control, and Hermione didn't know who to go to.

In his first Defense against the Dark Arts class he'd demonstrated all three of the Unforgivable curses. That in and of itself wasn't a problem for Hermione. She agreed learning to deal with those spells was important, and she felt she was old enough to handle them. But his mannerisms while teaching them had been wrong. There had been an apparent glee in Moody's eyes when he'd watched Neville squirming as he demonstrated the Cruciatus curse. Hermione didn't want to believe it, but she had to assume that Moody was crazed to derive any pleasure from that. Moody had been an auror, he had to know what had happened to Neville's parents.

Hermione tapped her foot. Harry had stayed behind after Herbology to help Professor Sprout clean up some messes. Professor Sprout was an enigma to Hermione sometimes. Harry got along well with McGonagall and Flitwick, and while he didn't get on well with Snape they seemed to have an uneasy truce, but Sprout seemed to constantly be wary of Harry. Hermione supposed it might have had something to do with Harry's early troubles with the Hufflepuffs, but those were long over.

There was a light knock on the door to her room. Hermione opened the door to find Ginny standing there. Without a word the younger girl barged into the room. She was clearly upset about something.

"I can't take Snape anymore!" said Ginny angrily.

"What did he do?" asked Hermione.

"That's the problem, he hasn't done anything!" she fumed, "He stares at me sometimes, and I can't fucking read him! I have no idea why he's doing it! And sometimes he pauses as he says my name. It's so creepy, I can't take it! But he hasn't actually done anything. I mean if he yelled at me, fine, I can deal with him hating me. And if he did something 'inappropriate' I could just report him to McGonagall. But he just stares. Like a creep. And it's driving me nuts!"

"Pauses as he says your name? How?" inquired Hermione.

"Miss… Weasley," said Ginny in a rather fair imitation of Snape's voice, "He's been doing it since my first year, but I honestly wasn't really paying attention then. I had other things on my mind."

Hermione didn't like the sound of this. "That is odd," she said, "I can understand why it unnerves you though. I've never seen him act like that in our class. Sometimes he glares at Harry, but that isn't a mystery at all."

"No one I've talked to has ever heard of him doing this with anyone else," said Ginny, "When he does it it's almost like he has to remind himself of what my name is, but why would he have to do it so often?"

"Maybe you remind him of someone," said Hermione.

"Well if that's the case I wish he'd get over it, 'cause it's driving me crazy," said Ginny acidly.

"I'm sorry, you shouldn't have to deal with this, I'm just trying to make sense of it all," apologized Hermione.

Ginny nodded, "I know Hermione. I'm not mad at you. I've just fumed about this to Luna so many times and had to unload at someone else."

Hermione shook her head, "Maybe you should tell McGonagall anyway. She might not be able to do anything, but at least she could keep an eye out."

"That is an idea," said Ginny pensively, "Thanks for the advice. For now I'm just going to use that map Harry loaned me to avoid him." With that she hugged Hermione and ran out of the room.

As she left, Harry came back in. "What is with her?" asked Harry.

"Have you noticed Snape acting funny around Ginny?"asked Hermione.

"A few times, yeah," he said, "I think I mentioned it to her once. He likes to give her that unreadable stare."

If Harry had noticed it, Hermione definitely wasn't willing to dismiss this. Something was probably very wrong.

"I wonder if this has something to do with Ginny being sorted into Slytherin," said Harry, "maybe Snape is secretly obsessed with her or something."

"I'm still not convinced it isn't Dumbledore," said Hermione.

"The marriage contract could suggest that, but it doesn't prove it," said Harry, "And I'm not sure what his motivation would be. Unless he has subsequently decided it was a big mistake. No, Dumbledore isn't our main suspect I think."

Hermione shrugged. All of this was conjecture. They still couldn't prove anything.

"So what took you so long?" asked Hermione.

Harry's face suddenly turned red. "Well Susan and I were cleaning up, and we were talking. Apparently last year Justin had agreed to snog her, but then they got distracted with you being kidnapped and all, and it never happened. So now Justin has told her that he just sees her as a friend and isn't interested anymore."

"Poor Susan," said Hermione.

"Well Susan _wants_ a friend to do it with her. She doesn't want any pressure her first time, but everyone has been turning her down," explained Harry, "So, um, I might have volunteered. And we might have started snogging right there in the greenhouse."

Hermione stared at Harry for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Oh Harry, that is just _fantastic_. Did you have a good time?"

"I liked it," admitted Harry, "She wasn't a bad kisser. I _may_ have let my hands wander a bit as well. A very little bit. Susan didn't mind at all. Unfortunately Professor Sprout walked in on us, and she definitely minded."

Hermione laughed again, "Oh no! She dislikes you enough without you getting fresh with one of her badgers."

"Susan said she'd explain the situation," said Harry, "She was very grateful to me for helping her, though she was pretty clear that she wasn't interested in me in that way."

"I guess I'm going to need to step up my game then," said Hermione.

"I didn't realize we were competing," said Harry nervously.

"We aren't," said Hermione, "but I'm not going to let you win."

XXXXX

**September 19th, 1994**

"Does every teacher hate us?" demanded Tracey as the fourth year Slytherins left Charms, "Why so much homework?"

"Without Quidditch you should have plenty of time Tracey," said Hermione.

"Not the point!" said Tracey angrily, "and without Quidditch the one thing to do that wasn't schoolwork related is gone. And you can't be happy to get more work today. It's your birthday!"

"Granger has to study all the time, how else could she pretend to be better than everyone," said the voice of Draco Malfoy. He approached them from behind, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Oh shut up Malfoy," said Daphne, "Just because she_ is_ better than you doesn't mean she's acting stuck up."

"Better than me?" asked Draco incredulously, "Not likely! Look at her face!"

Suddenly Draco snapped up his wand and cast "_Densaugeo!_" right at Hermione's face. Suddenly her teeth were growing very rapidly.

Hermione's eyes flared, and she punched Malfoy in the face. He went down, his nose broken and bleeding.

But Malfoy's torment wasn't done. Suddenly Moody appeared (from where, no one could quite tell). "Hexing a girl unawares Malfoy? I'll teach you some manners!" And with that he cast a spell on Malfoy, turning him into a ferret. Moody began levitating him up and down as he muttered invectives at the boy/ferret.

Harry laughed at Draco, then turned to Hermione a bit shamefaced. "Sorry, I got a bit carried away there," he said.

Hermione shook her head trying to laugh through her enlarged teeth, "It'sssh fine. Malfoy the bounssshing ferret isssh worth thisssh. I jusssht need to get to Madam Pomfrey."

"We'll take her," said Daphne, who along with Tracey did their best to stand between Hermione and anyone who might see her on their way to the Hospital Wing.

Harry went back to watching Moody levitate Ferret Malfoy. Finally he sighed.

"Professor Moody, you'd better change him back before another teacher comes along," said Harry, "that is most definitely NOT an allowed punishment."

"Good instincts Potter," said Moody, who immediately transformed Malfoy back into his own self, bloody nose and all. Draco screamed briefly, then ran for the stairs towards the infirmary.

"Considering that this will be all over the school by tomorrow, I think Malfoy has been punished enough," said Padma, who had been leading the Ravenclaw fourth years out of the classroom.

"What happened?" asked Professor Flitwick, who had followed them.

"Malfoy hexed Hermione, Hermione punched him and broke his nose, then someone may have transformed Malfoy into a Ferret. May have," said Blaise.

"What a pity I missed it," said Flitwick, "Because I couldn't stop it, of course."

Harry had to admit, Flitwick was a pretty great guy.

XXXXX

When Harry saw Hermione that night, he immediately noticed something different about her. It took him some time to place it though. It was only when he woke up the next morning and she smiled at him in greeting that he realized what was different.

"You got your teeth reduced!" Harry said excitedly.

"Well did you see what Malfoy did to them?" said Hermione with a half-smile.

Harry glared at Hermione, "Not what I meant."

Hermione grinned full out. "I know. I just had Madam Pomfrey keep reducing them yesterday until they were where I wanted them. My mum probably won't be happy about it, but honestly it's my decision. In a way, I owe Malfoy for this. It made for a decent birthday present. That and him being turned to a ferret."

"It looks nice Hermione," said Harry, "I know you wanted to do it."

"Nice?" asked Hermione her tone neutral and her eyes disapproving."

"Well as far as _I'm _concerned you were already very pretty, so I'm not going to go on about how much better you look," said Harry, "But if you had a problem with it I'm glad you got it taken care of. Before or after, you're still beautiful either way."

Hermione's disapproval evaporated immediately. She leaped across the distance between their beds and began kissing him rather thoroughly.

XXXXX

**September 22nd, 1994**

A few days later Hermione came into their room triumphantly. "I have a date to Hogsmeade!" she shouted triumphantly.

"Nice," said Harry, "Who is it?"

"Justin," said Hermione, "I know he's your friend…"

"_That _doesn't matter," said Harry, "Just have a good time."

"I'll beat you at this yet Potter!" said Hermione in a tone which Harry couldn't decide whether it was serious or not.

As a result Harry decided that he needed a date for the next Hogsmeade weekend. Which was why Harry knocked on the door to Daphne and Tracey's room the next morning.

"Who is it?" came Tracey's voice.

"Harry," said Harry.

The door opened. Tracey was wearing a long night shirt, and waved Harry in. As he entered, he saw that Daphne already mostly dressed and was buttoning the last few buttons on her shirt.

"Hey Daphne, I wanted to have a word with you privately before breakfast," said Harry.

"Oooh, Harry wants a private word with you," said Tracey suggestively.

Daphne grabbed her tie from her nightstand. "Okay, we can talk on the way to breakfast," she agreed.

"Get out of here then! I want to get dressed!" said Tracey. To emphasize her point, Tracey suddenly pulled her nightshirt off. Harry quickly spun around, but not before he'd had a fairly good view of Tracey in her underwear. He could feel his cheeks burning.

"Let's get out of here," said Daphne, who was glaring daggers at Tracey as she led Harry out of the room.

"Sorry about Tracey," said Daphne, "She's suddenly realized that her body can make boys uncomfortable, and finds it hilarious."

Harry nodded. Tracey was a good friend, but he wasn't ready for her to start acting like _that_. They left the Slytherin common room and began to make their way to breakfast.

"Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me Daphne?" asked Harry.

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that Hermione is going with Justin?" asked Daphne wryly.

Harry didn't prevaricate, "That _is _why I'm trying to get a date. It isn't the reason I chose you though. I chose you because, well, I like you. I can't really think of anyone else I'd rather spend the day with."

"Aside from Hermione you mean?" insisted Daphne before she shook her head, "Don't mind me Harry, I'm being silly. I know that the two of you are actively trying to avoid a romantic relationship right now. I think it's futile, but I'd be glad to spend time with you."

Harry smiled, "It's a date then," he said.

Daphne also smiled, and quietly slipped her hand into his as they walked. "I'm looking forward to it," she said.

XXXXX

**September 24th, 1994**

It didn't take Hermione long to realize that her date was not going well.

In retrospect, Justin had been a bad choice. There were several other boys she knew that she wasn't nearly as close to, and someone she liked but didn't know very well would have been far better grounds for a date. Justin was a friend, but Hermione had to admit that she'd chosen him because he was safe.

That would have been fine, except that Luna had passed them by earlier. And at that point Justin had asked where Ginny was. Hermione had explained about how Ginny's parents had forbidden her to go to Hogsmeade because she had snuck out last year. At that point Justin had admitted that he'd been writing letters back and forth with Ginny over the summer. That was all well and good.

But from then on Justin couldn't stop talking about Ginny.

It wasn't constant. But he kept bringing up her name every time something even remotely related to her popped up. Which was annoying for Hermione, as she was trying to have a date here! Every time he mentioned her Hermione started scowling.

"Is something wrong?" asked Justin.

"Well," said Hermione, "You've only been bringing up Ginny Weasley about every five minutes or so. You might be able to fit in a few more mentions of her if you really tried."

"Oh," said Justin, his face turning red, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so impolite."

Hermione sighed. "Listen, I know I kind of sprung this on you. If you aren't into it…"

"No," said Justin firmly, "I'm just not used to being on a date. So what do you want to do?."

Somehow Hermione was sceptical that he was fully sincere, though she was at least grateful he was trying. Still, she wondered how Harry's date with Daphne was going. It had to be going better than this!

XXXXX

Harry wondered how Hermione's date with Justin was going. It had to be going better than this!

Things had gotten off to a bad start right off the bat when they'd seen Ron, Seamus, Neville, Blaise, Luna and Tracey heading to Hogsmeade together. For _some reason _this had put Daphne in a bad mood. She was angry and snapping about everything. And she kept bringing them to places that were rather conveniently close to where that very group was going themselves.

"Daphne," Harry said finally, "Why are we stalking Ron Weasley?"

"Why would you think I'm following Ron?" asked Daphne.

"Because you have a crush on him," said Harry.

"I do not!" said Daphne. She sounded slightly upset, but Harry could tell it was a front.

"That's why you found all those opportunities to go to the Burrow this summer isn't it?" asked Harry.

"I was visiting Ginny," insisted Daphne.

"You spent a lot of time watching her and her brothers play Quidditch from what Ginny said," replied Harry, "You only do Quidditch things because the rest of us like it. You hate it."

"That's not quite true," said Daphne.

Harry scowled at her.

"Ok, fine I like Ron Weasley," said Daphne as she raised her arms helplessly, "But after all that effort, he still hasn't noticed me."

"Of course he hasn't," said Harry, "He's a good guy, but emotional sensitivity is not his strong suit. You're going to have to tell him."

"Ugh," said Daphne, "I hate that."

"Of course, Tracey might not react too well to that," said Harry.

"What do you mean?" asked Daphne.

Harry stopped cold. Obviously Daphne unconsciously knew Tracey was into Ron, but she clearly was in denial about it. This could be very bad.

"Tracey has had a crush on Ron since second year at least, possibly before that," said Harry.

"That's silly," said Daphne, "She'd have told me."

"Not since you've started giving off signs that you're interested," said Harry.

"Tracey isn't into Ron," said Daphne, clearly intending to to end the conversation.

Harry had a very bad feeling about this. Tracey was clearly not telling Daphne how she felt about this. Harry initially didn't understand why. Tracey was always forthright with her opinion at other times. Then he realized that Tracey was just deferring to Daphne. Which she always did. Because… well Harry had never fully understood why she did. But he was beginning to suspect that there was a class issue here. Had Tracey been conditioned to follow Daphne because Daphne was not just a pureblood, but part of the Sacred twenty-eight? Harry knew Daphne would never expect or ask it of Tracey, but they might have fallen into those roles anyway, without even knowing it.

"Fine, what do you want to do then?" asked Harry.

"Well, Hermione's been bragging about some of the new things you tried on her vacation…" said Daphne.

"Oh?" said Harry, suddenly curious.

"Maybe we could find someplace private, and you could demonstrate," said Daphne.

Harry smiled. "Okay, I think I'd be okay with that."

XXXXX

"At least you got that far," complained Hermione that night. She and Harry were sitting in the common room with Ginny and Luna, talking quietly. "Justin seemed terrified at the thought of kissing me. I think he might have managed to hit the corner of my mouth. Maybe."

"I think it's obvious that we both need to seriously reconsider our criteria for who we go on dates with," said Harry.

"Daphne and Justin are good friends, but maybe that doesn't make for the best romantic connection," said Hermione.

"Or maybe you're already interested in someone else, and this entire exercise is pointless," interjected Ginny.

"You're just upset that you couldn't go to Hogsmeade," said Harry.

"Yes, I am," said Ginny, "That is indeed the reason that I'm calling you on this complete and utter shite. It isn't because I CARE. No, no, it can't be that." And Ginny got up and stormed out of the common room.

"Ginny does have a fair number of wrackspurts today," said Luna, "But then again, so do the two of you." Luna quickly followed her friend.

"I'll admit, I was thinking about you a lot today," said Harry.

Hermione smirked. "You were thinking of me when you had your hands on Daphne's bum?"

"Well, maybe not right at that moment," admitted Harry.

XXXXX

**October 30th, 1994**

The 30th of October had finally come. The entire school was abuzz with anticipation. The staff seemed to have gone crazy with preparing the school to be presentable over the last few days. But the arrival of the other schools' delegations was suitably impressive. The Durmstrang delegation came in an underwater ship, and the Beauxbatons delegation had come in a flying carriage. All in all, Harry gave them full points for style.

The Headmistress of Beauxbatons was a huge woman named Madame Maxine, and it was immediately obvious to Harry at least that Hagrid was stricken with her. Her delegation was all impeccably dressed. Harry noticed Fleur up at the front of the group, who waved at Hermione and himself when she saw them.

The Headmaster of Durmstrang was a rather disreputable looking fellow named Igor Karkaroff. The man actually blanched when he saw Alastor Moody. Moody gave a rather sinister grin in reply.

"Karkaroff was a Death Eater," whispered Daphne, "Moody caught him and he sold out a lot of the other Death Eaters to win his freedom."

That meant it was unlikely that the man would be working with Voldemort. Unlikely, but not impossible, Harry corrected himself. He could be trying to redeem himself to his fellow Death Eaters.

The biggest surprise was the Durmstrang delegation. It included Viktor Krum!

"Morgana's tits!" said Tracey, "I didn't know he was a student! I'm going to have to get his autograph."

"Leave him be for the moment Tracey," said Harry, "I doubt he likes being harassed at school."

As the students began to make their way to the Great Hall for a welcoming feast, Fleur walked up to them.

"I 'ave been given permission to sit with you for the feast tonight, though I will 'ave to sit with my schoolmates for the feast tomorrow night," said Fleur, "Madame Maxine is rather skeptical of your Slytherin intentions 'owever."

"Our sterling reputation rears its ugly head again," said Blaise.

"I bet you the Durmstrang contingent sits with the Slytherins," said Ginny.

"Maybe I could meet Viktor Krum!" said Tracey excitedly.

"Tracey, please calm down and don't embarrass us," said Hermione, "He's just a Quidditch player."

"Just a Quidditch player!" Tracey nearly screamed before realizing people were staring at her, "Oops! I got a bit carried away there. But seriously, just a Quidditch player…"

XXXXX

The feast was a rather social occasion. As Ginny had suspected, the Durmstrang students sat at the Slytherin table. Most of the Beauxbatons students sat at the Ravenclaw tables, but a few of them had branched out and were sitting with the Hufflepuffs given that Fleur had asked for an exception. Harry noticed that Crouch and Bagman were there. That was worrisome, even if they were involved with the Tournament. Harry didn't trust either of them. Harry fully believed that Barty Crouch was under the Imperius Curse, and Ludo Bagman's behavior was shady as well.

Because of this, the announcement that the Tournament would only be open to those 17 years or older came as a great relief to Harry. Harry had been very worried someone might try to do something like enter him in the tournament. He did not need any more life threatening situations this year, thank you very much. Still Harry had to wonder what protections would be in place to stop this. So far none of the protections Dumbledore had tried to use to keep him safe had worked properly.

After the feast, Harry ran up to catch Dumbledore.

"Headmaster," he said, "You are absolutely sure that no one under the age of 17 will be allowed to enter?"

"Yes Harry," said Dumbledore with that damned twinkle in his eye, "So if you intend to enter, I suggest you not waste your time."

"Headmaster, forgive me, but I don't want to enter the Tournament. I want to be certain that no one else can enter me in the Tournament!" said Harry more than a little bit angrily, "I suspect that anything Crouch is involved in is a trap at this point."

Dumbledore immediately looked far more serious. "Of course Harry," said Dumbledore, "I will be putting two age lines surrounding the Goblet. One will prevent anyone who is not of age from crossing it, while another will prevent anyone over the age of forty from crossing it."

"That leaves a lot of people who couldn't possibly compete in the tournament still able to put my name in," said Harry.

Dumbledore nodded in acknowledgement. "I know, but there are limitations to my magic. It was all I can do to place even those age lines so close to each other. Unless you want all people over the age of 20 banned from the Great Hall…"

"Sounds fun," said Harry, "Barty Crouch Jr. is in his thirties."

"That has worried me as well, so I have elected not to tell anyone about the second age line," said Dumbledore, "If he does try something, it will certainly be through his Imperiused father. Though I suppose we cannot be certain Crouch Sr. is Imperiused."

Harry shook his head. "I don't like this. Ever since I felt Voldemort in my head, I've had a really bad feeling about this year."

"What else can we do Harry?" asked the headmaster.

And for the life of him, Harry didn't know.

XXXXX

**October 31st, 1994**

All day on Halloween students were able to submit their names to the Goblet. As a result, most of the school congregated there to see who was putting their names into the Goblet, and Harry and his friends were no exception. Angelina Johnson, one of the Gryffindor chasers, put in her name. So did Cedric Diggory, who was probably the entrant that Harry knew the best. Harry considered Cedric a stand up guy. He hoped he got it.

Of course the highlight of the day was when Fred and George Weasley came running in with their friend Lee Jordan, chugging aging potions.

"This is going to be amazing," said Harry.

"I made sure Colin Creevey was here just to make sure this moment was caught on film," said Ginny.

The three of them leapt over the age line. At first it seemed to do nothing, but then all three of them were hurled out of the age circle and began growing fine white beards. Moments later came a brilliant flash as Colin caught the moment on camera.

"So you don't think anyone can beat the age line?" asked Daphne, "You usually don't put a lot of trust in Dumbledore."

"If he says he can cast a spell that keeps anyone under the age of 17 out, he probably can," said Harry, "Dumbledore is a very skilled wizard. I just don't trust his judgement."

Dumbledore himself had arrived, and seemed to find Fred and George's stunt rather amusing. Harry suspected McGonagall would find it rather less so. It wasn't his problem in any case.

The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students all came and delivered their entries en masse. Afterwards some of them hung around. Krum came up to speak to Harry.

"You are the Slytherin Seeker?" Krum asked, "I haff heard you are quite good."

Harry nodded. "Yeah. I've won 5 of my six matches."

"He would have won all six, but someone enchanted a bludger to keep following him the entire match so he got knocked away at the last minute while following the snitch," said Tracey.

Krum nodded, "That is a very good record."

"Thanks," said Harry. Krum seemed to be a bit relieved when Harry didn't act overawed by his presence. Tracey, on the other hand, looked like she was about to burst, but Daphne had an iron grip on her shoulders.

"I saw you play at the World Cup final," said Harry, "I think you played well, despite the outcome. The Irish were a tough nut to crack."

"It is too bad that we are not going to get to see you play," said Krum, "I wouldn't have minded watching Quidditch for once."

"Harry needs to concentrate on his studies more anyway," said Hermione.

XXXXX

That evening everyone gathered for the Halloween feast. Once again the Beauxbatons contingent sat with the Ravenclaws, and Fleur sat with them this time. The feast itself was excellent as always. But Harry couldn't help but face the feeling that something was very wrong. It was almost as if he could feel the smugness coming out of his scar. He'd paid close attention to it since the revelation that it was one of Voldemort's horcruxes. He'd had no more visions, but occasionally got glimpses of… something.

When the feast ended, Dumbledore stepped up to the Goblet of Fire, which now sat squarely in front of the staff table.

"The time has come," said Dumbledore who waved his wand in front of him quickly, removing a magical barrier that had been erected over the goblet for the Feast. The Goblet's blue fire flared, sending a small slip of paper into the air, which Dumbledore caught nimbly.

"The representative of Durmstrang is Viktor Krum!" shouted Dumbledore to the Hall. There was a thunderous applause as Krum stood and was directed towards one of the side rooms off the Great Hall.

A few moments afterwards, the Goblet flared again. Dumbledore caught the note that flew out again.

"The representative of Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!" shouted Dumbledore again. There was more cheering, but more measured this time, though Harry and his friends were even louder as they cheered. Fleur smiled at them as she got up and made her way to the side room.

A few moments after that the Goblet fired up again. Dumbledore again caught the scrap that flew out.

"And representing Hogwarts is Cedric Diggory!" shouted Dumbledore. Harry sagged in relief. He'd been worried over nothing. He applauded vigorously as Cedric followed the other two Champions. Dumbledore also looked relieved.

"I am sure we will all extend our champions…" started Dumbledore again, but suddenly the Goblet flared again.

"No fucking way," said Harry quietly.

Dumbledore snatched the name out of the air. He looked at it, then closed his eyes in resignation.

"Harry Potter," he said simply.

Harry stood, glaring daggers at the Headmaster. Everyone in the hall was whispering to each other. Harry walked into the side room, which was filled with portraits.

"'arry?" asked Fleur as he entered.

"Well it looks like someone has decided to try and kill me this year after all," said Harry, "My name came out of the Goblet."

Harry saw a lot of conflicting emotions on Cedric's face. This had to be hard on him. It should have been Cedric's moment, and instead he'd have to share it with Harry. Fleur just looked worried. She hadn't been privy to all of what was going on, but she knew that someone had tried to kill Harry every year since he'd entered Hogwarts. Krum just looked confused.

Dumbledore, Crouch, Bagman, Madame Maxine, Igor Karkaroff, Snape and Moody suddenly descended on the room. Dumbledore immediately went over to Harry.

"Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?" he asked calmly.

"No, I did not," said Harry.

"Of course 'e is lying," said Madame Maxine.

"I do not believe 'arry would lie about this!" said Fleur, "'e is well aware of 'ow dangerous this tournament is."

"I wanted to avoid getting killed," said Harry, "Not pick the most likely way for it to happen."

"In any case, how could Harry get past the age line?" asked Cedric, "No offense Harry, but I doubt you are able to get past Dumbledore's enchantments."

Harry of course knew what must have happened. Somehow, Barty Crouch Jr. had come here himself and put in Harry's name. But how to prove that?

"He couldn't," said Moody, "And even if he could, he couldn't have fooled the Goblet into picking him as a fourth contestant. The Goblet is an extremely powerful magical artifact. The Confundus charm necessary to fool it is beyond any fourth year. Harry is right, someone is trying to kill him."

"Well, we can withdraw him then, right?" said Bagman.

"No," said Crouch, "His name coming out of the Goblet constitutes a binding magical contract. Harry must compete."

"As must the rest of us," said Fleur angrily, "Why weren't we told of this contract!"

"You were told that you could not withdraw if chosen," said Dumbledore.

"This sort of contract is no longer legal, and for a reason," said Harry, "But that won't stop the magic from working." Harry bit his lip before he made a snide comment about marriage contracts.

"There is no choice, the boy must compete," said Crouch. Karkaroff and Maxine both began to make wails of protest.

Harry walked over to Cedric and Fleur. "I'm sorry about this Cedric," said Harry.

Cedric shook his head, "Part of me wants to blame you for this, but I've come to know you well enough to know you wouldn't do this. Anything short of this maybe, but you wouldn't be this reckless."

Fleur put an arm around Harry's shoulders. "We will do what we can to make sure you are not 'urt."

Krum had come and joined them. "I suppose I do not really know you, Harry. But if my fellow champions trust you, so will I."

"Thanks," said Harry, "This means a lot to me."

**Author's Note:** This chapter is a big turning point. Obviously Harry being entered in the tournament is big. Harry has actually figured pretty much everything out, except for the fact that Moody is Crouch Jr.

Alix, they do know better spells than stunners, but they are understandably hesitant to use them. They would use the reducto or cutters on the Death Eaters if they were attacked. They don't really want to hurt Crabbe or Goyle so that is why they don't use anything there. Well they probably _want _to, but it would be a bad idea. Blaise probably knows the Blasting Curse by now, it is definitely his thing. The kids gloves are still on though, at least this year.

A point, now that it is basically over: the whole point of the dating plotline isn't to have Harry or Hermione date anyone, it is to show that neither of them really wants to date anyone else, they just don't really know what to do with the hormones they awakened early by rooming together. If you haven't caught on yet, bad decisions are a theme in this story. That being said, the part of that plotline where they actually have time to go on dates with other people is over.

Next time we're onto the First Task. And Harry makes a good decision for once.


	28. The First Task

**Chapter 28: The First Task**

When Harry finally returned to the Slytherin common room his friends were waiting. Hermione immediately ran up to him and hugged him.

"So?" asked Daphne.

Harry shook his head. "I have to compete. It's a nice trap they've laid for me."

"But for what?" asked Tracey.

"Someone wants to kill Harry," said Blaise.

"I wouldn't be so sure," said Ginny, "I wouldn't make any assumptions about why Harry was put in this tournament. It certainly isn't a guaranteed death sentence, and if Voldemort is involved he will almost certainly want Harry to survive to face him. Voldemort _needs_ to show his followers that he can defeat Harry."

"A very good point Ginny," said Hermione, "We need to come at this from facts, not assumptions. How did this happen?"

"I'm pretty sure Barty Crouch Jr. did it," said Harry, "the second age line Dumbledore drew wouldn't have affected him."

"Then what was the use of it?" said Blaise.

"I doubt the Headmaster thought that Crouch could get into the school, but with his father's help he might have been able to," said Daphne.

"But how _did_ Crouch get into the school?" asked Tracey.

"I mean the easiest way would be for him to use polyjuice potion," said Ginny, "And the easiest person for him to replace would have been his father."

Harry wasn't able to deal with this all right now. At this moment all he wanted was to go to sleep. Of course, Malfoy chose the exact moment he thought that to walk into the common room.

"Potter!" he said snarling, "How did you enter your name! I always knew you were a good cheater."

Harry pondered how to reply to this for a moment. Then, with a completely straight face, he said, "I had to do a ritual to drain another person's brain completely of information. Fortunately, I used you as the focus, so no one lost anything."

Malfoy snarled, "Very funny Potter."

"I didn't enter myself," said Harry, "Now piss off."

Harry made his way towards his room. Daphne intercepted him before he got there, however.

"Harry, I need to speak with you privately," she said, her urgency plain on her face.

Harry nodded, and both of them entered Daphne's room.

"First, I want to cast a spell on you," said Daphne.

"Okay," said Harry.

Daphne cast a simple reveal magic spell on Harry. It detected nothing.

"Fuck," said Daphne.

"What's the problem?" asked Harry.

"You no longer have the Trace on you!" said Daphne, "This is bad! It means that your magic has decided that Dumbledore has completely failed you."

"Does this mean I'm emancipated?" asked Harry.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Of course not. The laws of Magical Britain don't allow for a 14-year-old boy to be emancipated! Have you been talking to Ernie? For some reason, he thought that if he entered himself into the tournament he'd be considered an adult."

"That isn't the case?" asked Harry.

"The rule about underage competitors is modern, and it isn't part of the magic of the Goblet of Fire," said Daphne, "it is just words on a page in some paper-pushing Ministry document. The only thing backing it up was the age line. The Goblet was willing to bind you regardless of your age because it was never designed to determine your age. That isn't why you lost the Trace"

"No," continued Daphne, "you lost the Trace because you are in so much danger that you need to be allowed to defend yourself with magic. The Trace is older than Reasonable Restriction on underage Sorcery. Hell, it's older than the Statute of Secrecy. Its primary purpose was to help find muggleborn wizards in the middle ages and ensure that their parents weren't trying to burn them as witches or something. But sometimes the magical guardians assigned to these children didn't have their best interests in mind. When a magical guardian completely fails their ward, occasionally the Trace simply removes itself from the child in question. Usually, if the child in question has already tried to address that failure. This allows them to use magic without risking their bad guardians using the Trace to hunt them down."

"I did try to warn Dumbledore his plan wouldn't protect me from Crouch Jr.," said Harry.

"What this means is that the situation you are now in is potentially lethal," said Daphne, "The Trace won't break for anything less. Though at least you can use magic now outside of school, at least as long as no one in authority sees you."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"It's still against the law for you to use magic outside of school," said Daphne, "Now they just can't track when you do it."

Harry didn't like the sound of that.

"On a brighter note, since you are a Champion, that means you are going to be opening the Yule Ball," said Daphne, changing the subject in a breakneck shift of tone, "You will need to learn how to dance, and you will need a date. I can offer you dance lessons if necessary. As for a date…"

"I want to take Hermione," said Harry. If he was going to be opening the Ball, he wanted a date he could depend on. That meant Hermione.

Daphne smiled. "You aren't so stupid after all. Good man. I'd ask her soon."

Harry nodded. "Thanks, and good night," he said as he left the room. He went into his room where Hermione was waiting for him.

Hermione was about to say something when Harry held out a hand. "I want to talk to you about this Hermione. But tomorrow. I just want to sleep right now."

"Of course," said Hermione.

Harry paused. "Actually," he said after a moment, "there is one thing. As Champion, I have to open the Yule Ball. Would you be so kind as to be my date that night?"

Hermione blushed and smiled. "Of course Harry," she said.

XXXXX

**November 8th, 1994**

The reaction of the school had been more muted than Harry had feared. Oh, some thought Harry was being a glory hound (Draco especially), but most people in the school attended IUC meetings at least occasionally. And everyone knew Harry had given up leading the IUC despite it being a runaway success. This led most of the students to conclude that Harry was telling the truth when he said he didn't enter his name, especially when Harry was backed by Dumbledore as well as the other champions.

Draco was still trying to rally people against Harry though. This issue had given Draco's little pureblood faction a shot in the arm. Instead of trying to get around the IUC, they just targeted Harry. A short-lived campaign in which Draco and his allies wore pins that switched between the messages _Support Cedric Diggory - The Real Hogwarts Champion_ and _Potter Stinks_ backfired horribly when Daphne instructed the IUC to keep an eye on the people who were wearing them as they had already demonstrated they were willing to bully Harry. Privately, Harry had written down the names of every student who had worn them. Harry suspected most of them were in Draco's group.

Cedric had been great. The Hufflepuff reaction to Harry being named champion had initially been indignation. But Cedric had shut that down the very first night. Cedric was upset, but he at least understood that Harry had enemies, and they were after him.

The other schools were a bit wary of Harry, however. Well, the Beauxbatons delegation was. Madam Maxine seemed to have ordered Fleur to steer clear of Harry and his friends, an order which she flouted regularly. Madam Maxine couldn't do much about that, as Fleur was of age. Krum was more distant, but that was probably because he was an international Quidditch star. The rest of the Durmstrang delegation either thought that this was a power move by Harry or that he had very powerful enemies. Either way, the way Harry went around as if nothing had happened seemed to impress them.

And Harry was trying his best to focus on his classes. Ancient Runes hadn't been his favorite class last year, but this year now that he had the basic syntax down he was starting to warm to it. Arithmancy was interesting and useful but demanded much of his time. Care of Magical creatures wasn't so interesting, but it was eventful. Hagrid had them raising some sort of horrible hybrid creatures he called blast-ended skrewts. They were creatures that, in Harry's view, had no useful purpose, but were dangerous and difficult to raise. He had a strong suspicion that they had something to do with the tournament, but he kept that to himself. Not that he thought anyone could do anything about it anyway.

Snape was being nasty to everyone in Potions, but Harry saw through that right away. He just wanted to snap at Harry, but he couldn't single him out, as Harry was in his house. So he tormented everyone. Charms was a nice haven from that, it had always been the most fun class, but Harry wasn't challenged by it at this point. The practice he did with his Slytherin friends had put him at the charms level of an early sixth year. He was beginning to work on silent casting. Harry supposed that being so ahead boded well for his participation in the tournament.

Transfiguration was not so easy, however, which Harry respected. Transfiguration was in theory very simple, but there were subtleties to it that Harry had only recently begun to appreciate. Even though all transfigurations were essentially the same few spells, there was a wide variety of ways one could shape their magic to perform them. Transfiguration wasn't a discipline so much as it was an art form. The only thing that made you better at Transfiguration was intense practice. Harry was ahead of the class, but not so much that he didn't get anything out of it.

History and Astronomy were, as Hermione put it, largely useless.

And then there was Defense

Moody was getting weirder. Now he was demanding to test the Imperius Curse on the fourth-year students. Harry was pretty sure this wasn't legal, but he was rather curious to see how he would do against the Imperius, so he went along with it anyway.

It went about as well for Harry's friends as he thought. Tracey had virtually no ability to resist the curse, but Blaise and Daphne at least hesitated before they fell under its control. Hermione briefly looked as if she was going to be able to resist it, but ultimately gave in. Malfoy on the other hand instantly gave in.

Finally, it was Harry's turn. "_Imperio!_" said Moody.

Harry felt like a blanket had fallen over his mind. It felt strange but distant. He could feel the curse digging through his occlumency shields.

"Jump on the table Potter," said Moody.

Harry felt the curse claw at his mind, but it found no egress there. Harry was not inclined to obey in the slightest.

"On the table!" shouted Moody.

"No," said Harry calmly, "I don't think so."

The Defense against the Dark Arts class let out a collective gasp. Moody, however, looked ecstatic.

"Fantastic job Potter! You've put a lot of effort into shielding and training your mind," said Moody enthusiastically, "If only more wizards did the same!"

After class Moody pulled him aside. "I think that whoever put your name in that cup seriously underestimated you, Potter."

"Possibly," said Harry.

"Look, I'm not supposed to help you with the Tournament Potter, but if you do need help, I might be able to point you in the right direction," said Moody.

Nothing else Moody could have said at that moment would have made Harry more suspicious. Harry had become convinced that the person who had entered him wanted him to win, and Moody shouldn't have been offering to help him at all.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Harry. Could Mad-Eye be the one who Crouch replaced? No, it couldn't be. Moody was under the constant eye of the Hogwarts staff, he would require months of supplies of polyjuice potion. It would be far easier to imitate Crouch Sr.

Moody was probably just another crazy Defense professor. Harry filed this away in his mind though. Just in case.

XXXXX

**November 9th, 1994**

The next day, an owl dropped a package in front of Ginny at breakfast. Harry didn't think much of it until he heard her give a small gasp. Ginny got up and walked over to Harry, and sat down squarely between him and Hermione, pushing them both out of the way.

"Hey!" said Hermione, but Ginny put a letter she was reading in front of her.

"This is from Percy," said Ginny in a low tone. "The first task is dragons. You'll have to recover something from a dragon's nest."

Harry's eyes went wide. How was he supposed to get by a dragon?

Five minutes later Harry and his friends had gathered in an empty classroom.

"Why did Percy send this?" asked Daphne.

"Because he thinks it's far too dangerous, even for the of age contestants," said Ginny, "I don't know what the letters you sent to him have done, but it seems like you've knocked some sense into my brother."

Harry looked a bit smug at that.

"A dragon isn't that bad," said Ginny.

"Not that bad?" said Blaise, "Are you mental?"

"Harry has one ability that I doubt was considered when they decided to use dragons," said Ginny, "Dragons are intelligent beasts, but they are just beasts. They're easily tricked. Especially if you use legilimency on them."

"Oooh," said Hermione, "But that might not be enough. But maybe if Harry uses that in conjunction with his Invisibility cloak…"

"He can only bring his wand Hermione," said Ginny.

"He could summon his cloak," insisted Hermione.

"Or I could try the disillusionment charm," said Harry, "I think I could pull it off."

"How would legilimency work though?" asked Blaise.

Harry grinned. "I'd have to plant a memory in the dragon's mind. And I know exactly what I'm going to do…"

XXXXX

**November 10th, 1994**

Nott had finally begun to realize that Malfoy was completely out of his depth. Harry had him on the ropes, and it had taken Nott ages to figure out why. And in the end, it had been simple. Harry had been sorted into Slytherin and had acted like a Gryffindor. And no one knew how to deal with it. Especially not Draco.

"How do you think Potter managed it?" asked Draco, who was lying in his bed, fuming.

"Managed what?" asked Nott as he read a Quidditch magazine.

"Getting into the tournament," said Draco.

"I think he has no idea why he's in the tournament. Or maybe he does, but he didn't enter himself," said Nott.

"You believe Potter?" asked Draco, "That's what you get for being on friendly terms with him the last two years. Consorting with the enemy is what that is."

"No, it's Quidditch," said Nott without looking up, "And I'd be spending more time with him this year except it got canceled."

"Oh, that's why you've been eyeing the Weasley girl?" asked Draco maliciously.

"Hey, Ginny's a pureblood, and she's cute," said Nott, "I have nothing to explain there."

"Listen," said Nott as he put down the magazine, "I get it. You hate Potter. He's constantly upstaged you. That's because you keep treating him exactly like this. He's not a normal Slytherin. He's a Gryffindor that got sorted into Slytherin. He's a bull in a china shop. Which is why he is going to be prefect. Like it or not, Potter is the power in Slytherin now. You keep trying to intimidate him, to flaunt your power and wealth, but Potter just sees that as a challenge. He likes challenges."

"Potter's soft," said Draco.

"Undoubtedly," said Nott, "but he's powerful enough he can afford to be soft. Now I'm going to bed."

And Nott closed the curtains around his bed. But before he laid his back down, he heard Draco murmur, "Well, we'll see about that…"

XXXXX

**November 13th, 1994**

One thing was clear, Harry had to warn the other contestants what was going on. A dragon was far too dangerous to not be taken seriously. An opportunity to do so came when Harry was summoned in the middle of potions class to a wand weighing ceremony.

Ollivander was there, checking their wands for any damage or defects. The Daily Prophet was there as well, with a photographer and Rita Skeeter. Rita's presence was worrisome to Harry. She had a reputation, and this situation was exactly the sort she liked to use to raise trouble.

So when she pulled Harry into a broom closet for an interview, he was rather annoyed.

"Well this is rather awkward," he said pointedly.

"It is a bit cozy," said Skeeter, "But now you can tell me what you feel about things."

"I could have told you out there," said Harry.

"Now Harry, I know you probably want to keep certain things private…" started Skeeter.

"In which case, I certainly wouldn't tell them to you," said Harry, "If you want an interview we can do it in public with witnesses."

And he left the broom cupboard just as the Headmaster was walking up.

"Ah," said Dumbledore, "I see you have managed to free yourself from Ms. Skeeter's clutches."

Harry shook his head. Walking out into the room he signaled to the other Champions to come over. Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor all came over.

"I just got a tip from inside the Ministry," said Harry, "The first task will be Dragons. We'll have to recover something from them."

"I haff heard some similar rumors," said Krum, "But why to tell us?"

"Dragons are dangerous," said Harry, "I want everyone to have as much time to come up with a plan for them as they can."

"Thanks, Harry," said Cedric.

"Merci," said Fleur, "Once again you prove Madam Maxine wrong about you." And Fleur kissed Harry on the cheek.

As Harry's cheeks turned red, Cedric grinned. "So that's why you did it huh?" he asked as they left the weighing.

Harry didn't trust himself to speak.

XXXXX

**November 16th, 1994**

"You need to be careful of Rita Skeeter," warned Daphne a few days later. Her article on the Champions had just come out. It had been a total shambles. Not only had it failed to mention Cedric at all, the whole article largely focused on Harry and his role in the tournament. Not only that, but Rita had promised more exclusives on Harry to come.

"In what way?" asked Harry.

"She's a type of threat you haven't had to deal with yet," said Blaise, "she has a powerful media platform and she's unscrupulous. And she's very good at avoiding libel lawsuits."

"You think she's going to make something up?" asked Harry.

"She's done it before," said Daphne seriously.

"If she does publish anything false, you could always respond in the Quibbler," said Luna, "I'm sure Daddy would run an interview with Harry Potter."

"Now that's an idea," said Hermione, "Witch Weekly, the Daily Prophet and most of the other major magical publications are all owned by the same organization. Most wizards don't have a lot of options when it comes to combating them. The Quibbler, small as it is, is still an independent news outlet."

"No offense Luna, but the Quibbler has a very small readership," said Daphne.

"None taken. I like to think of it as exclusive," stated Luna proudly.

"But I've never really spoken to the press before," said Harry.

"It would probably triple or quadruple the circulation of the Quibbler overnight," said Tracey.

"Oh!" said Ginny suddenly, "I have an idea! Why don't we set up a contract giving the Quibbler exclusive interview rights for Harry's first interview? That way, if Rita tries to claim she interviewed him…"

"Brilliant!" said Harry with a smile.

It was at this moment that Fleur walked over to the Slytherin table. "'Arry!" she said in a friendly tone, "I was afraid that 'orrible woman had some rather bold designs on you the other day, dragging you into a closet like that."

"Well I'm sure she has designs, but they're more about readership numbers and how much buzz she can get going," said Harry.

"Well, it was good that you left her there," said Fleur, "The day before the first task, there is a Hogsmeade day, as they say here. I wondered if you and Hermione would show me around?"

"Gladly," said Harry.

"I'd be glad to help as well," said Hermione.

"Oooh, maybe I can tell my mum that you're on a date!" said Ginny excitedly, "If she thinks you're dating older women I bet Mum relents and lets me go to Hogsmeade."

Fleur looked at Ginny as if confused.

"Oh her Mum won't let her go to Hogsmeade because she snuck out last year," said Blaise.

"Oh, I should sneak out again!" said Ginny excitedly. "This time I won't get caught. I highly doubt anyone will be kidnapping Hermione this time."

"What?" asked an even more confused Fleur.

"We can talk about that later," said Harry.

"At least you two aren't having competitive dates anymore," said Daphne, "That was getting stupid. Not that I minded spending time with you, Harry."

"What is this?" asked Fleur.

"Not important," said Harry with a blush.

"I'll tell you later," Daphne cut in with a wink, "Maybe we can find a way for _you_ to have some alone time with Harry."

Fleur's eyes twinkled, "Oh this story sounds _very _interesting. I will have to speak to you later." And with that Fleur spun around and went back to the rest of her schoolmates. Harry noticed Madame Maxine was keeping a rather close eye on her.

Harry turned to Daphne, "You realize that I am _not_ immune to her allure right? It requires a lot of effort to keep under control and not do something silly around her. This isn't helping."

Daphne grinned. "Good, I'm not trying to help."

XXXXX

**November 19th, 1994**

Fleur found Hogsmeade to be 'charming,' or at least that's what she said. Harry wasn't sure if she was being serious or not. Still, he didn't see Fleur as being passive-aggressive, so he ultimately decided to take her at her word.

Harry noticed that he had several tails. Madam Maxine seemed to be everywhere he looked, which shouldn't have been a surprise. She seemed to think he was dangerous and was going to harm Fleur somehow. He also saw Rita Skeeter a few times, but she seemed to be making an effort to avoid being seen. After the first couple of sightings, she disappeared. Harry assumed she hadn't stopped following him and was using some form of magical camouflage. And Moody was constantly behind him as well.

Fleur was interested in a lot of things about Hogsmeade, but it was clear that what she was most interested in was Hermione's kidnapping. Which made sense, Hermione was her friend. So they told her the whole story about Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, and how Pettigrew had abducted Hermione. Fleur was appropriately horrified, especially at the end of the story where Harry, Ginny, and Hermione had cut a path out of Hogwarts through the dementors.

"Mon père is the Senior Undersecretary for the French Ministry," said Fleur, "I will tell him of this. Perhaps if Sirius is found in France, 'ee will not have to be sent back to Britain."

"Thank you Fleur," said Harry, "Though I doubt your father can make decisions like that based on your word alone."

"Non 'ee cannot, but 'ee can do an investigation based on that." said Fleur, "Are you not worried that Monsieur Pettigrew will attack you again?"

"We think he left the country, actually," said Harry, "but he probably came back with Voldemort. So yes, it is very likely that he or an ally of his will attack me again."

"Do you wish revenge on him?" asked Fleur.

"I don't think Harry…" started Hermione, but she was cut off by Harry.

"Yes, yes I do," said Harry, "But I need him to prove my godfather is innocent."

Fleur laughed grimly. "Or at least you need his head," she said, "Veela are not particularly merciful to those who harm us." Her grin was almost feral here. Harry remembered the Veela he'd seen at the World Cup, and how they'd transformed. No, he didn't want to get on Fleur's bad side.

"That has its advantages I'd expect," admitted Harry.

"Oh indeed," said Fleur.

XXXXX

**November 25th, 1994**

The day of the First Task was a nervous one for Harry. Of course, Harry trusted in Ginny's plan, but he was about to go up against a dragon! Moody had tried to give him some advice, but Harry had largely tuned him out. Moody cared too much, and for no apparent reason, so he couldn't be trusted.

Still, Harry was ready. He knew his plan inside and out, and he'd mastered the Disillusionment spell. Everything should go right. Which was not to say it would, but he'd come as close to certainty as he could hope.

Entering the tent, he quickly got dressed in the competitor's uniform provided for him. Then he sat and waited. Hermione was no doubt being restrained by the rest of the Slytherins, otherwise, she'd be down here. Cedric and Fleur both shot him friendly glances, but it was clear they were both worried about him. Which was funny, because Harry was pretty certain that his plan was going to work better than anyone else's.

Ludo Bagman walked in. "Everyone here? Good, Good, gather around."

"Which dragon are we fighting?" said Harry.

"Wh… How do you know about the Dragons?" said Ludo with deliberate surprise in his voice.

"It doesn't matter," said Krum, "But we all know."

Bagman's face seemed to fall for a moment, "Oh, in that case, each of you will pick one of four dragons from this bag," he said, holding out a bag.

Each of the students reached into the bag in turn and pulled out a small lifelike dragon. Cedric had pulled out a Swedish Short-Snout with a number one on it, Fleur a Common Welsh Green with a number 2, Krum pulled out a Chinese Fireball with a 3, and Harry pulled out…

"A Hungarian Horntail," he said as he pulled it out of the sack.

"Damn Harry," said Cedric, "That's bad luck."

Harry smirked. "That is really… really… unfortunate," he said trying to hide his satisfaction. The size and demeanor of his dragon were rather unimportant, and a bigger more violent dragon was useful for his plan. Maybe not so useful for the judges though.

Fleur gave Cedric a look that said "uh oh."

Having drawn the 4th dragon, Harry had nothing to do but to wait for the others to get by their dragons. He could hear the crowd roaring as the other champions faced their dragons. Harry wasn't interested. Well, he was insofar as he didn't want any of the other champions to get hurt, but he honestly was past caring about the competition. He just wanted to get through it safely.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, his name was called. Harry got up and walked to the entrance to the stadium. Above the stadium, he saw the stands. As he came out the stands erupted into cheers. And the judges, off to one side. Good, good, all the better.

And of course in the middle was the dragon.

And what a dragon it was! It was huge! Harry took a step back when he saw it. For one moment he almost rethought his plan. A brief moment. But no, he was committed.

He pulled out his wand and the whole stadium went quiet. He pointed his wand at the dragon and said "_Legilimens!_"

Suddenly he was inside the dragon's mind. Quietly, painstakingly he created an image in the dragon's mind. An image of Albus Dumbledore stealing one of it's eggs.

The moment he released the spell, the dragon spun around towards Dumbledore and the judges stand. Dumbledore immediately realized what had just happened and cast a spell. Just in time, as the dragon began to breathe fire on the judges' stand in short order.

Harry immediately Disillusioned himself and began to walk towards the nest. The dragon quickly realized that it's fire was not having any effect, and it began to go berserk flying up and pulling on the chain that bound it. Suddenly, the chain gave way. Harry winced when that happened, but that wasn't his fault! How could they even think of using a dragon that they couldn't keep contained? Without hesitation, he continued to the nest where he picked up the Golden Egg.

The Horntail flew above the stands and Dumbledore immediately cast a spell shielding the stands from the dragon's ire. Harry meanwhile had managed to get to the entrance to the stadium again. He again cast his Legilimency and this time put an image into the dragon's mind of the imaginary egg being returned. The dragon flew back down and landed next to its nest.

Harry had reappeared, and it took a moment for everyone to notice he'd recovered the egg. But when they did a roar went up from the crowd, and the dragon handlers ran out to subdue the now free dragon. Harry was about to retire to the tent when Moody suddenly met him.

"I think the Headmaster wants a word with you Potter," said the former Auror, "Though I'll say on a personal level, well done boy."

Harry went up to the judges' desk. Karkaroff and Madam Maxine looked irate, Bagman looked terrified and Crouch looked… surprisingly normal. That wasn't suspicious at all.

"What did you DO?" demanded Karkaroff.

"I put an image of one of you stealing the dragon's egg into its mind," said Harry.

"Didn't that strike you as dangerous?" demanded Madam Maxine.

"Everything about this dragon struck me as dangerous," said Harry, "I'm only fourteen years old! It was the duty of all of you to make sure I didn't have to compete in this competition! Since you didn't keep me safe from the dragon that way, I decided you'd do it a different way. Are you trying to say it's too dangerous for you to face a dragon but not me?"

Dumbledore nodded, "I agree that this is not fair, but the dragon put the entire crowd in danger."

Harry's eyes narrowed, "Well, I wasn't responsible for installing it's restraints. How was I to know it would get free? Isn't that the sort of contingency that is supposed to be planned for?" Harry gave a pointed glare at Bagman.

"Ah, yes, we uh, didn't anticipate just how strong that dragon would be," admitted Bagman, "It was only a last-minute addition after all. I suppose we should have found a less, ah, vicious specimen."

"I suppose we cannot blame Mr. Potter there," said Madam Maxine wearily.

After a moment's discussion, the judges each posted their marks. Bagman gave Harry a 10 (rather shakily though). Dumbledore gave him a 9, as did Crouch. Madam Maxine gave him an 8. Karkaroff, on the other hand, gave Harry a 0. Immediately the crowd started booing at Karkaroff. And throwing things at him. It soon got so bad that Karkaroff had to withdraw from the judge's box.

"That puts you in second place Harry!" shouted Hermione who had run up to greet him, followed by the rest of Harry's friends. Hermione wrapped Harry up in a bear hug as soon as she reached him, and she was joined by both Ginny and Daphne moments later.

"I was so frightened," said Hermione, almost breathlessly, "I had no idea the dragon was going to be so huge!"

"It was wicked the way the dragon broke free and started attacking the stands," said Blaise, "That's even better than anything I've blown up!"

"Do not get any ideas," said Professor Snape as he walked up to them.

He nodded at Harry. "Well done Potter, superior use of cunning to put the risk in a situation elsewhere," he said, "I hate to admit it, but you did Slytherin proud today."

Harry grinned wryly. "Thanks, professor." Not that he had forgiven Snape for trying to turn in his godfather to Fudge. But this win felt good.

XXXXX

**November 26th, 1994**

The bomb finally dropped with the next day's Prophet.

"'Harry Potter: Wizarding Hero or Budding Dark Wizard Rising?'" read Harry.

"Oooh, apparently Harry tried to kill everyone at the First task!" said Luna excitedly.

"And Harry has been using witchcraft on all us witches to get us to follow him," said Tracey, "And hey, I got a mention. They think I'm madly in love with you Potter."

"Are you?" asked Harry.

"Have you read the papers?" demanded Tracey with a grin, "I'm _clearly_ madly in love with you."

"And your voracious appetite for women is so great you've moved on to Veela," said Blaise, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Apparently I'm using Hermione, but I'm also trying to breed a new race of pureblood wizards descended from me?" asked Harry, "Who gave her that moronic quote?"

"Malfoy obviously," said Hermione, "Apparently Rita didn't do her research, she failed to note I'm a muggleborn."

"In any case, she has what appears to be an interview with me in there," said Harry, "That's damages right there."

"What did the Quibbler promise you that could get you damages?" asked Daphne.

"A hug from Luna," said Harry.

"That won't get you very much," said Daphne.

"It is enough to get him a retraction though," said Hermione, "Even with such paltry damages, the existence of a contract and any damages concerning how this story affects that contract will get this before at least part of the Wizengamot."

"I don't think the damages are paltry," said Luna.

"And once it's in front of the Wizengamot Harry's solicitor can bring up the entire story," realized Daphne.

"You know, I'm going to need to tell my mother about this," said Blaise, "Normally I wouldn't bother, but she loves libel suits."

"Well, it does so happen that my father knows a very good solicitor," said Daphne.

"I'd love to correspond with them," said Harry with a grin.

XXXXX

**November 29th, 1994**

Rita Skeeter was trying to figure out how she was going to get into the Yule Ball when Barnabas Cuffe marched into her office.

"Skeeter!" he yelled angrily as he slammed the door to her office shut, "You landed in it this time."

"Oh, what have I done this time," said Rita, unimpressed.

"Harry Potter is suing us for libel," said Cuffe angrily.

"Heh, good luck at that! He'd have to prove that there were potential damages to him before the Wizengamot would even take a look," said Rita dismissively.

"Well as it turns out, he signed an exclusive contract for his first interview to go to the Quibbler," said Cuffe, "So if they promised to give him anything, even if they promised to blow him a kiss, he has damages he can parade around."

"Oooh," said Rita her stomach sinking. This could be a problem.

"Well you have to admit, there was no way I could have known that!" said Rita.

"That's why you don't invent interviews out of whole cloth!" shouted Cuffe.

"Surely Fudge will…" started Rita.

"Fudge is bending over backward to get on Potter's good side," said Cuffe, "And looking at this article if the Wizengamot digs into it at all they'll determine that it is almost completely fabricated."

"Oh that isn't good," said Rita.

"We've already been contacted by Potter's solicitor. He just wants the story gone," said Cuffe, "So we'll be printing a front-page retraction, and we'll agree to Wizengamot arbitration if we have any further instance of libel against Potter."

_That _would be annoying, but Rita was sure she could cope with that.

"Rita," said Cuffe, "If you publish _anything_ on Potter from now on, I need to see it beforehand, and we need verifiable sources for it."

"The retraction…" started Rita.

"We are going to disavow the story,' said Cuffe, "If asked we will say that as far as we know, none of the claims the story made are true."

Rita scowled. How dare Potter make a fool of her like this!

"Rita, you screw up like this again and you're done, I don't care how much readership you get," said Cuffe.

Oh yes, Rita was going to take down Potter a notch. Somehow…

XXXXX

With the retraction of Rita's story from the Prophet, Harry's triumph was complete. The most important thing was that the Prophet had said the entire story was not just unconfirmed, but that it was false. This made Malfoy out to be a liar, and what tiny influence he had gained evaporated.

But more importantly, it let everyone in Slytherin know one truth that they had been trying to avoid. Harry had power and resources, not just in school, but without as well. Harry was in charge now. And he wasn't going to let up. Harry and Hermione had won the prefect race. And they'd won Slytherin.

**Author's Note:** People have been asking about why Dumbledore didn't just ban anyone over the age of 30 from accessing the Goblet. And Dumbledore explained it. He can only put separate age lines so close too each other. And the more ages excluded in the age line, the further apart they have to be. Dumbledore included the maximum number of ages he could and still have the second age line fit in the Great Hall.

As to why they didn't try to prevent Crouch Jr. specifically, the knowledge that Crouch Sr. is probably under Imperius deceived them. The easiest and most simple way for him to affect the outcome is to simply order Crouch Sr. to do something. They now know that Crouch Jr. must have come himself, but the easiest and simplest way to do that is to polyjuice himself as his father. The fact of the matter is that the actual plan is so convoluted that connecting all the dots is not going to be easy. I might, just might be making a small commentary on how overly complicated the canon plan is.

Turns out, Harry only having partial information leads to him making bad decisions. That being said, Harry is suspicious of Moody. He just isn't specifically suspicious that Moody is Crouch.

Anyway, next time we have the Yule Ball.


	29. The Yule Ball

**Chapter 29: The Yule Ball**

**December 8th, 1994**

"Might I have a word with you, Mr. Potter," said McGonagall after Transfigurations.

Harry held up, as did Blaise. After everyone else had left McGonagall waved Harry over to her desk.

"About the Yule Ball Potter," she began.

"I know I have to open it," said Harry.

"I trust you won't wait until the last minute to get a partner," she said critically.

"Way ahead of you Professor," Harry said with a smile, "I asked Hermione the day my name came out of the Goblet."

"I see," said McGonagall, "Well, do your best to uphold the honor of the school, will you Potter?"

Harry grinned even wider. "I'll try," he said as he walked out.

McGonagall rolled her eyes, "What is going through that boy's head?" she asked aloud.

"Ahem," said Blaise, who McGonagall had completely forgotten about. McGonagall nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Mr. Zabini, I didn't see you there," she said.

Blaise walked up to McGonagall. "Yeah, I get that a lot," he said sarcastically, "especially when I am just standing out in the open. You were wondering about Harry though?"

"I'm not blind," said McGonagall, "Mr. Potter is very enamored of Miss Granger. But I must admit that at times the closeness of their relationship has worried me. When I heard about his adventures with Miss Bones and Miss Greengrass I thought perhaps I was too worried. And perhaps I am."

"Wait, you know about Susan?" asked Blaise.

"Professor Sprout was most angry at the staff meeting," said McGonagall.

Blaise frowned. That meant Dumbledore knew as well. Blaise didn't know Harry, Hermione and Ginny's big secret (and it was obvious they had a big secret), but he did know that Dumbledore had been taking a rather close interest in Harry's (admittedly limited) love life. But he'd been better about it this last summer. Blaise wondered about Dumbledore's interest. Blaise was good at reading faces, but Dumbledore was very hard to read. Yet the few times Blaise had seen the Headmaster watching Harry and Hermione he was sure he'd seen guilt on that face.

"Well, it is just a date," said Blaise, "I wouldn't be too worried about that."

"Do _you_ have a date lined up?" asked McGonagall.

Blaise laughed bitterly. "I wish," he said.

XXXXX

Ginny was sitting in the Slytherin common room when Blaise walked up to her. She turned to speak to him, and noticed he looked rather… nervous.

"Ginny, I'm gonna be blunt here," said Blaise, "The person I want to take to the Ball isn't going to say yes. They aren't able to say yes. So I figure, if I can't go with the person I want anyway, might as well go with a friend who couldn't go without me. So, you want to go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Ginny sat back and pretended to think about it. He wanted to take Seamus. Technically, of course, there was no rule against it. But the truth was, doing so would cause an uproar.

Finally, she said, "Sure, as long as you don't try to put on any of that garbage you call cologne."

Blaise managed to look offended, "I'll have you know that that particular scent is considered an expensive luxury in some places."

"Like outhouses?" asked Ginny.

"Ouch," he said.

The next day, Ginny had a much less welcome encounter. She was again in the common room when Nott walked up to her.

"Hey Ginny," said Nott, clearly unsure of himself, "I was thinking. Given that we're both on the Quidditch team, and you know, we're both purebloods, I was wondering: would you go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Ginny blinked. She hadn't seen this one coming. She didn't dislike Nott in the way she did Malfoy, but she had absolutely no attraction to him either. She considered this for a moment. Luckily she didn't need to make up a lie for this.

"Sorry, but Blaise already asked me to go," said Ginny.

It was Nott's turn to blink. "You and Blaise?" he asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Ginny laughed but she didn't feel the humor behind it. That was a bad sign. "Oh no," she said, "We're going as friends."

"Oh," said Nott, who seemed to relax at that.

"Sorry," said Ginny, who was not very sorry.

As Nott walked away Ginny made a note in her head: _Nott likes me. And he's being weird about it. Not good. Heh, that's almost a joke. Nott good. Him liking me isn't a joke though._

XXXXX

**December 10th, 1994**

One day during early December, Harry got a letter at breakfast delivered by Percy's owl Hermes. Harry grimaced. Percy wasn't as invested in information security as Harry was if he was sending owls directly to Harry. Ron ran over, his bag of writing supplies and books still over his shoulder, recognizing his brother's owl.

"You writing letters to Percy now?" asked Ron.

"Percy and I get on quite well these days," said Harry, "We've been giving each other advice. He's been advising me as to my academic career, and I've been giving Percy advice on how to navigate politics."

"Slytherin makes you an expert there I'd guess," said Ron.

"Hardly," said Harry, "I've been corresponding with Horace Slughorn."

"Why doesn't Percy just correspond with Slughorn then?" asked Ron.

"Slughorn doesn't know Percy," said Ginny.

As Ron nodded to that, Harry wondered if Ron hadn't been on to something. Certainly, Slughorn would be interested in corresponding with Percy, he'd been Head Boy. If Harry wrote an introduction to Slughorn for Percy, the old man would certainly be interested in advising him.

No Harry wasn't going to do that, and he had to admit sadly that it was for selfish reasons. Percy had already proven to be a valuable asset in the MInistry for Harry. But the young man still was a bit clueless, he might easily be influenced to do something stupid. Harry didn't want to lose Percy as a source of information. The very idea that he was putting Percy's use to him as an informant over his friendship with Percy made him vaguely sick. Yet Harry was convinced that there was a deep rot in the Ministry, one that he _needed_ to keep an eye on. Percy was essential to that.

Harry supposed that if he was going to use Percy like this he needed to let him know. At least then Percy could decide to go along with it. And on deciding that, Harry's spirits lifted a bit. At least he felt less guilty.

Opening the letter from Percy, Harry began to read.

_Harry,_

_I have good news! Parents will be allowed to visit Hogwarts on Boxing Day this year because of the Yule Ball. They will be allowed to take their children home with them for the break, provided they ride the train back to Hogwarts as per usual. Muggleborns will be allowed to floo to Diagon Alley where their parents can pick them up. This was my first idea that I have managed to get adopted as a policy! That is a very promising sign for me, I hope you'll agree._

_However, I am concerned about something. I have not seen Mr. Crouch since the day of the first task. As far as I can tell no one has. Today, however, Crouch sent me a note telling me to fill in for him at the Yule Ball. Initially, this struck me as an opportunity, as it will give me a chance to show to the Ministry I can handle more complicated tasks. But some part of me is uneasy about this. I have not forgotten that you told me to keep an eye on Crouch. Should I report Mr. Crouch missing? I would very much appreciate your advice._

_Sincerely,_

_Percy Weasley_

Harry stared at the letter as if in disbelief. Then he reached down into his bag and pulled out some parchment and a quill. He wrote:

_Percy,_

_Report the disappearance of Crouch immediately. If it is discovered that he is gone and you did not report it you will be in a great deal of trouble. I am certain that his disappearance is related to why I told you to keep an eye on him. I will tell you more as I get more information._

_Harry Potter_

"Do you have an envelope?" Harry asked. Ron put down his bag and pulled out a battered envelope.

Harry stuffed the letter in an envelope and quickly sealed it with magic. Turning to Hermes (who was being treated to a mighty feast of bacon by Tracey and Luna) he handed the owl the letter.

"Take this to Percy Hermes," he said.

Hermes flew off, letter in talon, hooting happily about the last scraps of bacon Luna had fed him.

"What was that about?" asked Ron.

Harry wordlessly handed Ron the letter, then stood up and walked over to the staff table. Only Dumbledore and the Heads of houses were there right now. Just as well, Harry didn't trust Moody.

"Professor," said Harry as he walked up to the staff table, "I just had a letter from Percy. It looks like Crouch has disappeared."

Dumbledore hung his head. "As we feared," he said.

"What?" demanded McGonagall.

"The Headmaster and I have a theory that Crouch is currently under the Imperius curse," said Harry, "This would lend credence to that."

"I don't understand," said Flitwick, "why would that lend credence to it? Often Imperiused subjects can remain undercover for months or years."

"If the subject has a weak will," said Harry, "Barty Crouch is many things, but weak-willed he is not."

"But the Imperius Curse..." started McGonagall.

"...can be resisted," finished Harry, "I've done it."

"Wait, what?" asked Dumbledore suddenly, "Who tried to place you under the Imperius curse?"

"Moody cast the Imperius curse on all the fourth years, with our permission of course," said Harry.

McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout began to glare at Dumbledore. Snape didn't visibly react, though that was in itself a reaction.

"I will speak to Professor Moody then," said Dumbledore, "He should not have done that. But first I must make inquiries as to the whereabouts of Mr. Crouch." Dumbledore got up to leave.

"Professor!" said Harry urgently, "I am starting to have my doubts as to whether Moody can be trusted."

Dumbledore nodded, "I would not go so far, but he has overstepped his bounds."

A Harry walked back to the table he was somewhat reassured. Hopefully, Dumbledore would take his doubts about Moody seriously.

Harry stopped and considered for a moment. Harry could understand Crouch Jr. not wanting to send his Imperiused father to the Yule Ball, but Crouch Jr. himself could easily have come. Maybe gauge how his plan was going. It was damned odd that he wasn't taking this opportunity. But maybe he felt that the risk of discovery was too great. Still, it would have been a perfect time to check in on Harry. And Harry had to admit, he needed the help. He couldn't make heads or tails of the screeching clue in the golden egg.

Harry shook his head. Something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it yet. Surely Crouch wouldn't miss the second task though. Though now that he had disappeared, how would he attend? Well, he had plenty of time to 'undisappear'.

As he reached the Slytherin table he saw Ron talking with Tracey and Daphne. Harry idly wondered whether either of them would get the courage to approach him about the Yule Ball. Merlin knew Ron wasn't going to do it.

XXXXX

A few minutes later, back at the Gryffindor table, Ron suddenly went white. "I forgot my books back in Gryffindor tower!" he said. He began to walk briskly for the door.

Daphne immediately saw her chance. He'd left his books over by the Slytherin table. Getting up, with Ron's bag, she followed him out of the Great Hall. He was about to break out in a run when she yelled at him to stop.

Ron turned around. "Daphne? Is something the matter?"

"You left your books by the Slytherin table," said Daphne holding out his bag.

"Oh! Thanks!," said Ron blushing slightly.

"Not a problem Ronald," said Daphne, "I don't know what you'd do without your friends looking after you."

"Yeah," said Ron, "I can be pretty forgetful."

"And clueless," said Daphne.

"Uh, I guess," said Ron, not taking the hint.

Daphne shook her head. Harry was right, she did need to spell it out for him!

"Ron, why do you think I've been trying to spend so much time with you the last year or so?" asked Daphne.

"We're friends aren't we?" asked Ron.

"Of course we are Ron," said Daphne, "But we hadn't been all that close before that, to be honest."

"So what are you trying to say?" asked Ron.

"Well, I'm a girl," said Daphne leadingly.

Ron blushed a bit, "I, uh, I have noticed that you know."

"Have you?" asked Daphne acidly.

"Ooooh," said Ron finally, "Well, uh, Daphne would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?"

"I'd be delighted," said Daphne.

And with that she walked back into the Great Hall, practically walking on air.

"I see my brother got his bag back," said Ginny, "You should have let him run all the way to Gryffindor tower."

"Well, I got something out of it," said Daphne, "He got his bag, and I got a date to the Yule Ball."

"Congratulations," said Luna. All the rest of her friends followed suit. Well almost all. Daphne was feeling so good she failed to notice that Tracey had stayed silent.

XXXXX

**December 12th, 1994**

"YES!" shouted Ginny as she ran into the common room, "She signed it!"

"You have your Hogsmeade form?" asked Hermione.

"All I had to do is say that I had a date and needed to go to Hogsmeade to get some things and Mum signed it!" she said ecstatically.

"You know she thinks you are coming to the ball with Harry, right?" asked Tracey.

"Well of course," said Ginny, "But I don't care. I just want to look nice for once. Mum said she was going to send me some of her old dress robes…"

"Oh no," said Daphne, "We are getting you a dress in Hogsmeade."

"I can't pay for that!" protested Ginny.

"Don't worry about that," said Daphne, "I'll pay for it."

"I can't ask you to do that!" insisted Ginny.

"Good thing you didn't then," said Daphne, "Listen, for my family, a single dress is not a significant expense, and it is not an imposition. What sort of friend would I be if I didn't help you out on your first date?"

"Thank you Daphne!" shouted Ginny as she hugged her friend.

XXXXX

**December 13th, 1994**

Hermione was sitting in the library, looking through back issues of the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly. Daphne had noted that Rita Skeeter sure had a knack for hearing secret conversations, so here was Hermione, trying to piece together how she did it. And looking at the stories it was quite clear that Rita did have some means of listening in on conversations.

Tracey was helping Hermione, more as a way to avoid Daphne than anything else. Ever since Daphne had announced she was going to the Yule Ball with Ron, Tracey had been avoiding Daphne. It wasn't that Tracey had started to dislike her roommate, it was just that she didn't trust herself not to do anything stupid right now.

Hermione wasn't sure how to handle this. Tracey needed to get out of her funk, but Hermione wasn't sure how to do it. Tracey would get over this, but it might just take some time. She couldn't see Tracey letting a boy get in between her and her best friend for long.

"I think I'm tapped out," said Tracey suddenly, "I'm going to get to bed early."

_Translation_, thought Hermione, _I want to get to bed before Daphne gets in._

"Good night Tracey," said Hermione, "And… for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Tracey nodded. "Thanks," she said, "Nice to know someone noticed." And she walked out.

Sighing, Hermione decided to get back to work for a few minutes. There was still half an hour till curfew.

But then she noticed Viktor Krum had walked up to her table.

"You are Herminie Granger," asked Krum.

"Hermione," corrected Hermione, carefully pronouncing her name so he could get a handle on the diction. It probably was a difficult name for a foreigner after all.

"I haff seen you here all the time," said Viktor, "Your dedication to your studies is commendable. And you are quite pretty. I was wondering if you would come to the Yule Ball with me?"

Hermione nearly did a double-take. Viktor Krum was asking her out to the Yule Ball. THE Viktor Krum. Never mind that she wasn't a huge fan of Quidditch. He was the biggest Quidditch star in the world and he was asking her to the Yule Ball.

"Viktor, I am honored that you would ask me," said Hermione sincerely, "Unfortunately, Harry asked me ages ago, back on Halloween."

Krum hung his head a bit and smiled, "I should haff known. I knew you were friends, and I knew from Cedric that Harry was a sensible boy. Of course, he would ask out the most interesting girl in Hogwarts at the first available opportunity."

The most interesting girl in Hogwarts? Oh, Krum knew how to talk to a girl, even if he was shy about it. Yet, suddenly Hermione had an idea.

"Well, I can't go with you, but maybe I can help you find a date," she said in a friendly tone.

"You haff a suggestion?" asked Krum.

"I know you might not want to go with a fan," said Hermione, "but my friend Tracey needs a date, and she is a fan. But she is also a natural Quidditch strategist. Next year she's a shoo-in for Slytherin Quidditch Captain."

"I would not mind someone who can discuss Quidditch with me on an advanced level I suppose," said Krum, "But you seem to haff an ulterior motive here."

"The boy she wants to go with is going with her best friend," Hermione admitted.

Krum smiled, "Ah. Poor girl. Vell if you think she won't get too ah…"

"Fan-girly?" suggested Hermione.

"Yes," said Krum with a smile.

"Tracey will behave herself, once she gets used to the idea," said Hermione. She really hoped it was true.

"I will consider it," said Krum, in a tone that indicated that he was doing more than considering it.

XXXXX

**December 15th, 1994**

"Viktor Krum asked me to the Yule Ball!" yelled Tracey as she ran into Harry and Hermione's room, "He says you suggested me, Hermione! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!" She wrapped Hermione up in a big hug.

"Just remember to treat him like a person!" said Harry.

"Oh, right, I will I mean… oh, Merlin, I'm going to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum. Please, don't tell anyone though, Viktor wants to keep it quiet."

"We won't say a word," said Hermione, "Krum seems like a nice young man, I think you'll have a great time."

"Thank you again!" she said as she ran out of the room.

"Damn, I should have thought of that," said Harry.

"Krum would have never listened to you," said Hermione, "Did you know he asked me to the Yule Ball first? He called me the most interesting girl at Hogwarts."

Harry grinned. "He's more observant than I gave him credit for. You know, you could have said yes. I wouldn't have been mad," said Harry.

Hermione smiled, "Oh, I know Potter, but Krum strikes me as a bit of a gentleman. I know he'd treat me with respect, and he'd almost certainly not take advantage of me," said Hermione before pausing for effect, "But what if I want to be taken advantage of?"

"I suppose I will have to do my best not to disappoint," said Harry with a straight face.

XXXXX

**December 20th, 1994**

As the Yule Ball approached, preparations for it intensified. The staff at Hogwarts were preparing something outside the castle, though rumor had it they would only be finished the night before the ball. Daphne had committed to teaching both Ron and Harry how to dance. Harry was a quick study, and he soon got the knack of it. However, it had meant he hadn't had much time to study his egg, which as far as he could tell simply screeched at him every time he opened it.

The teachers had spent a great deal of time impressing how important good behavior would be at the ball.

"It's only natural I guess," said Hermione, "The last time Hogwarts held the Yule ball students didn't get nearly as, uh, 'friendly' as they do now, at least not on a regular basis."

"So what you're saying is we're going to need to leave early to get a good broom closet?" asked Daphne.

Ginny couldn't contain her laughter at that. "Good luck with that! I don't think Ron has had that thought even cross his mind yet," she said once she calmed down.

"You should try grabbing his bum," said Blaise, "I think he'd like it."

"Please stop trying to get me to scare off my date," said Daphne, "The fact that Ronald has been raised to show proper manners just puts him ahead of all you degenerates."

"I was raised the same way," said Ginny, "I guess 'do as I say not as I do' only worked for Ron."

"And how many guys have you been snogging?" asked Luna.

"Uh, what does that have to do with anything?" said Ginny, "We were talking about my brother."

"It sounds like, for some reason, Ginny wants to change the subject," said Daphne, "I wonder why?"

"I'm just not interested in any guys right now!" said Ginny, "I just barely got over Harry."

"Leave her alone," said Harry firmly, "Even if she _did_ walk right into that."

XXXXX

**December 25th, 1994**

When Christmas day finally came, Harry found he was far less nervous than he had been. Daphne had rather expertly taught him how to dance, and he didn't feel self-conscious at all about having to dance in front of people. "That's the Slytherin confidence," said Daphne, "The knowledge that you can navigate a social situation and come out ahead."

As soon as they finished opening gifts and had eaten breakfast the girls barricaded themselves in Tracey and Daphne's room. This included Luna, who had been invited to the Ball by Neville Longbottom. Harry was secretly thrilled that Neville had asked her, as otherwise, she'd have been the only one of his friends not at the Ball.

Harry was, of course, ready in plenty of time, and went down to the Entrance Chamber to await Hermione's arrival. His dress robes were black. He'd been about to buy Emerald colored ones, but Daphne had convinced him that black would allow him to match whatever color dress his date wore.

Fleur was there, looking rather radiant in her dress, which Harry found to be very understated. Probably for the best, Fleur's natural charms were going to overpower whatever dress she wore anyway.

"You look lovely," said Harry to her politely.

"Thank you 'arry," she said with a smile.

"Who's your date?" he asked.

Fleur shrugged, "Roger Davies, ze Ravenclaw Quidditch captain."

"Ah," said Harry, "Hopefully he'll give you a good time."

Fleur gave a wicked-looking grin. "I certainly _'ope_ so," she said suggestively. Harry grinned back.

Cedric soon arrived alongside Krum.

"I tried to get Cedric to come with me," admitted Fleur, "but 'ee only had eyes for Miss Chang."

"Cho is pretty memorable," said Harry, "She's won the last two Quidditch matches against Gryffindor because she flirted with Colin Creevey."

"You will 'ave to tell me about it sometime," said Fleur.

Cedric walked over to Harry. "Harry, do you have a minute?" he asked.

Harry nodded, and he and Cedric walked aside.

"I've been meaning to thank you for warning us about the dragon," said Cedric, "Have you figured out your clue yet?"

Harry shook his head. "All that egg does is make a horrible screeching noise."

Cedric smiled. "Yeah, it does that. Try, uh, taking a bath with it. Under the water. If you want, you can use the prefect's bathroom. Password is pine fresh."

"Thanks," said Harry.

Shortly afterward, Roger came down from Ravenclaw tower. He was very smitten with Fleur. Maybe a little too smitten. Harry wondered how much of that was Fleur's allure. Then again, Roger was a smart guy. Fleur might have chosen him specifically because he wanted to be under her allure for a while. The prospect did have some appeal, even for someone like Harry.

Cho came down, and she was indeed rather pretty. But moments after she arrived Tracey also made her appearance. She looked rather brilliant in her green dress. Her hair was up, the first time he'd ever seen it that way, as she usually had it tied back or hanging loose.

Harry gave Tracey a moment to greet Krum. After a few moments, he walked over to her and gave an elaborate bow. "You look fantastic, Tracey," said Harry.

Tracey grinned and hugged Harry. "Thanks!" she said aloud before leaning in to speak quietly, "We had Hermione come last so everyone could see… well, you'll see!" The last bit she spoke loudly, so everyone could hear.

A few minutes later Harry did indeed see. Hermione came downstairs in a beautiful periwinkle dress. It was gorgeous. And her hair. Somehow they had managed to tame Hermione's tangled hair and it was now sleek and smooth and up in an elaborate hairstyle. Hermione was stunning.

"I... wow, just wow," said Harry as he stared at her, "I knew you were beautiful, but I never even imagined…"

Hermione grinned, "I take it you like it?" she asked.

Harry still couldn't trust himself to speak, so he just nodded.

Professor McGonagall soon was there and had them all lining up. Fleur was first with Roger, followed by Cedric and Cho, followed by Harry and Hermione, with Krum and Tracey coming last.

As they entered the hall, everyone began to applaud them. Harry instinctively sought out his friends. He saw Daphne and Ron (who was wearing a set of dress robes loaned to him by Neville after Daphne had taken one look at his dress robes and just said "Nnnnnnno.") at the front. Ernie had gone with Susan while Justin had gone as friends with Hannah. Luna was standing with Neville (who looked quite nervous). Nott was with Millicent, who had cleaned up rather well. Despite that, Harry didn't think Nott looked happy. Pansy Parkinson also didn't look happy, her father had ordered her to go with Malfoy.

Ginny and Blaise were standing near Seamus and Lavender. Neither Seamus or Blaise looked particularly happy. That was unfortunate. Harry suspected that Ginny was aware of what was going on there, but he had no idea if Lavender was aware.

The ball opened with a feast of course. Everything at Hogwarts had to open with a feast. The three Headmasters were sitting next to each other with Bagman on one side. Krum and Tracey took seats on the other side of Bagman. Cho and Cedric sat down next to them.

Harry then saw Percy step up. This was a surprise, but he remembered Percy was standing in for Crouch. He motioned for Percy to sit next to Cho, which he did. Harry then sat next to Percy with Hermione on the other side of him. Fleur sat next to Hermione and Roger took the final seat between Fleur and Madam Maxine.

"Hope you don't mind Quidditch talk," said Harry to Percy.

"I may not have played Quidditch, but I am a Weasley," said Percy with a grin.

"Any news on Crouch?" asked Harry.

Percy shook his head gravely. "No, and that is bad. The Minister decided that I should sit in for Crouch at this event, as I did do a lot of the work planning it, but if he doesn't show up the Minister is likely to take Crouch's place as the fifth judge."

Percy's face brightened. "Still, I did get a commendation from him for promptly reporting Crouch's disappearance."

Harry saw Ludo Bagman squirming out of the corner of his eye. Harry grunted. He still didn't like the fact that Crouch had disappeared.

Tracey was sitting between Krum and Bagman. Harry knew she had been attracted to him, or at least the way he'd looked when he was a professional Beater, but she seemed a little underwhelmed by him now.

"You going to be here tomorrow?" Harry continued with Percy.

"Yes, considering it was my idea," said Percy.

"Well, in that case, uh…" Harry started to stammer a bit.

"What Harry is trying to say is that tomorrow he and Ginny are going to be playing a bit of a prank on Molly and your father," said Hermione putting a slight emphasis on Molly's name, "Try not to overreact."

"Oh?" asked Percy curiously.

"Ginny's putting a lot of effort into getting Molly back for pushing us together," said Harry, "If it were up to me, well, we wouldn't be going as far as we are going to be. Just keep in mind that _everything_ will be Ginny's idea."

"Ah," said Percy diplomatically, "I will."

The conversation inevitably turned to Quidditch. Luckily, Hermione was able to check out of that conversation and talk to Fleur, who was also not that interested in Quidditch. Tracey's face looked simply rapturous as they all talked about the details of strategy and flying techniques.

As the meal ended Tracey walked over to Harry briefly before they had to go and step out on the dance floor for the first time. "I just talked Quidditch with Ludo Bagman and Viktor Krum," she said quietly, barely able to contain herself.

"Yes, you did," said Harry with a smile. He casually waved away a small flying bug that zipped by his face.

"That's odd, a bug like that in winter," said Harry.

"Yeah it was bothering me earlier," said Hermione.

Harry put out his hand to Hermione, "Ready for the first dance Hermione?"

Hermione smiled. "Absolutely. You nervous?"

Harry shook his head. "Daphne has taught me well," he said with a laugh, "Let's do this."

XXXXX

_Harry had been a good dance student_, thought Daphne idly as she watched him dancing with Hermione.

Daphne herself was dancing with Ron. Ron wasn't graceful by any means, but he'd avoided stomping on her feet. He'd also been rather considerate the whole evening. Everything so far had been successful.

"Want to walk in the garden?" she asked as they finished their dance.

"I, sure," said Ron, a bit nervously.

"I'm not going to bite Ron," said Daphne, "I just want to talk to you for a bit."

Ron smiled and led her by the hand to the garden. It was lit up by faerie lights, by which Daphne assumed that they were actual faeries. Daphne thought it was beautiful. Ron sat them down on a small bench, in a rather public part of the garden. Daphne realized she was going to have to do something about that.

"So Ron, I'm having a wonderful time," said Daphne, as she put her arm around Ron's shoulders.

"Yeah, me too," said Ron contentedly.

Daphne smiled. "You can put your arm around me, Ron, I don't mind," she said impishly.

"Oh, okay!" said Ron, who hesitantly put his arm around her waist.

"I think I like you," said Daphne, "And, I'd like to spend more time with you."

"I'd, uh, like that too," said Ron.

And suddenly Daphne found herself looking straight into his eyes. They were a bit wide, he'd not been expecting this. So she kissed him. Very lightly of course.

After a moment she pulled away. "Like that?" she asked.

Ron nodded, slightly speechless.

"Want to do it more?" she asked.

Ron nodded again.

"We need to find a broom closet I think," she said.

"Definitely," he said.

XXXXX

"Ron and Daphne have disappeared," noted Ginny. She and Blaise had just finished dancing with Harry and Hermione respectively. Harry was a fair dancer, but not as good as Blaise. The ballroom part of the evening was winding down and The Weird Sisters were about to start playing.

"Yeah,'" snickered Harry.

"Did you get your picture taken?" asked Ginny, pointing to the back of the Great Hall where Colin had set up a small tripod and was taking pictures. Cedric and Cho were there now, which was causing a problem as Colin was rather distracted.

"I'm starting to think that Colin has a thing for Cho," said Hermione dryly.

"Well that dress does flatter her figure," said Harry, "If I didn't have Hermione on my arm I think I'd be staring at her, to be honest."

Nott walked up to them suddenly, Millicent on his arm. "Malfoy seems to be planning something, and I don't know what," he said, "I saw him talking to someone, but I couldn't see who. I also heard him talking about Rita Skeeter to Crabbe."

"Typical," said Harry.

Justin walked over with Hannah. "I've also heard a rumor Skeeter's in the school," he said, "Or at least she has some way to get information. It's like she has this school bugged."

And with that both Harry and Hermione's faces lit up.

"Oh Merlin, could it be?" he asked.

"I think it is," said Hermione.

"Excuse us!" they both shouted as they ran off towards the garden.

"Damn, they must want to snog bad," said Millie, "But there looks to be one last song played before the orchestra packs up. Blaise, you haven't danced with me tonight, care for a dance?"

"Certainly Millie," said Blaise, "If Ginny doesn't object."

Ginny motioned him on. As they walked out on the floor, Nott put out his hand. "Would you care for a dance Ginevra," he said formally.

"I suppose," she said. She noticed that as she said this Justin frowned slightly and Nott got a self-satisfied smirk on his face. Ginny cursed herself. Nott wasn't trying to, but he was coming off as a bit of a creep.

"We'll catch up later, Justin," she said as she let Nott lead her onto the dance floor.

XXXXX

Harry found the most secluded spot he could that had a bench. He motioned to Hermione and they both sat down. Harry was certain he was right, but there was no use taking chances. Putting his arms around Hermione he began to kiss her. And he began to listen. Within moments he heard the telltale sound of insect wings from his left.

In one fluid motion, he drew his wand and shot off a spell. And a moment later Rita Skeeter appeared in a nearby bush.

"Ahh, hello Harry," she said, her voice a bit flustered, "I was just trying to be a bit unobtrusive while I was collecting information for an article on the Yule Ball."

"You aren't allowed at this event, I know that," said Harry, "More interesting to me is the fact that no one has ever mentioned to me that you are an animagus."

"Well it is something that one prefers to keep secret of course," said Rita.

"I understand entirely," said Hermione, "I'd want to do the same. Of course, doing so is highly illegal, so I wouldn't. But I'd want to."

"There's no way you're registered Rita," said Harry smugly, "I guess we have you by the proverbial bollocks."

"Now surely we can come to some arrangement," said Rita hastily.

"Of course we can Rita," said Harry, "I'm still talking to you aren't I?"

Rita nodded enthusiastically, "Good, good. I assume you want me to stop writing articles about you?"

"Me and my friends," said Harry, "That being said, I will give you a line of inquiry to follow that may be more… lucrative."

"Oh?" asked Rita.

"Sirius Black supposedly killed Peter Pettigrew and betrayed my parents," said Harry, "But Pettigrew is _alive._"

"Really?" said Rita now very interested.

"He framed Sirius, and then Sirius was put into Azkaban without a trial," said Harry, "Crouch and Bagnold knew about this, as well as Fudge. Dumbledore was blackmailed into going along with it in exchange for keeping the Death Eater trials going."

"Oh my," said Rita, "Do you have proof?"

"Not quite yet," said Harry, "But I think Pettigrew is going to start showing up again soon. When he does…"

Rita nodded. She knew she couldn't report this yet. Fudge would bury her without proof.

They heard a sound approach. Harry silently waved goodbye to Rita, who re-transformed into some sort of beetle. Moments later, Snape strode up.

"Potter," he said looking at Harry and Hermione critically.

"Hello Professor," said Harry cheerfully, "This garden is rather beautiful isn't it?"

"Quite," said Snape without any emotion, "Staying out of trouble?"

"Trying to," said Harry, "but it keeps hunting me down."

Hermione giggled. Snape narrowed his eyes.

From the Great Hall, they suddenly heard loud wizard rock start playing. "Well, if the Weird Sisters are playing we should probably get back to it," said Harry.

"Awwww," said Hermione as soon as they were out of Snape's hearing, "And here I was hoping you'd snog me."

Harry grinned, "I intended to, but when Snape appears what do you do?"

XXXXX

Blaise Zabini had disappeared. That in itself was not a surprise to Ginny. She had expected him to sneak off at some point. The problem was, the person she had expected him to sneak off with was right in front of her. Seamus was still right next to Lavender. He looked miserable. She was keeping a rather close eye on him.

Ginny immediately felt a surge of pity for Seamus. Lavender could be pretty one-minded. Seamus would probably have been better off coming with someone like Fay Dunbar and letting her in on his secret. In any case, Ginny decided she needed to find her date. She saw Tracey dancing with Krum across the way. She seemed happy. She wondered if she'd be quite as happy if she'd known that Ron and Daphne hadn't been seen for an hour.

As she scanned the room, she ran into Justin. Literally. Both of them went sprawling on the floor. Justin managed to get to his feet right away and extended a hand to help Ginny up.

"Thanks," she said, "Sorry about that, I was looking for Blaise."

Justin blinked, "Are you sure he isn't with Seamus?" he asked.

Ginny was a bit startled at that. "You know about them?"

Justin shook his head, "I've spent enough time around them to know what's going on there. It wouldn't be all that big a deal in Muggle society. I mean there are still hang-ups about that sort of thing from some people, but everyone is aware it's pretty common. Magicals are still a bit backward about that."

"About a lot of things," said Ginny.

"Listen I know you are trying to find your date, but I did have something I wanted to say to you," said Justin, "I just, well I considered asking you to the Ball."

"You did?" said Ginny, surprised.

"After what my father did at the Platform earlier this year, well I figure I owe you one, in addition to my life debt," admitted Justin, "But I heard Blaise invited you, so there wasn't a lot of point to it. Still, I had wanted to dance with you, but Nott kind of cut in before I could."

"Oh," said Ginny, "Well I'm sorry you didn't. I would have liked to dance with you. A lot more than Nott certainly. He's been acting a bit… creepy lately."

Then suddenly, she kissed Justin on the cheek, "But thanks for thinking of me," she said. Justin looked flummoxed.

Ginny just grinned and walked out to the garden.

Ginny found Blaise outside sitting on a bench, looking as miserable as Seamus.

"Sorry," he said as she approached, "I know I haven't been a good date."

"I expected you to run off, to be honest," said Ginny, "I didn't expect you to do so alone though. Sorry about that. Lavender is being a bit possessive isn't she?"

"You know?" asked Blaise, his eyes showing fear.

"All your friends know," said Ginny, "You aren't exactly subtle about it. None of us care that you're gay."

Blaise started at that. "I, uh, have never really used that word for it. But yeah, you're right. I am gay. Strange how even knowing what that means, admitting it feels good."

Ginny put an arm around his shoulders, "I'm sorry you had such a bad time tonight."

Blaise nodded, then eyed Ginny mischievously. "Both Nott and Justin seem into you."

"Justin's attention is, well, it's welcome," admitted Ginny, "Nott on the other hand... "

"Sorry I stuck you with him," said Blaise, "I just wanted to dance with Millie. She looked very pretty tonight, and I wanted her to feel special."

Ginny nodded. Nott taking Millie was a surprise, but then again she was the only other pureblood in their year who had been unattached. At the very least he had not been cruel to her that Ginny could see. Made sense. Nott didn't dislike Millie.

"Nott's still obsessed with purity of blood," said Ginny, "When Voldemort returns, which side do you think he'll be on?"

Blaise didn't answer. Perhaps there was no good answer.

"Hey, Sorry to bother you two," said an incredibly Irish voice.

Seamus was standing there, looking rather shamefaced.

"You finally got away from Lavender?" asked Ginny.

"Fay gave me some help there," said Seamus, "Sorry it took so long."

"I hope you don't mind if Seamus and I…" started Blaise.

Ginny leaned over and kissed Blaise on the cheek. "Have fun you big dork," she said.

And with that Seamus and Blaise were off, probably to find a secluded spot somewhere. Ginny went looking for the twins. Time to cause some havoc.

XXXXX

"I don't care how Malfoy got drunk," said Harry as he walked Hermione to the Slytherin common room, "I'm just glad it happened."

The Ball was now over. Honestly, Harry hadn't wanted it to end. He'd had a great time, and it had even been productive once he'd managed to blackmail Rita.

"I just wish his robes had stayed on," said Hermione, "I had no desire to see Draco Malfoy's bits. Under any circumstances."

"It was his choice to keep dancing," said Harry, "We can't blame the twins for that."

"I think when they planned the prank they hadn't expected Draco to be quite so drunk," said Harry.

Draco had plenty to be drunk about. The IUC had almost destroyed his faction at Hogwarts this year. Virtually everyone who had supported Draco was either graduated or keeping very quiet. Draco had tried to stir up support against Harry when he'd been chosen champion, but recently the Slytherin prefects had very pointedly told him that Slytherin would be supporting the Slytherin Champion, and that was that. Nothing had gone right for Draco this year.

Reaching the common room, they walked back to their shared room.

"I had a lovely time," said Hermione once they walked in. She then pulled him close into a very enthusiastic kiss.

When they pulled apart, Hermione grinned. "I need to wash up a bit. You should get dressed for bed, but don't go to sleep yet. I have one more Christmas present for you."

"You didn't need to get me anything else," said Harry.

Hermione put a finger on his lips. "Let me show it to you first."

Harry got into his pajamas, then sat down on his bed. After a minute or two, Hermione walked back into the room.

"Close your eyes while I get it," she said.

Harry complied. He heard a brief rustling of cloth. Then after a moment: "Okay, open them."

He opened his eyes to see Hermione standing in front of him. In her skivvies. She leaned down and kissed him again.

"How do you like it?" she asked.

"I love it," he said after a moment of shock.

"Lay down and scoot over," she ordered.

"Didn't we agree not to do that anymore?" objected Harry.

"It's Christmas," said Hermione, "Time for another exception."

**Author's Note:** This chapter is basically the halfway point of this story, so we made it halfway! This chapter was more of a character driven one, but it sets the stage for a lot of stuff that is to come.

Someone pointed out that Draco is a weak antagonist in this story, and I don't disagree. Originally I intended for him to be more active, but I just couldn't think of extra stuff for him to do. That being said, given that Draco in canon becomes a fairly pathetic figure who has to be rescued by Harry, it makes sense that he remains a bit pathetic. For now at least. There will eventually be an event that motivates a change in Draco, but it isn't going to be a change for the better.

In any case, the next Chapter has the Second Task, but that really doesn't do it justice. Let's just say that Harry's Boxing Day takes a turn for the uncomfortable.


	30. The Second Task

**Chapter 30: The Second Task**

**December 26th, 1994**

Harry woke up with his arm in a very comfortable position indeed, wrapped around Hermione's waist. He almost wanted to just stay there for a couple of hours, but he knew Hermione had to leave early. He also had the problem of Crookshanks laying on his face.

"Hermione, wake up," he said, as he pulled out one arm and removed the cat from off of him.

"I'm already awake," she replied, "I was comfortable."

"I had a very good time last night," Harry said before kissing the side of her face, "but we have to get up."

"Yeah," she said before standing up and giving him what he considered to be a very interesting view. At some point the night previously her bra had come off. She noticed his stare and just grinned at him.

"I'm starting to think that our little privacy screen may be nearing the end of it's useful life," she said, "We're not quite there yet though."

Harry shook his head. "I am definitely not there yet. Nice as this is, I'm, uh, not ready for it on a daily basis."

"How long until the Weasleys get here?" asked Hermione.

The Weasleys would be coming to Hogwarts as early as they could, while The Greengrasses and Davises would be coming later in the afternoon. As would Blaise's mother. This meant that the Weasley children's dates to the Yule Ball would have a chance to spend time with the family. Harry had been invited, but he had other plans.

Harry checked his watch. "Wow only about an hour."

"Well, I need to finish packing," said Hermione, "And you need to go meet Ginny for your 'snogging session.'"

Harry grinned wickedly.

XXXXX

The plan they'd worked out with the twins was simple, Harry and Ginny would go into a preselected broom cupboard, lock lips when the twins got near and get caught snogging when Arthur and Molly opened up the door. Of course Ginny wanted to throw some curveballs in there.

"It will work so much better!" insisted Ginny within the confines of the small space of the broom cupboard.

"I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable groping you!" Harry insisted.

"You were willing to grope Daphne!" said Ginny accusingly.

"Ginny listen, I like you. But this sort of flies in the face of our decision to be friends," said Harry with a shake of his head, "This is going to be awkward."

"What if I positioned your hands, so that you weren't choosing where to touch me?" asked Ginny, "I mean I am completely fine with you touching me if you have a valid reason to. It doesn't make me uncomfortable in the slightest."

"You know what, I think I can do that," said Harry, who was doubtful that she could be completely comfortable with this.

Ginny took one of his hands and placed it rather firmly on her backside. She then took his other hand and put it on her chest. On seeing him grimace however she moved that hand to the side a bit so he wasn't quite groping her.

"How about that?" she asked.

"I suppose I can live with this," said Harry.

"Good," said Ginny as she grabbed his backside.

"Ah, so this is why you wanted to do this," said Harry.

"Ugh, you weren't wrong, this really is uncomfortable," she said.

"Told you so," said Harry, "Why did I agree to do this?"

"Shhh!" shushed Ginny.

Harry suddenly realised that he could hear voices outside. It sounded like the twins. Ginny winked at Harry and they began to lock lips. Okay so maybe they were _actually_ snogging a bit. Harry didn't hate it, but he didn't really feel anything either. He hated to admit it, but he was pretty sure the thrill of dating around was gone after last night.

The door to the broom closet opened, and Molly and Arthur Weasley were both standing there watching Harry and Ginny maul each other.

Ginny turned to look at them. "Oops," she said before pulling away from Harry and leaving the cupboard, "See you next year Harry."

Arthur was glaring daggers at Harry. Molly on the other hand... Molly looked very, very worried.

XXXXX

Harry returned to the Slytherin common room feeling a bit less confident. Arthur had not taken it well. Ginny would figure out how to deal with it, Harry guessed, but Harry decided that it might be a good idea to keep a low profile today. Maybe he could try to get into the prefects' baths.

Before he could do that he headed back to his room. Hermione had just finished pulling her stuff out, and was about to head out to Hogsmeade.

"I wish I was going with you," said Harry.

"Me too," said Hermione, "But getting that past Dumbledore this year would be tough. He'd want to send you to the Weasleys'.

Harry laughed. "Arthur might not want me there for a while," said Harry, "Not after he caught me groping his daughter."

"Oh wow," laughed Hermione, "I don't believe you actually did that!"

"I didn't want to, but Ginny insisted. I did make her place my hands though," said Harry.

"Prude," joked Hermione who leaned forward and kissed Harry lightly on the lips, "I'll see you in the new year playboy."

Harry watched Hermione leave somewhat regretfully. Not all his friends were leaving. Luna would still be around, as would Seamus. He was about to go into his room and get his egg when he heard a sound coming from Tracey and Daphne's room. It sounded like crying.

Walking up to the door, he saw it was slightly ajar. He knocked lightly.

"Who is it?" said the voice of Tracey.

"Harry," he said, "I just wanted to check on you."

"Come in," she said.

Harry walked in, and upon seeing Tracey he immediately shut the door. She was sitting on her bed in her underwear. Harry tried to turn away from looking at her.

"I invited you in, didn't I?" asked Tracey who was amused even through her tears, "I knew what state I was in."

"Sorry, but until recently you were pretty modest," said Harry, forcing himself to look at her, but not to stare.

"It's fine," said Tracey, "At least you are honest with me about how you feel. That you find me hideous."

"I do not find you even the least bit ugly," said Harry, "You're just a really good friend and it's weird for me to think about you that way." He sat down next to her.

Trace hung her head. "Ron and Daphne are thinking of getting together," she said sadly, "Daphne couldn't wait to tell me last night. I understand, she was excited. Still…"

Harry wrapped his right arm around her, and Tracey leaned into him.

"Hugging me in my skivvies Potter?" she teased him.

"I spent the whole night doing the same with Hermione," admitted Harry.

"Nice," said Tracey, "I don't know what to do. I know I don't want to go talk to the Weasleys right now."

"Me neither," said Harry, "I was going to go take a bath in the prefects' bathroom."

Suddenly inspiration struck him. "Want to come?" he asked.

"You're asking me to bathe with you?" said Tracey incredulously.

"Technically our main goal is going to be to open my golden egg underwater, but hey we can multitask," replied Harry.

"Oooh, let me get dressed. I'm definitely gonna be wearing swimwear. I'm not quite ready for you to see me starkers Harry. Though if _you_ want to get all naked I won't complain," joked Tracey as she pointed at the door. Harry obliged, blushing slightly. He needed to get his egg anyway.

After Harry collected his egg and changed into swimming trunks (which he wore under his robes) and Tracey also got dressed, they made their way out into the common room. It was deserted except for Luna.

"And where are the two of you going?" Luna asked them.

"We're going to go bathe in the prefects' bathroom," said Tracey.

"Can I join you?" asked Luna.

Harry shrugged. "The more the merrier," he said. Luna leapt to her feet and led the way out of the common room.

"Does she have something to swim in?" asked Tracey.

"I don't think so," said Harry.

The two of them looked at each other, then Tracey finally shrugged. Harry, on the other hand, felt that he probably looked like a deer in the headlights.

XXXXX

It had taken Percy almost an hour to get his father alone, but he finally managed it. Arthur had been treating Ginny very oddly since they'd arrived. The twins had been snickering, so Percy assumed that Harry and Ginny's prank had gone off without a hitch, but Arthur had been looking at Blaise oddly the entire meeting, while he almost seemed to be trying to avoid Ginny.

"Is there a problem father?" Percy asked, "You've been acting oddly towards Ginny."

"Well," said Arthur as he looked towards Blaise nervously, "Before we came up here we caught Ginny in a rather um… compromising position."

"Ah, so Harry and Ginny did go through with it," said Percy with a grin.

"Wait, you knew they were going to be… well…" started Arthur.

"Pulling a prank on Mum? Absolutely. I guess they failed to anticipate you wouldn't know what was going on either," said Percy.

"A prank?" said Arthur, his voice almost relieved.

"Mum's been trying to force them together. They're friends, but they don't feel that way about each other. Which Ginny tried to tell Mum. And so did I, and Ron, and the twins," said Percy.

"Oooh," said Arthur, "So this was their way of getting Molly to cool off. That makes sense. Does this have to do with why you moved out by any chance?"

Percy thought about this for a moment. He was almost certain his father had nothing to do with Ginny's marriage contract, but he couldn't risk him telling his mother anything about this.

"I'll only say that Mum did something bad to the two of them, and it rubbed me the wrong way. Please, do not speak of this with Mum though. Even under the best of circumstances there is no possible good that can come of her knowing why I left. It is entirely possible that the situation will be able to be worked around relatively amicably, but only if the situation is dealt with without Mum's further interference," Percy paused, "If that happens, I will probably not hold a grudge beyond that."

Arthur looked at his son sympathetically. "I don't understand, but I will accept that you are trying to deal with the situation on your own terms."

"Thank you," said Percy.

Suddenly they heard a commotion from the other room, where they had been meeting. Heading around the corner and back into the room, they saw that Blaise's mother was there. Early.

"You promised you'd be here two hours from now!" objected Blaise.

"And deny me the chance to meet your date to the Yule Ball?" said Madame Zabini, "Not likely! You chose relatively well. The Weasley's are hardly high society, but they are purebloods. She'd make an acceptable match for you. Unlike others, like that Davis half-breed or that Granger mongrel."

Daphne had been sitting next to Ron, but she leapt to her feet at the insults to her friends. Ron was up beside her in an instant. But Blaise cut them off with a single wave of his hand.

"First mother, don't forget that I am one of those half-breeds. I'm not a pureblood," said Blaise his anger barely contained, "Second, Ginny is my friend. I invited her as a friend. While I have nothing against her, I am not interested in a relationship with her. And third, Hermione, Tracey and Ginny are all wonderful girls, and I would be honored if any one of them developed feelings for me. And to hell with their blood status! Now if you are quite done insulting my friends, let's get out of here before you embarrass me further."

And Blaise stormed out.

Percy had to admit, Blaise had a certain style about him.

XXXXX

When Blaise had stormed into the Slytherin common room he'd been all too willing to discuss what had just happened in front of the Weasleys. Harry had been rather impressed with Blaise and how he handled it. Of course he and Tracey had also then filled Blaise in on their adventure with Luna. An adventure which Harry had to admit, had left him feeling a bit shell shocked.

"You took a bath together," said Blaise, deadpan.

"We were wearing swimwear," said Harry.

"Well Harry and I were," said Tracey, "Luna was starkers."

"Yes I was," said Luna, "Apparently I'm the only one of us to have a bit of courage."

"Did you solve the egg?" asked Blaise.

"Yeah," said Harry, "Next task is in the lake. The screeching from the egg was Mermish. Something is going to be taken from us, and we'll have to get it back."

"And you didn't get caught?" said Blaise.

"Well…" started Tracey.

"Cho and Cedric did walk in on us," said Harry.

"Not that they could say much," said Tracey, "Cedric was the one who gave Harry the password and…"

"And?" asked Blaise, though he was pretty sure he knew what was up.

"They were starkers as well," said Harry, his face turning red.

"Oho!" said Blaise with a grin.

Luna poked Blaise in the chest. "You missed it," she said accusingly.

"I did," said Blaise.

"Harry and Tracey were cowards," she said, "Imagine taking a bath in a swimming costume!"

"Despicable," said Blaise, "Imagine denying Luna the sight of your bits, Harry. I can promise you that I would have had the courage to join you in the altogether."

"I had to settle for seeing Cedric's penis," said Luna, "he kept trying to cover it up, though."

"Cho _wasn't_ trying to cover up," said Tracey, "which meant Harry had to make some hard choices about where to look."

"Cho thought it was funny and kept trying to get into his line of view," said Luna.

"Since you're staying behind, it's your duty to try to rid Harry of that bad habit, Luna," teased Tracey.

"As you are going to be my only friend here you have a duty to cuddle with me," said Luna to Harry seriously, "Also if we bathe together again you are showing me your bits. Fair is fair."

Harry was almost certain that this was a joke, but he gulped anyway. He had to admit that today had been far more difficult than he had anticipated. He'd seen Hermione topless, he'd groped Ginny, he'd seen Tracey in her underwear and he'd seen Luna and Cho naked. And the dominant feeling he'd felt had not been appreciation, but stress.

No, Harry had to admit it, he was absolutely not ready for this sort of thing yet.

Luna patted Harry on the shoulder gently. "Don't worry, we don't have to do it right away," she said quietly as Tracey began talking about Cedric and his recently exposed man parts, and Blaise nodded, rapt in attention.

How did Luna always know what he was thinking?

XXXXX

When Hermione finally got home she was exhausted. She'd been up late the night before. But she'd wanted to talk to her mother alone for a bit, so she had managed to resist falling asleep until they had time to talk.

"So, how was the Yule Ball?" asked Helen.

"You know how sometimes in movies they have parties where there is intrigue and fun and sexy people all having a good time and romance?"

"Yes," said her mum, "But those are just movies."

Hermione's face lit up, "No, it isn't. It was just like that. Harry and I had fun. It was romantic. It was fun. We caught a reporter spying on us and we blackmailed her."

"What?" said Helen angrily.

"Don't worry, she won't turn on us, not with the bait we held in front of her nose," said Hermione.

"Sirius Black?" asked Helen, to which Hermione nodded.

"It was amazing, and I even managed to fall asleep in Harry's arms," said Hermione.

"I thought you weren't doing that any more," said her mother.

"It was Christmas," said Hermione, "I think it's fine to do that every once in a while. "

"You're probably right," said Helen, "I don't want you going too far is all."

Hermione sighed, "That… isn't going to happen anytime soon."

"You sound disappointed," said Helen, her tone turning wary.

"It isn't so much that I want to do that sort of thing now," admitted Hermione, "the problem is that there are some real barriers to it happening at all, ever. There is possibly a way to deal with those barriers, but I can't do it until I'm ready to… well, do it, if you take my meaning."

"Anything you want to tell me honey?" asked Helen.

"I wish I could," said Hermione.

XXXXX

**December 27th, 1994**

"So, what are we going to do to fill our time for the rest of the holidays?" asked Luna the day after Boxing Day.

"I have no idea," said Harry, "The school is about the emptiest I've ever seen it."

Luna shrugged. "We could see what sort of magical creatures are hidden in the dungeons."

"Are there creatures there?" asked Harry.

"Oh, I'm certain _I _can find some," said Luna with a grin.

"Why'd you stay at school?" asked Harry, "Pretty much everyone else went home. I mean Seamus is still here, and some older students, but we're the only Slytherin students left. Surely you want to see your father."

"I do," said Luna, "But I didn't want to leave you alone here. I knew Hermione's parents would make her come home, and when it became obvious that you wouldn't be allowed to go with her I decided to stay. You have been the first person my age to believe in me. And my abilities."

"Thanks Luna," said Harry, genuinely touched. He suddenly threw her into a big hug.

"Oooh, we could cuddle," said Luna as Harry finally let go.

"We certainly can," said Harry with a laugh. He let Luna get settled on his lap. Then he wrapped his arms around her waist. She settled back and sank her head into his shoulder.

"Do you…" started Harry before he changed tack immediately, "I mean to say, are you trying to tell me something?"

"What do you mean Harry?" said Luna.

"Well you stayed here with me, and also you were willing to let me see you naked. And you've always had a little edge to your humour. By which I mean you have been rather suggestive. I know you probably aren't trying anything like _that_. I just…" Harry trailed off.

"Well, for the most part, you are right," said Luna, "If you weren't so interested in Hermione I might have been interested. As I said, you have been very kind to me. A year ago I definitely did have a crush on you. But as things stand, I'm not really interested in getting rejected by you. I will say that if I had intended on pursuing you, I probably _wouldn't _have let you see me completely naked."

"So I should take it as a vote of confidence?" asked Harry.

"Not really," said Luna, "I wasn't trying to show off, it was just convenient. No offense, but it wasn't really about you. I would have been just as naked with anyone else. Well, maybe not Neville. Strange, but I do feel a bit self-conscious about him seeing me naked."

"Ahh," said Harry, now blushing somewhat from embarrassment.

"Oh, don't feel bad," said Luna, "I'm not offended. I may not have been showing off for you, but I also didn't mind that you were looking. If you want, I can randomly answer the door to my room for you naked." Harry noted her completely deadpan delivery. Okay this was a joke. He thought.

"What if someone else opens the door? How will you know it is me?" asked Harry.

"I won't," said Luna, again deadpan.

"No tricks up your sleeve, just open the door and hope it isn't Snape?" said Harry.

"I suppose I _could_ use my aura reading," said Luna.

"Since you mentioned it, have you seen anything about anyone's aura that is wrong recently?" asked Harry.

"Well there is one thing," said Luna, "Moody's aura is a bit… weird."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"The feeling I get from him is that he has a darkness about him, but also a dedication and a strong sense of paranoia," explained Luna, "All that I would expect from a legendary auror. But it all feels fuzzy. Wrong. Like there's a bunch of smoke in the room clouding my sense of him. It's almost like he has a second aura buried under the first, but I can't read it at all. I've never encountered anything like it."

"That sounds very wrong," said Harry, "Can someone cloud their aura like that?"

"I'm not sure, but maybe it isn't intentional," said Luna, "I suppose it _could_ be… no that is far fetched. It probably isn't polyjuice potion."

Harry froze, "What?"

"Well one of the ingredients in polyjuice potion is a part of the actual person you have to turn into," explained Luna, "Maybe that would be enough to transfer the aura of that person to the person drinking the potion? I doubt it though. But as far as I know there is no literature on the interaction of aura readers and polyjuice potion."

"So it's just a longshot guess is what you are saying," said Harry, calming down noticeably.

"As far as I'm concerned," said Luna.

"Maybe Ginny or Hermione would know something," wondered Harry. The idea that Moody was actually Crouch seemed really unlikely, yet it was disturbing. But it probably wasn't true.

"Do you think Ginny would know because she has You-Know-Who's memories in her head?" asked Luna.

Harry hadn't been at all prepared for that. "How did you… Did you figure that out from her aura?" he asked.

Luna nodded. "That and from her behavior. Don't worry, I won't tell. And, well, you've tried to read my mind."

Harry laughed again. Luna's mind was something else, it was so bizzare and oddly shaped that he could believe an invader would get lost in there.

"Well, to get back on topic, I don't think you need to be answering the door for me in the buff Luna," said Harry, "I don't think I could take it. I'm… not really ready for that sort of thing. At least, not on a regular basis."

"I understand," said Luna.

"Thanks," said Harry.

"So," said Luna, once again deadpan, "Daphne told me that you are pretty good with your hands."

Harry laughed at Luna's joke. At least he hoped it was a joke.

XXXXX

**January 9th, 1995**

When Harry's friends finally returned, they quickly got down to planning his strategy for the second task. Aside from Harry's Slytherin friends, Ron, Neville, Seamus and Parvati all agreed to help. So did Padma from Ravenclaw, along with Sue Li. The only person from Hufflepuff was Justin, as the rest of the Hufflepuffs didn't want to help Cedric's opponent. Cedric had personally told Justin that he should help Harry, and the rest of his house understood that.

"There has to be some way to breathe underwater," said Daphne.

"There is," said Ginny, "It's called the Bubble-head charm. It's pretty difficult though."

"You think Harry can't do it?" asked Padma, not quite believing it.

"I'm sure he _can_," said Ginny, "But this isn't an area where we want mistakes. If he casts it wrong then it runs out early or there's a leak. He could die."

Neville suddenly spoke up, "I, uh think I might know something. There's a plant that gives you gills, it's called gillyweed. It actually makes you a natural underwater creature for a period of time."

"How long does the effect last?" asked Hermione.

"An hour give or take, depending on the dosage," said Neville thoughtfully, "You know what? Professor Moody gave me the book that had gillyweed in it after he demonstrated the c...cruciatus curse? You think that was on purpose?"

Harry looked at Hermione significantly, "Probably, this wouldn't be the first time he's tried to help me." Harry mistrusted Moody, but gillyweed sounded like just what he needed.

"I dimly remember reading something about that," said Sue, "but where would we get it?"

"Professor Snape has some," said Neville, very hesitantly.

"I could get it," said Ginny confidently.

"I'm sure you could," said Harry, "but why don't I just try to ask him first."

"The teachers aren't supposed to help us," said Parvati.

"And since when has Snape helped anyone?" demanded Ron.

"Ron, I'm a Slytherin," said Harry, "He'll bend over backwards to give an advantage to anyone in his own house. Besides, I'm going to say that it's so I can gather some fresh potions ingredients off the lake bottom."

"He'll see right through that," said Ron.

"And how many fucks do you think he'll give?" demanded Daphne, "None. Harry just needs to give Snape plausible deniability. He expects Harry to lie to him."

Blaise and Seamus had been talking quietly in the back of the room. But at this point Seamus lifted one finger for attention. "Me and Blaise think we can give you some bang-up spells to use underwater."

"Are they going to make things explode?" asked Hermione.

"Maybe," said Blaise evasively.

"_Are they?_" demanded Hermione more forcefully.

"Probably," admitted Seamus.

"Harry can certainly learn those spells," said Ginny, "but we can also look for versions of other spells that work better underwater. Harry doesn't need to go on a killing spree among the merfolk after all."

For the next hour they worked on a list of spells that Harry could use underwater. After that, Tracey ordered all of them to take a break.

"Keep your minds fresh and focused!" she said.

"She's gonna make a great Quidditch captain," said Blaise admiringly.

Harry sat down next to Hermione, who was talking to Padma and Parvati. Out of the corner he saw Ginny talking to Justin. That was an interesting development.

"Roger Davies has been moping I heard," Parvati was saying.

Padma nodded, "His date with Fleur didn't go so well I heard."

"Apparently, what Fleur told me was that Roger made a lot of promises about his, ah, skill and experience," said Hermione, "Apparently he was rather lacking in both."

Parvati and Padma giggled at that. "Poor Fleur," said Harry, "She'd been looking forward to it too, before the Yule Ball."

"She told you that?" asked Parvati incredulously.

"Fleur is quite open about those things," said Hermione.

"And we're friends," said Harry, "she wasn't explicit or anything, but she wasn't going to hide how she felt from me."

"Do you know how many guys would kill to be in your shoes Harry?" asked Padma, "And here you are admitting the most beautiful person we all know casually talks to you about her sex life? Damn Potter."

"Not the most beautiful person _I_ know," said Harry as he winked at Hermione.

Hermione blushed as both of the Patil's laughed.

"So are you officially off the market then Harry?" asked Parvati, a bit disappointedly.

"Let's just say, I'm not looking around for new people to date at the moment," said Harry, "I can't quite bring myself into the mood anymore."

Hermione definitely smiled at that.

XXXXX

**February 23rd, 1995**

The preparations continued to go well. Harry was taught a bunch of useful spells for use underwater. One of the most useful was a superpowered version of the Stinging Hex. It should chase off any creatures Harry encountered. Harry also managed to sneak into the prefects' baths again to practice his swimming. One thing he discovered was that he could use a modified Banishing charm to accelerate himself through the water. He also made sure to master the Bubble-Head Charm. Just in case.

Harry's visit to Snape the week before the task went just as planned. When Harry asked for gillyweed so that he could hunt for fresh reagents, Snape had smiled knowingly, and provided the gillyweed, but did not ask any more questions. All in all, Harry felt that he was ready for the task.

The night before the task, Tracey and Hermione clashed over what Harry should do. Tracey insisted that Harry needed to get plenty of rest, while Hermione was of the opinion that he should go over his plan as many times as possible.

"Why don't you and I go back to our room," Harry said to Hermione, "We'll run over everything once more and then turn in."

"A good compromise," agreed Ginny.

"All right then," said Hermione. Before she could finish, Snape strode into the room.

"Miss Davis, Miss Granger, I need to speak to the two of you for a moment," he said.

"I'll head back then," said Harry.

Hermione nodded as she and Tracey left to follow Snape.

Harry went back to his room. After about fifteen minutes Hermione hadn't come back. He decided to run through all his spells on his own. Once again he performed flawlessly. Now if only he could do that under pressure.

About a half hour before curfew, Hermione hadn't come back. Harry was starting to get a bit worried. He left his room and knocked on the door to the room Tracey and Daphne shared.

Daphne opened the door. "Hermione isn't back yet," said Harry.

Daphne frowned, "Neither is Tracey," she admitted.

"Maybe they went to the library?" asked Harry. A thought occurred to him. Both Tracey and Hermione had accompanied Champions to the Yule Ball. Certainly they weren't going to…

Harry and Daphne made their way to the library. Once there they saw a few people still there, mostly Ravenclaws, though Ginny and Luna were getting ready to leave. Harry was relieved when he saw Roger Davies in the library.

As they left the library with Ginny and Luna, they ran into Cedric.

"Harry!" asked Cedric, "was Cho in the library? Her friends say she isn't in Ravenclaw Tower."

Harry's heart sank. "No… she wasn't," he said grimly, "Hermione and Tracey are missing too."

"But Roger is there," said Ginny, seeing where they were heading.

"Fleur and Roger had a falling out," said Harry, his voice sick.

"Those BASTARDS!" shouted Daphne angrily. Cedric's eyes widened as he realized what was happening.

"Miss Greengrass!" shouted the voice of Professor McGonagall as she strode around the corner, "there is no excuse for that sort of language."

"Where are Hermione, Tracey and Cho then?" demanded Harry, his eyes afire. Ginny placed a calming hand on his shoulder. Surprisingly it seemed to help.

McGonagall's eyes softened. "They are safe, and rest assured wherever they are, they gave their permission."

Harry nodded curtly. "Very well then," he said, barely containing his anger, "but the rhyme said a thing would be taken, not a person. I am not even slightly okay with this."

McGonagall nodded, "Nor should you be Mr. Potter. But you'd best get back to your common room. Curfew is in a few minutes."

Harry let himself be guided back to the Slytherin common room. Surprisingly, Ginny followed him into his bedroom.

"Ginny?" he asked.

"Change," she said as she motioned to his privacy screen.

Harry changed into his pajamas behind the screen. Walking out from behind the screen, he saw Ginny point her wand at his bed.

"Lie down," she said.

Harry suddenly realized what she was doing. "Thanks," he said to Ginny as he curled up under the covers.

Ginny pointed her wand at Harry, and Harry's world went black.

XXXXX

**February 24th, 1995**

"What was that spell you cast on me?" Harry asked Ginny at breakfast.

"It just puts you to sleep," said Ginny, "It isn't a very useful spell, as it doesn't keep you asleep or anything. It is also shockingly easy to resist. But you'd have stayed up all night worrying without it."

Harry wasn't really hungry, but he made sure to eat enough that his hunger wouldn't distract him. He needed to be ready. He'd almost headed down to the lake last night, but he realized that would have been stupid. The hostages probably hadn't even been in the lake last night.

Fleur walked into the Great Hall , her eyes looking around everywhere. "'Arry!" she said, her worry clear on her face, "My sister Gabi! She came to see the second task and now she 'as gone!"

If Harry had thought he had been angry last night, he'd been wrong. Hermione, Tracey and Cho at least had some idea of the danger they'd be put in, but Gabi wasn't even old enough to have a wand! She couldn't give any meaningful consent to being used as a hostage like this!

Without thinking he ran up to the head table. "Gabrielle?" he said angrily, "She's a child!"

"Harry," said Dumbledore, "She did agree…"

"She isn't old enough to agree!" said Harry, just barely remembering to keep his voice down.

"I agree with you Mr. Potter," said Flitwick, "But she's already in place. Someone is going to have to go down there and get her."

Fleur's face had gone ashen. "You took Gabi?" she nearly screamed before she turned and ran from the hall.

Harry couldn't even remember a time when he had been more furious.

XXXXX

As Harry stood on the shore of the lake, he briefly considered his options. Obviously the tournament organizers weren't going to put anyone not competing in the tournament in danger intentionally. But given how badly they'd fucked up with the age line, and not securing the dragon in the first task, Harry wasn't about to treat their precautions as foolproof. Harry wasn't about to leave Hermione's safety in their hands for any longer than he had to.

Krum had taken the news that Tracey was in the lake fairly well. He was angry, but not nearly as much as any of the other competitors. Fleur was practically shaking with rage.

"As if this was not going to be 'ard enough as is," she muttered to Harry as she stood next to him on the shore of the lake. "I am not a very strong swimmer, I am afraid."

"Let's team up," said Harry immediately, "We both want Hermione and Gabi rescued. If they give us flak we'll just break out the whole 'international cooperation' angle."

Fleur looked shocked at this for a second, then nodded firmly. "Oui, that sounds like a good idea."

Harry looked at the judges box. Crouch hadn't reappeared yet, so Minister Fudge was here today instead. Harry felt lucky he hadn't been here last time. Siccing a dragon on the Minister for Magic was probably too much for even him to get away with.

Still Crouch not being here wasn't good. If Crouch Jr. was imitating Crouch Sr., shouldn't he have reappeared to make sure Harry fell into his trap? Suddenly Harry was much less sure that Crouch Jr. was impersonating his father.

XXXXX

One hour.

They had one hour to get Hermione and Gabi. and they'd wasted far too much of it.

Things had started well for Harry and Fleur. His Gillyweed was an amazing boon, as it not only let him breathe in the water, but it also let Harry swim like a native water dweller. The largest problem had been just how bad visibility was in the lake. It was far worse than Harry had anticipated. Working with Fleur Harry knew that he had an advantage that no one else had: Two sets of eyes.

Still, they had been almost completely surprised when the grindylows popped out and began attacking them. One of them grabbed Fleur and started dragging her down. Fleur was less mobile than Harry, as she had chosen a Bubble-Head charm instead of using gillyweed. Harry had managed to avoid his attacker.

He fired a normal stinging hex at the grindylow that had seized Fleur. The creature let go of Fleur in shock. Fleur then turned and sent a spell at the grindylow attacking Harry. Harry didn't recognize it, but the grindylow immediately stopped following him.

The grindylow that had attacked Fleur was still at it though. He lunged again, but this time he misjudged Fleur's momentum and missed her entirely. Harry sent one of his more powerful Stinging hexes at the grindylow this time. The creature made a squeal when it was hit and retreated.

As more grindylows began to come out of the weeds at the bottom of the lake, Harry realised that this was a losing battle. Swimming over to Fleur he wrapped an arm around her waist and pointed his wand behind him, casting what he had taken to calling the repulsor charm. The two of them shot through the water at high speed away from the grindylows. Moments later the grindylows were far behind. Stopping his momentum with a quick jab of his wand, he turned to look at Fleur.

She was giving him a very… arch look on her face as if to chide him for grabbing her. He shrugged apologetically, which caused her to start laughing. Apparently she was just giving him a hard time. Though he had just wrapped his arm around her while she was in a swimsuit and it had no discernible effect on him. He put that aside for later.

Harry's escape actually turned out to be beneficial however, as he and Fleur had stopped just outside the merpeople's village. That was a spot of good luck. Swimming into the heart of the village they saw four figures floating there, held down by some sort of line or rope. It was the hostages, dressed in the same clothes they'd worn last night. Harry thought the rope might actually be some sort of seaweed. Suddenly he wondered whether he could leave the rest of the hostages safely.

Fleur seemed to sense what he was thinking. She was concerned as well, but she gestured to Gabi. Harry nodded at her. Yes, Fleur should rescue Gabi right now, no matter what Harry chose to do.

He swam over to what looked like the chief of the merpeople, gestured at Tracey and Cho, and then grabbed his own shoulders then pointed to the chief. The merman nodded at Harry, and then said, "We will keep them safe."

Suddenly Cedric was there, but he wasn't alone. The grindylows that had attacked Harry and Fleur had hunted him down, and he was doing his best to avoid them. Cedric was firing spells back at the grindylows as they pursued him. He swam past the hostages and let loose a barrage of spells back at his pursuers. Unfortunately, one of his spells hit Gabi.

Her eyes popped open, but by some miracle her mouth didn't. Without even thinking about it, Harry cast the Bubble-Head charm on the girl and cut her loose with a quick cutter. He began waving on Fleur as she grabbed her sister and began to swim up.

The time to wait was over, Harry had to get Hermione out of here now! Cedric was here for Cho, and Tracey knew the Bubble-Head charm if she woke up. Cutting Hermione loose with another cutter, Harry wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. Then he pointed his wand down and cast a _Depulso_ causing him to rocket toward the surface. He was soon catching up to Fleur, but she saw him and began casting her own banishing charm.

A minute or so later, They broke the surface, Fleur just barely ahead of Harry. When Hermione's head broke the surface, her eyes popped open and she took a deep breath.

"I hope you didn't scream at Dumbledore too much when you learned I was gone," said Hermione.

"I didn't when I learned you were gone, but when I learned about Gabi…" started Harry.

"Oh, right!" said Hermione, "Yeah go nuts about that!"

Harry angled his wand so that his banishing charm began to gently push them towards shore. Hermione wrapped her arms around him. They suddenly heard crying as Gabi's Bubble-Head charm wore off. Fleur was trying to comfort her as best as she could.

"Gabi nearly drowned," said Harry, "Cedric accidently hit her with a spell when he was being attacked."

"Who came up with this moronic task?" demanded Hermione.

When they got to shore, they were a ways from the stand where everyone was waiting. As soon as they were on land. Gabi ran up to Harry and began crying at him in French while she leapt up and put her arms around his neck. He didn't need to be able to speak French to know she was thanking him (though he could indeed still mostly understand her). He just gently hugged her back and whispered that it was all right to her.

Letting Gabi down gently, he was then confronted by Fleur. "You saved Gabi's life, without a doubt," said Fleur.

"You're my friend Fleur. Of course I did," he said with a smile.

Fleur suddenly bent down and kissed him. And wow, did she kiss him. It was a full on open mouthed kiss. Not only that but Harry could feel her allure tearing at the edges of his mind. It wasn't unpleasant really. It certainly made the kiss more enjoyable.

And then it was over. "Thank you 'arry," Fleur said her cheeks turning slightly red, "I ah, guess I was a bit more enthusiastic than I had intended."

"Um, that was fine," said Harry, "It was certainly memorable." Harry looked at Hermione with an apologetic look in his eyes. She seemed amused more than anything else. Suddenly Harry had to resist an urge to kiss _her_. The allure had apparently kicked his general sense of attraction in general into overdrive.

They walked back to the stands where Madam Pomfrey was running up to greet them. She quickly ushered them into a tent where she covered them all with blankets and drying and heating charms. Harry and Hermione threw each other's blankets over the other's shoulders so they could hold each other as they sat together. Suddenly he found himself looking into her eyes again. And the urge to kiss her came back again. This time he didn't fight it. And despite the fact that Fleur and Gabi were right there, Hermione leaned into it.

Harry had to admit that he sort of lost track of time there for a second, but suddenly he heard giggling. He broke away from Hermione to see Gabi giggling at them. She wasn't alone however. Cho and Cedric were there now, and they were almost as bad. Fleur wasn't laughing, but her eyes were shining as she smiled at them, and Krum and Tracey had just entered the tent. Krum gave them a good natured smile, but Tracey was pumping her fist in the air as if cheering them on. When she saw they'd stopped she simply said "Awwww," as if they'd taken away her favourite toy. Madam Pomfrey came back in and gave the two of them a look.

Once they were dry, they went out to get their scores. There was some sort of argument going on in the judges box. Ultimately Karkaroff sat down in a huff. Apparently he didn't like the new scoring system for this task. Harry couldn't empathize with that, as they'd adopted the new system because Karkaroff had given him a 0 for the first task.

"Harry Potter and Fleur Delacour were tied for first getting back. They cooperated in order to regain their hostages. As encouraging international cooperation is the main goal of this tournament, this is to be encouraged, not penalized, and they both returned within the time limit so they both get the full 10 points!" shouted Fudge.

"Furthermore, they both made sure that the merpeople would take care of the other hostages before freeing their own," said Dumbledore, "We cannot give them more points for this, but we commend both of them for their good character and judgement."

"Cedric was second back, and just outside the time limit," said Bagman, "and last was Viktor Krum who was five minutes outside the limit."

The judges began to show the scores for Krum and Cedric. Harry grinned grimly. He was now the leader, and Fleur had taken second place, though only just.

Which, after all, was probably exactly what Voldemort wanted.

**Author's Note:** I'm gonna level with everyone, this chapter required a _lot_ of rewrites. Trying to exactly tune what I wanted to let Harry do, and what would be too far for his age was a challenge. Fleur is probably the biggest example of this. It's easy to take her tolerant flirtation and make it into something that's a lot more leading. She's supposed to like Harry, but not be smitten by him. Same thing with Luna and Tracey really.

We are right on the cusp of really big things happening, so I'll refrain from giving too much of a preview here. But the last task is in the next chapter, so look forward to that!


	31. What is the Worst That Could Happen?

**Chapter 31: What is the Worst that Could Happen?**

**March 13th, 1995**

"So in conclusion, I think the IUC needs to take a larger role in preparing the champions for the final task," said Daphne. The war council was meeting for lunch, and Harry had not seen this development coming.

"It's a good idea," said Cedric, "though isn't it against the rules to have help? Can we do this publically?"

Daphne pursed her lips. She clearly hadn't thought of that.

"I think it will work," said Hermione, "so long as all the champions are invited. That means Fleur and Viktor as well."

"I have no objections to that," said Harry, "As far as I'm concerned, the more we work together, the better for the tournament."

"I think the rest of the IUC will agree to this," said Daphne, "so I'll bring it up tomorrow night. If they vote yes, then for the rest of the year the IUC meetings will be used to help train the champions."

It was a good idea, Harry had to admit. It was also Tracey's idea. Tracey was largely done pouting over Ron, but she was still deferring to Daphne more than Harry thought was necessary. She did seem to be more confident since they'd talked on Boxing Day. She also seemed to be taking a leadership role more and more. That boded well for her chances of making Quidditch Captain.

As Harry was leaving the meeting, Cedric pulled Harry aside. "Have a minute to take a walk Potter?" he asked.

Harry nodded. Hermione looked at him questioningly, but Harry waved her off. He had a feeling Cedric wanted to talk to Harry alone.

The two of them left the small classroom they had been holding the war council meeting in. Harry really needed to find a better place to hold these meetings. He wondered if the elves might know a place. He decided to make a point of asking them.

"You're lucky," said Cedric, "Most people don't get that sort of certainty as young as you do."

"Huh?" asked Harry, puzzled.

"Hermione," said Cedric, "You and her have something special there."

"We're just…" started Harry before he realized how stupid what he had been about to say was, "We want to get together, but both of us feel that we're too young to really get together yet. But I have to admit, that does seem to be less and less important."

"Well you are getting older everyday," said Cedric, "And you've had to deal with a lot of stuff beyond your maturity level. I'm not saying you need to jump into anything yet, but if what you are worried about is somehow ruining your friendship with Hermione, I wouldn't if I were you. The two of you have been through enough that even if your relationship fizzles, you'll still be good friends. You've saved each others lives. When a wizard saves the life of a friend, it reinforces those bonds of friendship, just as saving the life of a stranger creates a life debt."

"So what you are saying is that somehow, Hermione is always going to be a part of my life now?" asked Harry.

Cedric nodded.

"How are things with you and Cho then?" asked Harry.

"Good," said Cedric, "But I'm not sure I see a long term for us."

"From what I saw, you two have progressed rather far in your relationship," said Harry, thinking back to when Cho and Cedric had walked in on Tracey, Luna and himself in the Prefects' baths.

Cedric managed to not blush. "I mean yeah, we have a good time, but that isn't the point. We're both going to be going in very different directions after we leave Hogwarts. And I leave a year earlier than Cho anyway. I enjoy my time with her, but I'm not in love with her, at least not yet. Maybe that will change."

"Oh, and thank you for not staring at Cho too much back then," said Cedric as they walked out of the school towards Hagrid's hut.

"Well, by that point the novelty of having a naked girl in there had long worn off," said Harry, "though I will admit that I find Cho more my type than Luna. I kind of see Luna as a sister more than anything. I think." Harry still wasn't sure how much Luna had been joking back when they'd had their little heart to heart during Christmas break.

"I know Cho can be a bit much sometimes, but that's just her personality," said Cedric.

"Especially when it comes to Colin," noted Harry.

"Well that's just Quidditch," laughed Cedric, "Anyway this wasn't what I wanted to talk about."

Cedric stopped them near the edge of the Forbidden Forest. "I wanted to apologize. For putting you and Fleur and especially Gabrielle in danger during the second task. I was reckless, and I nearly got Gabi killed. I fired off those spells before I looked, and you saw what happened. I'm ashamed of what I did. I already talked to Fleur about this, I just wanted you to know too, as you were the one who saved Gabi."

"It isn't your fault," said Harry, "If the organisers of the tournament didn't place protections to prevent exactly this from happening then they are being absolutely derelict in their responsibilities. Yes, you could have been more careful perhaps, but you were under attack, and trying to save someone you cared about. That you would get desperate is understandable."

"You didn't though," said Cedric, "You were about to stay and make sure all the hostages were rescued when I blundered in."

"Actually, I got assurances from the merpeople that the hostages would be fine," said Harry, "so I was about to leave with Hermione."

"I didn't even do that much," said Cedric, kicking a small stone off into the forest as he did. It hit a tree with a dramatic crack.

"You were a bit busy," consoled Harry.

Suddenly, a man came running out of the Forest. Harry was shocked to see that it was Barty Crouch Sr.

"Get Dumbledore!" he said as he ran towards them.

"Mr. Crouch!" said Harry urgently, "Where have you been?"

"No time to explain!" he said breathlessly as he fell to his knees.

"Were you imperiused?" Harry asked, "Was it your son? Was it Barty Jr.?"

Crouch looked at him in amazement. "How did you know that? Never mind, yes it was my son, now will you please get Dumbledore?"

"I'll stay with him," said Cedric.

Harry nodded, then ran towards the castle. Running up the stairs he made a beeline for the Headmaster's office. Stopping before the statue in front of the office, he yelled "Professor, Barty Crouch just ran onto the grounds! We need you immediately!"

The way into Dumbledore's office swung open and the Headmaster ran out moments later.

"Lead the way," said the headmaster.

Harry wasted no time. They made record time getting down to the ground floor, and soon Harry and the headmaster were out on the grounds. But when they reached the spot Crouch had been, instead they found Cedric unconscious and Crouch nowhere to be found.

"Damn it!" shouted Harry, "He admitted he was Imperiused by his son. We had him!"

Moody suddenly ran out of the woods. "I saw someone crawling around out here, he attacked Diggory and ran."

Immediately Harry was suspicious of Moody. It couldn't be a coincidence that he was here. And suddenly Harry realised that made Moody his primary suspect. After all, Crouch Sr. hadn't been at the second task. Could Moody be a polyjuiced Crouch Jr.? It all made sense. He kept trying to help Harry. He only drank from his flask, so the potion could easily be hidden. And it would explain why he had no problem torturing Neville Longbottom by callously using the cruciatus curse in front of him.

"Was it Crouch?" asked Dumbledore.

"Looked like him," said Moody.

"Can we trust what he says?" demanded Harry, "this is awfully convenient, you being here."

Dumbledore shook his head, "Harry…"

But Moody interrupted him, "No, the boy is right, you should be suspicious of me just showing up here! Getting soft in your old age Albus?"

Dumbledore smiled, "I stand corrected, why were you here?"

"I saw Potter and Diggory walk out here l, so I followed at a distance to make sure that no one was going to try something," explained Moody, "I was too far away, it turns out, I didn't see Crouch, or whoever it was, come out of the forest until he started trying to hex Diggory."

Harry nodded, not satisfied, but there was nothing for it. Dumbledore was clearly not willing to believe Harry without proof.

"Mr. Diggory may shed more light on this," said Dumbledore, "_Ennervate._" With that last Dumbledore pointed his wand at Cedric. Cedric's eyes popped open.

_Useful spell, _thought Harry.

"Who attacked you Cedric?" Harry asked.

"It, it was Mr. Crouch!" said Cedric, at first haltingly, then suddenly confidently.

Harry's heart sank. That could be a normal reaction. It could also have been Cedric trying and failing to overcome an Imperius Curse. There was literally no way to tell. Well no way except for invasive legilimency that both Moody and Dumbledore would immediately detect. Hell, Harry didn't even know if that would work.

"Satisfied Harry?" asked the headmaster.

"No," said Harry, "but it will have to do for now."

"Boy, you should be an auror with an attitude like that," said Moody enthusiastically.

"I'll consider it," said Harry.

Dumbledore gave Harry a troubled look. _Oh that's all I need right now! _thought Harry. Dumbledore had no ground to stand on when it came to not trusting people.

XXXXX

"So what do I do?" Harry asked Hermione later that night, after curfew. He had just told all his Slytherin friends about his run in with Cedric, Crouch and Moody. All of them had been very concerned, especially Luna. Harry hadn't mentioned the idea of using Legilimency on Cedric to them however. He'd waited until he was alone with Hermione.

"So either Cedric is under the Imperius curse or he isn't," said Hermione, "It doesn't change anything. If you _knew _he was Imperiused then you could justify using legilimency on him to find out who did it. But you don't know. You suspect."

"But surely it's justified to use it to make sure he is himself, right?" demanded Harry.

Hermione shook her head sadly. "But what if he isn't Imperiused? Then you just read the mind of your friend without their permission! There is no ethical way to do this. If you had anything more than suspicions, any proof Moody was Crouch, anything at all, I'd say go for it. But as it is, it would be a tremendous betrayal of trust to use legilimency on Cedric."

"What about the Marauder's Map?" said Harry.

Hermione blinked in surprise. "That might work," she admitted, "Where is it?"

"I loaned it to Ginny last year," said Harry, "She never gave it back. I think she just forgot about it, given all the craziness that happened the last time she used it. I don't begrudge it to her, after all it was her brothers who gave it to me."

"Well let's get it!" said Hermione.

Harry and Hermione ran over to the third year dormitories and knocked on Ginny and Luna's door. Ginny opened the door. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked.

"We need the Marauder's Map," said Harry, "we think it might prove Moody is Crouch Jr."

Ginny laughed slightly at that. "Great minds think alike. Luna just had the same idea. She asked me for the map and ran out of here."

"Why?" Harry said excitedly, "We could check it from here!"

"Oh, bollocks!" swore Ginny.

The three of them ran out to the Slytherin common room only to find Luna being marched in by one of the prefects. Luna had tears in her eyes, but she was trying hard not to let it show.

"Luna?" asked Ginny.

"Professor Moody caught her out after curfew," said the prefect, "She has a week of detentions."

"We'll take her back to her room," said Hermione.

"That's my job," said the prefect, but Harry cut her off.

"You did your job," said Harry, "we'll make sure she stays put for the rest of the night."

The prefect nodded, obviously realising some plot was up, and willing to defer to the most powerful man in Slytherin. He left, heading towards the seventh year dorms. Ginny and Hermione led Luna back to her room, with Harry close behind.

As soon as they closed the door, Luna leapt into Harry's arms, crying. "I'm so sorry!" she cried, "I thought I could catch Moody with the Marauder's map. It's magic is tied into the Hogwarts wards, which are far more sophisticated than my aura reading. But I got caught and he took the map! He tried to Imperius me! I am so sorry Harry."

"Shhhh," said Harry as he held her close to him, "It's all right Luna. You'll be all right. He tried to Imperius you?"

"I managed to shake it off," said Luna.

Harry kissed her on the top of her head. "Good for you," he said.

"Aren't you angry with me?" asked Luna.

"I do wish you'd come to me with this," admitted Harry, "but I'm not angry with you. I'm just glad you didn't get hurt."

"Did you happen to see Moody on the map?" asked Hermione.

"Moody was on the map, but he was in his office and not the hall I was caught in. The map said the person in the hall with me was Bartemius Crouch," said Luna.

Ginny grimaced and Hermione closed her eyes.

"Without the map, how do we prove it to Dumbledore?" wondered Hermione.

"He has the real Moody in his office, probably to harvest parts of him for polyjuice potion," said Ginny, "All we have to do is free him."

Harry grimaced. That might be more difficult than they would like.

XXXXX

**April 7th, 1995**

With Luna's word that Moody was indeed Crouch, Harry did use Legilimency on Cedric. The whole thing was useless though, as the memory had clearly been Obliviated out of his mind. Harry could see the places where the new memory didn't fit. Harry cursed himself. Moody had probably obliviated Cedric the first moment he could once he was away from Harry. The only saving grace was that if Cedric was obliviated he probably wasn't imperiused anymore, but Harry couldn't be sure. In any event, he wasn't acting any differently.

The IUC voted to start helping the champions train at the next meeting. And so they set up a joint training session. When it finally arrived, all the champions attended. At first they were divided into different groups with different people helping each champion. But as time went by, there was a lot of cross pollination between the groups, Hermione kept moving between the group helping Harry and the group helping Fleur, while Tracey did the same except with Krum, and Justin did the same except with Cedric.

But as the session went on the champions naturally gravitated toward each other. Soon the champions were chatting together and showing off their unique abilities. After all, they weren't supposed to be fighting each other.

Dumbledore came in towards the end, along with Maxine and Karkaroff. Karkaroff seemed angry at what was going on. But Dumbledore and Maxine clearly approved. As the meeting ended, the headmasters approached the champions.

"Tomorrow, Ludo Bagman will explain the final task to you all," said Dumbledore, "Though from what I've seen, you are all doing a very good job preparing for it. And might I add that this display of camaraderie between the four of you is exactly why this tournament was formed. I am very proud of all of you."

Harry nodded gratefully. He wanted to tell Dumbledore what he knew about Moody, but knew that without proof the headmaster wouldn't believe him. Ginny had been trying to sneak into his office when he wasn't there, but so far he had not left it unlocked or unguarded. Harry was beginning to get nervous. He wanted Crouch caught before the third task.

XXXXX

**April 8th, 1995**

Harry wasn't in a good mood on the April Hogsmeade trip. Hermione and Ginny had accompanied him to this cave (laden down with a large amount of food) right outside town after he'd received a letter from the last person he'd wanted to run into right now.

"Harry!" said Sirius as he transformed from Padfoot into himself, "Why didn't you tell me you were entered in this tournament!"

"Because I didn't want you coming back!" said Harry angrily, "The deal I made protects you, but only if you are out of the country!"

"You need help," said Sirius, "Someone is out to get you. I suspect Karkaroff or Snape. Karkaroff…"

"I know who Karkaroff was, Daphne has kept me well informed, thank you," said Harry, "And I guarantee it isn't Snape. It's Barty Crouch Jr, but he is masquerading as Mad-Eye Moody using polyjuice potion."

"Have you told Dumbledore?" asked Sirius.

"I mentioned I was suspicious, but you know he won't do anything without proof," said Harry.

"I am going to get proof though," said Ginny.

"We had proof before," said Hermione, "In the form of the Marauder's map. But Crouch confiscated it, so we can't show Dumbledore his true identity."

Sirius grew very grave. "It is strange that he doesn't trust you," said Sirius finally, "There must be something going on that you aren't aware of. He always listened to the wildest imaginings of everyone in the Order of the Phoenix before."

"Sirius, promise me you will not get yourself caught!" said Harry, "Keep a low profile!"

"Fine!" said Sirius petulantly.

XXXXX

**May 16th, 1995**

Sirius was as good as his word. No one had heard anything about him in Hogsmeade as late May approached. By that time, Harry was beginning to feel ready for the task. True, he was far behind the other Champions in ability, but he was starting to catch up, and where he was skilled he was very skilled. The task probably wasn't going to kill him, which was a relief. The revelation that it was going to be a maze full of traps and monsters was actually a little relieving as well. That was the sort of thing that he was good at navigating, though he'd have to do this one alone.

Harry of course did his own private training with Ginny and Hermione. Ginny showed Harry a number of spells that could be used to get him out of a fix. Hermione had even developed a spell of her own that allowed him to get north by saying "Point me."

But then word around school began circulating that a student had tried to sneak into Moody's office. Luckily none of the rumors seemed to know who it was.

As soon as he could though, Harry ran to meet Ginny.

"I know, I know, I nearly got caught," she said angrily, "Crouch is _good_. When he isn't in that office it's locked up tighter than a pureblood's zipper in a muggle whorehouse. I could probably break into the office, but I'd have approximately three or four minutes to find Moody before the alarms brought Crouch back, and it's really unlikely that I'd be able to do that in so little time."

"Dammit," said Harry angrily. Then he really had a reason to swear as he saw Dumbledore walking towards him.

"Want to bet he suspects me?" Harry said to Ginny quietly.

"Harry, do you have a moment?" asked the headmaster.

"Of course," said Harry as he followed the old man to his office. Once there, Dumbledore turned and pinned Harry with a harsh stare.

"You need to stop harassing Professor Moody, Harry." said Dubmbledore, "this is starting to get ridiculous."

"Professor Moody is hidden somewhere in the Dark Art's professor's office," said Harry, "Barty Crouch Jr. is using him for polyjuice potion."

"Is that why you tried to break into his office?" demanded Dumbledore, "Do you know how unlikely that scenario is?"

"I didn't go near Moody's office," said Harry, "And if I had the Marauder's Map, I could prove that 'Moody' is Crouch. But Crouch confiscated it from Luna."

"Harry, Alastor Moody is one of my oldest friends, I believe I would notice if he had been replaced," said Dumbledore, "This is just Slytherin paranoia run amok. You will drop this matter."

Harry shook his head angrily. "I am not paranoid. Someone is out to get me."

"I am aware," said Dumbledore, "But your actions above all else have convinced me that it is not Alastor Moody."

"My actions have nothing to do with whether you can trust your 'friend' or not," said Harry struggling to remain calm, "I realize that a certain… distrust has begun to manifest between us. But I have never tried to willfully deceive you! You have to believe me!"

Dumbledore shook his head, "You send others to do your dirty work, you blatantly manipulate others, even those you claim to be friends with. No, I do not have to believe you about anything."

"That is a complete lie!" said Harry angrily, "I do not manipulate my friends."

"Now that I believe," said Dumbledore, his meaning obvious, "you are dismissed Harry."

And it was then that Harry realized that Dumbledore no longer believed that he had not put his name in Goblet of Fire. And for the first time Harry began to suspect that something was wrong. Very wrong. Dumbledore knew the evidence. He couldn't realistically believe what he was saying.

Unless something was convincing him otherwise. Was it Crouch? Had Crouch gotten into his head, or used magic? Somehow that was not a satisfactory answer. Whatever the case, Dumbledore's current position was beyond reason.

"Fine," said Harry, "But if I die, remember, it's your fault. I tried to warn you."

And with that he stormed out, leaving a very troubled looking Dumbledore.

XXXXX

**June 24th, 1995**

When the day of the third task came, Harry made one thing very clear.

"Luna," he said, "Whatever happens, it isn't your fault."

"But I lost the Marauder's map!" she protested.

"You did take a risk that didn't pay off," said Harry, "but Crouch managed to fool some very sophisticated witches and wizards, including Professor McGonagall, who is a master of Transfiguration, and Professor Dumbledore, who knows Moody better than anyone. If we had thought to use the map earlier though we wouldn't have been in this position."

Luna still looked miserable, "I shouldn't have been sorted into Slytherin," she said sadly, "I'm not sneaky enough for it."

"There's more to being in Slytherin than being sneaky," insisted Harry, "And I wouldn't trade your friendship for anything Luna."

Luna managed a small smile at that.

Snape chose this moment to interrupt the two of them. "Mr. Potter, there are visitors waiting to see you near the Quidditch Pitch."

"Oh?" said Harry.

"The families of the champions have been allowed to come to Hogwarts to watch the third task," said Snape.

"I am quite certain Vernon and Petunia aren't here, so I'm guessing it is Mrs. Weasley," said Harry, "Ginny want to go see your mum?"

"I guess," said Ginny.

Harry winked at Hermione, and headed off to meet Mrs. Weasley, Ginny in tow.

"I'm going to try and break into Moody's office once the third task starts," said Ginny.

"A little late for that, isn't it?" asked Harry.

"If I can produce the real Mad-Eye maybe I can get them to call off the last task," said Ginny, "I have to try."

Harry gave her a quick pat on the shoulder. "Thanks," he said gratefully.

When they reached the pitch (which was now covered in a giant hedge maze) they saw not just Molly, but also Bill. "Bill!" yelled Ginny as she ran to hug her older brother. Harry felt a brief twinge of conscience that Ginny would have to shorten her time with her favourite brother in order to help him, but he knew she was doing it because she cared about him, so he didn't feel too bad.

Harry also noticed that Bill very much had his eyes on the champion from Beauxbatons. Fleur was talking with her mother and father, as well as Gabrielle. Fleur and Bill had met before, of course, at the Quidditch world cup. They hadn't spent that much time together though. Bill's eyes didn't have any of the signs of being affected by Fleur's veela nature. He was just admiring an attractive woman.

He spoke to Molly and Bill for a bit, thanking them both for coming over. But he saw an opportunity here, and he wasn't about to waste it. "I do need to say hello to the Delacours for a moment, given what happened at the Second Task," said Harry, "Bill why don't you and I go over and say hello for a minute while Ginny catches up with your mum."

"Good idea Harry," said Ginny, clearly understanding his intent.

"Uh, sure," said Bill.

Harry walked Bill over to the Delacours. As he approached Gabi ran towards him and threw her arms around his neck planting a kiss on his cheek. Harry managed to retain his composure through this, returning Gabi's hug briefly before continuing on to her parents.

"Madame Delacour, it is wonderful to see you again," said Harry to Fleur's mother, "And you must be Fleur's father, she has told me so much about you. I am Harry Potter."

Monsieur Delacour took Harry's proffered hand in a strong handshake. "Thank you for helping to save Gabrielle during the second task 'arry. I am very glad that Fleur has a friend that she can count on."

"This is Bill Weasley," said Harry, "He's a curse-breaker with Gringotts, I thought Fleur might want to talk to him for a bit, as she was considering a similar career path."

"Of course I remember Monsieur Weasley," said Fleur, "Oh I wouldn't mind talking to him at all," she said eyeing Bill, not exactly lewdly, but appreciatively.

"Uh, likewise Fleur," said Bill slightly nervously. He probably hadn't expected her to be so game.

Harry talked with the Delacours for a short while, then headed back to speak to Molly and Ginny.

"Where's Bill?" asked Molly.as he got back.

"He's still talking with Fleur," replied Harry, "They both seem to be, uh, enjoying themselves."

Molly saw her son talking to the young part-Veela. "So I see," said Molly dryly, "I take it this was your intention?"

Harry shrugged. "I like Bill, I like Fleur. They certainly seem to like each other. Maybe nothing will come of it, but who cares? It's not like I'm making them do anything."

Molly laughed in agreement. "I suppose maybe Bill could use a little encouragement in that area. Though it is a little hypocritical of you to do this and get mad at me for trying to set up the two of you."

"The difference is, if this fails, Harry won't try again," said Ginny, "Hope that helps."

After some time Dumbledore arrived with the other Headmasters and Bagman.

"Minister Fudge will be arriving soon," said Dumbledore, "And we have had Professor Moody go place the Triwizard Cup in the center of the maze. So champions should all start getting ready, we'll be letting people into the stands soon."

"Well, now we know what the trap is," said Harry once Dumbledore had walked away.

"Where the bloody hell does he get off letting Moody touch the Triwizard Cup!" seethed Ginny.

"Mind your language Ginevra!" said Molly.

"Ginny's just angry because Dumbledore has probably just assured my death," said Harry.

"Harry, you could just not take the cup, you could!" begged Ginny, "You have to know it's almost certainly a portkey!"

"I will probably die if I touch that thing," said Harry, "But Viktor, Fleur or Cedric? They _will_ die if they touch it. No, I have to see this through."

"What are you talking about?" asked Molly.

"Remember that night Mr. Weasley had to go calm down Moody at his home this last summer?" asked Harry, "We're pretty sure that Barty Crouch Jr, having just freed himself from his father again, attacked and replaced Moody using polyjuice potion. And he's been masquerading as Moody all year."

"Do you have any proof? Why didn't you tell Dumbledore?" asked Molly, "I have a hard time believing it."

"Dumbledore thinks I'm lying," said Harry, "And we had proof, but 'Moody' confiscated it."

Harry stood up as straight as he could. "No, there's nothing for it, I'll just have to try and survive this as best I can."

Molly looked at Harry very sceptically. He couldn't really blame her. It sounded insane to him too.

Amos and Cedric walked by to say hello to Molly. As they were talking, Ginny whispered in Harry's ear. "If Voldemort tries to use your blood in a resurrection ritual, give it to him willingly. That ritual requires an unwilling victim."

Harry nodded grimly. Cedric seemed to catch his mood, because he walked over to talk to Harry.

"Nervous Potter?" asked Cedric.

"A bit," said Harry.

"No need, no need," said Amos, "What's the worst that could happen?" Was he for real?

"We could all die," said Harry, and with that he decided to find some privacy.

XXXXX

"Welcome to the third and final task of the Triwizard tournament!" shouted Fudge to the crowd, "Inside the maze before us we have placed the Tri-wizard Cup. Whoever retrieves it is the winner! As he is in first place, Harry Potter of Hogwarts will enter the maze first, followed by Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons, who will be followed by Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts, who will be followed by Viktor Krum of Durmstrang. Harry, you may enter the maze!"

There was a wave of fireworks set off (probably from the Weasley twins) as Harry rushed into the maze. He had to get to the cup first, but he wouldn't take it unless it looked like another champion was going to claim it. He had to give Ginny the maximum amount of time to rescue Moody.

Harry chose his direction randomly. There was no right or wrong path at this point. He just had to hoof it and hope for the best.

He found himself in a long section of hedge. He couldn't see the end of it. It seemed as if this first pathway kept going and going in a straight line. And of course it was doing just that. Harry stopped and considered his options. He doubted a simply _finite incantatem _would deal with this problem. He could blast through the hedge, but he had no idea where that would lead him. Suddenly Harry had a thought. If this was just an illusion maybe it was his eyes that were tricking him.

Closing his eyes, Harry walked forward in a straight line. For several moments he thought it wasn't working, but then he walked right into the hedge. Opening his eyes, he saw that he had indeed walked past the enchanted spot and found the end of that first passage.

Turning down the next path, he saw the last thing he wanted to see. A blast-ended skrewt.

Harry didn't waste any time. "_Wingardium Leviosa!_" he cast on the skrewt followed by, "_Confringo!_" That last one was the blasting curse; one of Blaise's favourites, naturally. It shredded the skrewt in an instant when it hit the thing's softer underbelly. Harry felt a little sorry for Hagrid that he'd killed it, but not enough to regret doing it. Those creatures were just annoying.

Harry continued on, using Hermione's direction spell as needed. He was making progress, but he wasn't running across obstacles. Which meant he was almost certainly going the wrong way. So he was about to break through the hedge, when he heard grunts and yells.

It was Krum, "Cedric! Vhat are you doing?" he heard the Bulgarian say. Harry swore. Cedric was still Imperiused!

Harry ran towards the sound, only to discover he wasn't the only one to do so. Fleur was there as well.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Cedric's Imperiused and is attacking Krum!" said Harry, still following the sound. Sure enough they found Cedric standing over an unconscious Krum. Or at least Harry hoped he was unconscious. He ignored Harry but immediately started firing spells at Fleur. Luckily Fleur was warned, so she managed to shield herself.

"_Stupefy!_" said Harry sending a stunner straight towards Cedric. Apparently he'd been instructed to ignore Harry, so he didn't even try to dodge or shield. The stunner dropped him cold.

"What is going on 'arry?" asked Fleur.

"Cedric was Imperiused by Moody to make sure I won the tournament," said Harry.

"What?" demanded Fleur suspiciously.

"Moody isn't Moody, he's the son of Barty Crouch, and one of Voldemort's followers. He's probably turned the cup into a Portkey or something so he can abduct me," explained Harry.

"That's quite a story 'arry," said Fleur. She clearly didn't believe him.

"Believe it or not," said Harry as he checked Krum's vitals. They were very strong. He'd probably only been stunned. Picking up Krum's wand, he cast the sparks to call for help into the sky.

"It doesn't matter," finished Harry, "It's you vs. me now. And I intend to win."

He smiled sadly. And then he was off running.

"No fair!" shouted Fleur teasingly as she ran in a different direction.

XXXXX

Ginny had a bit of a difficult time getting away from the Quidditch Pitch. First she had to escape her mother, not an easy task. She eventually managed to use the excuse she needed to find Luna, who had hidden herself away at Ginny's signal. Then she had to get away without Moody/Crouch seeing her. Luckily, his eyes (both the mechanical and the real one) seemed mostly interested in the task right now.

She ran back to the school as fast as she could. She would have flown directly into the dark arts tower if she'd dared, but she couldn't attract the attention. Luckily even Filch was at the task so there was no one to accost her in the school.

Finally reaching the dark arts classroom, Ginny ran to the door of the professor's office. As she expected, when she got there it was completely warded up. But after a cursory examination, Ginny realized there was a slight flaw in the spells cast on this door.

_He didn't think he was coming back, so he got sloppy, _thought Ginny. With a single spell the protections on the door unraveled, all without alerting Crouch.

Walking into the room confidently, Ginny began to explore the room. There was a closet, but checking it turned up an empty closet. There was a small case on the desk. Opening it, Ginny saw it was full of small bottles. Sniffing one revealed the aroma of polyjuice potion. All the bottles seemed to be empty, noted Ginny. Ginny found the Marauder's Map in a drawer.

There was also a trunk. Ginny jabbed her wand at it and it opened. Nothing but clothes inside. But then, Ginny realized that this was a collapsible trunk. Shutting the trunk, she thrust her wand at it again. It opened again, this time revealing a long passage down, in which she could see a rather battered, and familiar, man.

"Mad-Eye Moody!" she shouted.

"Who is there!" he yelled, frantically.

"I'm Ginny Weasley!" she replied, "We have to get you out of there and to Dumbledore! If we hurry we can still stop Lord Voldemort's return!"

"How do you know Lord Voldemort is trying to return!" asked Moody suspiciously.

"Because I'm not an idiot," said Ginny, "Of course that's why he sent his most loyal henchman to abduct Harry Potter!"

Moody seemed to hesitate for a moment. "All right, get me out of here," he said finally.

XXXXX

Harry still couldn't find any obstacles. And he'd been wandering twenty minutes. Either he was going the wrong way, or he was going the long way around. He couldn't afford to waste any time. So with a string of _Confringo_'s and _Incendio_'s he cut his way through the hedge. Which then started to attack him. For a moment Harry was a blur as he used fire to hold back the hedges, along with a few cutting charms and one _reducto._ Of course he had a few cuts for his effort, but he figured that was worth Fleur's life. He had to be very close to the middle of the maze now, which meant there was only one way to go.

Coming around a corner, he saw it. The Triwizard cup. He began to run towards it, but roots began to shoot out from the side of the maze to trip him. Stumbling he pushed towards the cup. He was halfway down the row when he saw Fleur emerge from the other side. She saw the cup and began to run towards it. The hedges started trying to trip her as well, but she nimbly avoided them, managing to keep moving forward.

"No!" roared Harry as he hurled himself forward. He wasn't about to let Fleur die in his place!

XXXXX

Ginny ran as fast as she could to the Quidditch pitch. She had no idea how Moody kept up with her given how feeble he'd seemed to be when he came out of the trunk, but somehow he was only a short way behind her. He'd probably tethered himself to her somehow. Probably a useful spell to know.

Running onto the field of the pitch she ran toward Dumbledore.

"Professor!" she screamed, "The _real_ Professor Moody would like to have a word with you!"

Dumbledore turned, looking as if he was going to rebuke her, but then he saw Moody. And the doubts left his eyes immediately. He turned to Crouch, who threw himself forward to avoid the headmasters spell. But it wasn't Dumbledore that Crouch needed to be worried about. Ginny threw a spell that hit him right in the chest. It only momentarily took the wind out of Crouch, but it was enough for her disarming charm to hit. Crouch's wand flew out of his hand and landed in Ginny's. And with one last swipe of her hand, Ginny conjured ropes to tie Crouch up.

"Ginny! What are you doing!" screamed Molly.

"Well done Miss Weasley!" said a very surprised Dumbledore.

"Well done indeed!" said Flitwick from the stands, "That was first class dueling style!"

"Stop admiring Ginny's spellwork and STOP HARRY AND FLEUR FROM TOUCHING THE CUP!" screamed Hermione from the stands.

Dumbledore put his wand to his neck. "HARRY! FLEUR! DO NOT TOUCH THE CUP!" boomed his voice through the Sonorus charm.

XXXXX

"HARRY! FLEUR! DO NOT TOUCH THE CUP!" came the sound of Dumbledore's voice. Exactly as Harry and Fleur both grabbed the opposing sides of the cup at the same time.

And suddenly Harry and Fleur found themselves being spun around through the ether as the portkey they had both grabbed pulled them towards their new destination.

** Author's Note: ** Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I couldn't resist ending there. It is such a natural place for a chapter break!

So I'll start with the news. My beta reader hasn't been able to review my stuff much recently for real life reasons, which is why the pace of updates slowed. I haven't managed to contact them at all for nearly a week and a half. So I published this chapter and the previous one without them being beta'd. I also published the last chapter of Harriet Potter without a beta reader as well. I do want to maintain a better pace of updates though. So if anyone wants to beta either story, please, send me a pm!

This delay hasn't been entirely a bad thing though. I have done a major series of rewrites on years 5-7, and fixed some major problems. It also convinced me to tone down some elements in the last few chapters. The feeling just wasn't right.

I have also opened a new Forum, called Xetarma's Fanfics. If you have questions/comments/suggestions that aren't strictly review related, that would be a good place to voice them. My primary reason for doing this is so that I can post responses to things other than via pm or author's note. I may post responses to reviews there, so be on the lookout for it!

The next four chapters are all really crazy, and they finally begin to show how this story is going to make its permanent breach from canon. It won't get all the way there until the end of sixth year, but it will get there. I know people read a Harry in Slytherin story and expect to see a powerful Harry. It's coming, I promise you.


	32. Not the Worst, But Not Great Either

**Chapter 32: Not the Worst, but not Great Either**

**June 24th, 1995**

As Harry was pulled away by the Portkey he started thinking fast. Where was it taking them? Harry hadn't really felt Voldemort in his mind except as a vague presence for some time. He _had_ felt Voldemort a little more strongly back at the Weasleys', so Harry had to assume that Voldemort was somewhere in England. That wasn't good at all. First, it would mean that Harry would be far enough away that any possible means of tracking him wouldn't work. Second, it would mean that the Portkey would be moving them further. There was a magical cooldown period on Portkey activation that was directly proportional to the distance the portkey traveled (Harry thanked Hermione for this little fact). Which meant that this Portkey would take at _least_ 10 minutes to become active again. Probably more.

But Fleur could apparate. Maybe Voldemort wouldn't anticipate someone else coming out with him and wouldn't have anti-apparition wards up. In that case Fleur could simply pull them away, but Harry wasn't willing to bet Fleur's life on it - and he would be.

Harry and Fleur both managed to land on their feet as they suddenly came to a stop. They were in some sort of graveyard. Harry immediately began to look around while he opened his Occlumency to try and find Voldemort's thoughts.

He started to get a headache. Two separate thoughts intruded on his mind. He saw one perspective, low to the ground and somehow different. The other was thinking about some ritual.

_Bone of the father, unknowingly given…_

_Flesh of the servant, willing given…_

_Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken…_

Those words pounded through Harry's skull. He remembered Ginny's advice from earlier, but knew that Fleur's presence made that far more complicated. Of course he _could_ do it. He could tell Fleur, they could offer their blood to Voldemort willingly. They'd both die, but what of it? They'd stop the Dark Lord's return, at least for a while.

But Harry shook his head. Voldemort could use almost any wizard with that ritual and he would be restored. And if Harry didn't fight, there was no way Voldemort would let him leave here alive. Harry was willing to sacrifice himself to slow down Voldemort's return. But no, he couldn't let Fleur die here.

He felt the other presence again. It was some sort of snake, he realized. Against just Pettigrew and a snake, Harry thought he and Fleur might triumph. But why could he see in the mind of a snake? Unless…

The snake was a horcrux, and it wasn't contained like the horcrux in his scar. Which meant that it was likely impervious to anything Harry and Fleur could do to it.

Harry closed his mind immediately. He looked around desperately.

"What is going on?" asked Fleur.

"We've been abducted," said Harry, "Can you apparate us back to just outside Hogwarts?"

Fleur nodded, taking Harry's hand. But when she narrowed her eyes, nothing happened.

"There are wards up!" she said, now sounding frightened.

Harry continued looking around desperately. His eyes stopped on a grave with a statue of the angel of Death, scythe and all. On it were the names, Thomas Riddle, Mary Riddle, and Tom Riddle.

Tom Riddle. Voldemort's father. Merlin, Voldemort meant to do it here. Now. All thoughts of just letting Riddle use his blood vanished. Voldemort would see through that. And he would kill Fleur in any case. Unless Harry had something to bargain with. Which he did.

"Fleur listen to me very carefully," said Harry, "Your life depends on following my every instruction. If you don't do as I say, Voldemort _will_ kill you. Lay down on the ground, and no matter what I do or say, no matter what it _seems_ I am saying, no matter what you think will happen to me, do not get up, and do not fight Voldemort. Do not not resist him or his minions in any way. You will know when the time to act is. The other thing you must do is allow the full power of your Veela allure out. Trust me, it is essential."

Fleur nodded and laid herself down on the ground. Harry could hear the snake coming. He could hear the footsteps of Peter Pettigrew getting nearer. He felt Fleur's allure pounding at his Occlumency. It was easy to dismiss it now.

"I'm here!" shouted Harry, "I'm not going to fight you!"

Pettigrew walked up to Harry. He was holding some sort of bundle in one hand, a wand in the other.

"Very wise Harry," said a voice, that same horrible voice Harry remembered from Quirrell's head, and his vision, "There is no use fighting it. Peter, kill the girl."

"If you kill Fleur, I will continue to not fight you!" said Harry immediately, "I will give you my blood willingly, without force!"

"Wait!" said Voldemort suddenly, "Surely, you would want to kill me for that?" Harry grinned. Voldemort had figured out that Harry knew his game.

"Please," said Harry, "as you said, there is no use fighting."

"You don't think you could take poor Peter?" asked Voldemort.

"I might take him," said Harry, before switching to Parseltongue, "_But I doubt I could I could take him and you my serpentine friend. I hear you out there._"

Voldemort laughed, a horrible sound. "Oh Harry, I'd almost forgotten how clever you are! You did your homework. Moody told me you suspected him. If not for Dumbledore's distrust of you, you'd have escaped this fate."

"You mean Crouch? Crouch Jr.?" said Harry.

Voldemort didn't laugh at that. "Now that is _very_ good Harry. You deduce my servant's true identity, and my goal. But what do you think you are going to accomplish here? I can't very well let the girl go free."

"I didn't suggest that," said Harry, "but Peter might have a use for her."

"Let me have the girl!" said Pettigrew, "She is stunning. Beautiful." He stared at Fleur with a longing in his eyes."

"Part Veela," said Harry, "though the wizard blood is 'pure'. Better a magical creature than a muggle, am I right?"

"Quite," said Voldemort, "Very well, what assurance do I have that you will not change your mind before the ritual begins?"

"The fact that you'll still have Fleur and if the ritual fails you will kill her?" offered Harry.

Voldemort laughed again. "Very well, Peter, use the Imperius curse on the part-veela girl."

"No!" said Fleur angrily.

"Fleur!" said Harry sharply, "Trust me. Please. This is for the best." Harry wished he could tell her his plan. _Please Fleur..._

Fleur looked as if she was going to retort, then her face softened. She nodded and stood.

"Imperio," said Peter.

Fleur smiled at Pettigrew. "Hello master," she said.

Harry immediately leapt forward running towards the nearest gravestone. But suddenly the snake was there, wrapping itself around Harry. He tried to fire a cutting charm at it, but it just bounced off. Harry soon found himself trapped by the snake.

"Stupefy!" shouted Pettigrew, and then Harry's world went black.

XXXXX

When Harry woke, he was tied to the headstone of the Riddle Grave. He was gagged. There was a huge bubbling cauldron in front of him. Fleur was putting a little more wood on the fire lit beneath it, while Pettigrew was stirring something in the pot.

"He is awake," said the voice of Voldemort, "It is time."

Pettigrew pulled open the bundle spilling it's contents into the bubbling cauldron. What fell out looked like a misshapen infant, as if it had been born only half formed. Harry recognized the homunculus, but he didn't dare open his mind again to find out more. He couldn't give away his one advantage.

Peter levitated a bone out of the now open grave in front of Harry.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son," chanted Pettigrew as he dropped in the bone.

"Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master," said Pettigrew as he sliced off his hand with a knife, which fell into the cauldron.

Fleur looked at Harry, her eyes asking him what to do. She might try to interrupt the ceremony Harry supposed. But that would just get her killed. Even if she could break the Imperius. Harry shook his head slightly.

Pettigrew approached Harry next. Harry struggled, trying to keep his exposed arm from Pettigrew's knife. But tied to a headstone he couldn't do much, and Pettigrew cut a deep gash in Harry's arm.

"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe!" shouted Pettigrew as he flicked the blood into the cauldron.

The caudron began to bubble, and suddenly a form came out of it, at first surrounded in haze, but more and more distinct. A form in the shape of a man, but a man who's face had been horribly mutilated, his nose flattened and reduced to slits, his eyes catlike, his skin pale. A man who had thoroughly mutilated his soul.

"Robe me," said Voldemort.

Peter put the arm of a robe over one of Voldemort's arms, while at his signal Fleur draped the other side of the robe over the other. Both stepped back immediately before Voldemort demanded his wand. Wormtail handed it over with a bow.

Voldemort seemed to exult in the return of his body for a moment, but then turned to Pettigrew. "Hold out your arm," he said.

"Thank you!" said Pettigrew, holding out his bloody stump. Harry couldn't help but laugh from his throat, which could be heard even through the gag in his mouth.

"What is so funny?" demanded Pettigrew.

"Your naivete," said Voldemort with a grin, "Your other arm Wormtail."

Peter put forth his other arm reluctantly. Voldemort dug his wand into the Dark Mark embedded there, then pulled it away, with a wave of his wand.

"Our Lord has removed the anti-apparition wards, but you will not try to flee," said Pettigrew to Fleur. Fleur seemed miffed that he'd remembered that.

Suddenly masked figures began appearing. _The Death Eaters,_ thought Harry.

They appeared in a ring around Voldemort, but there were empty spots. Harry assumed one was Crouch, one was probably Karkaroff, and the last one was almost certainly Snape. Harry wasn't all that interested in watching Voldemort talk to his servants. Watching Voldemort torture Lucius Malfoy might have been amusing for some, but Harry couldn't even wish the Cruciatus curse on him. Voldemort was just pontificating. It was all a show to help re-establish his power.

What Harry needed to concentrate on was what he could control. Sure as the sun would rise in the east tomorrow, Voldemort was going to duel him. He had to. It was the only way to prove to his followers that he wasn't so weak that a baby had destroyed him. So Harry was going to have to duel Voldemort. Harry suspected that there would be side effects to Voldemort using his blood to resurrect himself. It was possible that the blood tie between them would anchor Harry to this world like a Horcrux. It was also possible that the Horcrux in Harry's skull would get the brunt of any killing curse that hit Harry. Possible ways out, but as the only way to test them was to get hit by a killing curse, Harry wasn't exactly keen to try.

Harry watched as Voldemort gave Pettigrew a new hand, made of some sort of silver. No, it was very likely Harry was going to die here. But he was going to free Fleur. Peter had made a very large mistake when he'd Imperiused her, as it both simplified Harry's task and put Peter's life in peril. The moron was so certain Fleur was under his control he hadn't even taken her wand. If she could get free of him for a second, she could apparate away. Simply put, the only way to ensure she was freed from an Imperius was to shatter Pettigrews will. Knocking him unconscious wouldn't do it. No, Pettigrew had to die.

The very idea repulsed Harry, but he made the choice to kill Peter with no hesitation. Fleur was Harry's friend, and he would save her. But he'd have to create an opportunity to do it. Harry guessed he'd only get one shot at this. He'd have to be quick.

Now with his hand restored, Pettigrew walked over to Fleur. He put his arm around her, leering at her figure. Part of Harry went insane at that, wanted to tear free and just gut Pettigrew for daring to touch his friend like that. But he held his peace.

He was dragged from his anger when Voldemort touched his forehead. He could feel the pain as Voldemort touched him, the pain coming from his mother's protection. The fool! He hadn't destroyed it at all! Oh, Voldemort could probably harm Harry now, but what was left of the protection would be there forever. Or at least until Voldemort died.

"Now Harry, we will duel. We can't have all these gentlemen thinking that you are able to defeat me now can we?" asked Voldemort, who untied and ungagged Harry with a wave of his wand.

Harry managed to catch himself as he pitched forward off of the headstone. Pushing himself up, he stood tall. Might as well. Voldemort levitated Harry's wand to him.

"Thank you," said Harry.

"Are you not afraid of me?" asked Voldemort.

"I'm terrified," admitted Harry, "But panicking isn't going to help me, now is it?"

"No," agreed Voldemort, "You know the proper etiquette for a duel, yes?"

"I do," said Harry, giving a slight bow to his opponent.

"Not good enough, you will kneel to me! _Imperio!_" shouted Voldemort.

That was a mistake. This Imperius curse was stronger than Crouch's had been, but Harry was ready for it.

"No thank you," said Harry, "I'll stand."

The Death Eaters began to murmur, but stopped quickly as Voldemort glared at them.

"Now, now, insolence will be punished! _Crucio!_" screamed Voldemort.

Harry was suddenly wracked by the worst pain he had ever known. It nearly drove him to his knees, but somehow, through sheer force of will, Harry managed to stay standing. Suddenly, the pain was gone.

"Very impressive Harry, but what have you accomplished, other than to show you are stubborn. Do you think you are the first to defy me?" asked Voldemort with a grim smile.

"Of course not," said Harry, "I was just waiting for my turn."

And with that Harry threw his entire mind at Voldemort, straight through the link created by Voldemort's horcrux. It wasn't just Harry's thoughts though. He threw in the one thing that had defeated Voldemort before. He thought of his friends. He thought of Fleur, who was counting on him now. He thought of Ron, Justin, Neville and Seamus. He thought of Sirius and Lupin. He thought of Blaise and Tracey, Daphne and Luna. He thought of Ginny. And he thought of Hermione, and even her parents. He pulled up all of his love for all his friends, for his family, and hurled it into Voldemort's unprotected mind.

Voldemort screamed in pain as he fell to his knees for a moment. It was the one thing that Voldemort couldn't stand. And in the moment that Harry was afforded, he struck. Not in anger, or in vengeance, but out of sheer necessity. "_Diffindo!_" he cast, right at Peter Pettigrew's neck.

Peter's head fell to the ground as blood shot from the stump of his neck, covering Fleur. Harry leapt away from Fleur hoping to draw the other Death Eaters away. Indeed it worked, the Death Eaters followed Harry, leaving Fleur behind them. She just needed to get away now! Harry jumped behind a large gravestone and knelt down.

"Do not interfere!" screamed Voldemort. The Death Eaters all looked surprised, as Voldemort took to his feet again. But then, he broke out in a smile.

"Oh well done Harry," said the dark wizard, "I was arrogant once again. I left my mind undefended, and so you punished me for it and got vengeance on the betrayer of your parents. How did that feel?"

"Great," lied Harry. It didn't. He felt nauseous. No matter what Pettigrew had done to him or his parents, Harry hadn't really wanted to kill him.

"I am sorry that I have to kill you boy," said Voldemort, "You would have made an excellent second-in-command. But I am glad you got your measure of revenge. Now, come out and face me!"

And Harry stood. He hadn't heard Fleur apparate, so she had to still be there. She was probably waiting for him. So she wouldn't leave until she knew she couldn't save him. Harry was touched, but he had to get her to leave.

"We're very alike," said Harry, "Both half-bloods, both raised by muggles who hated us, both naturally gifted wizards." He held out his wand a dueling pose as he faced Voldemort. He looked at Fleur, behind the Death Eaters. She stood up, with some package wrapped in Pettigrew's cloak strapped to her robes.

"Pleading for your life?" mocked Voldemort.

Harry's mouth turned one side up in a grin. "No," he said playfully, "I just want you to know, that for all your power, all your knowledge, the one thing I have that you lack is love. It was enough to defeat you once. Will it again? Let's roll the dice, _Tom._"

Voldemort roared in rage at the sound of his true name. "_Avada Kedavra!" _roared the Dark Lord.

"_Expelliarmus!_" shouted Harry at the same time, using the spell he was most skilled with.

And their spells collided in mid air, and suddenly their wands were connected by a thread of golden light. The two began to float in the air as a strange energy began to surround them.

"DON'T INTERFERE!" screamed Voldemort to his followers.

Harry was shocked for a moment, but then the threads of energy formed a web around them and he heard it. Phoenix song. And at that moment he knew. His and Voldemort's wands shared a core from the same phoenix! And now their minds and wills were connected, Harry could feel it. He saw beads of power in the golden thread between them. And he knew what to do. After all, he had seen Ginny Weasley do something very similar once before, in the throes of a very different magic.

He threw every ounce of his will into his spell. Slowly but surely, the beads of power moved towards Voldemort. Voldemort had figured out what was happening, but it was too late. Harry had control and he pushed that power until it moved back into Voldemort's wand.

Out of the wand came a cloud, as if it was an outline of a person falling down. Then came another cloud, which looked like Fleur in chains. The cloud took form next, as an old man Harry had never seen before.

"So the man was a wizard," said the old man, "You must be the boy he was talking about."

Another cloud now appeared. This was an unknown woman, but Harry guessed it was Bertha Jorkins. "Potter!" she said, "You have to stop him!"

"I will," said Harry. He braced himself, knowing what was coming next.

Another woman emerged, this one someone he had only seen in photographs, followed by a man, whom he had also only seen in photographs, and the Mirror of Erised.

"Mum, Dad," said Harry.

"Harry, we are so proud of you," said Lily Potter.

"You've done so well in Slytherin," said James Potter, "And made so many good friends."

"I wish you could meet them," said Harry, his eyes watering. _I wish you could meet her_, he thought.

They seemed to understand his mind. "When you let go we will stay behind for a short while," said James.

"You will only have moments," said Lily.

Harry looked down at Fleur and gave her nod. "Thank you," he said to his parents, "And I love you!"

"We love you too honey!" said his mother as he cut the connection.

The web vanished and all the apparitions surged towards Voldemort, blocking his view. The Death Eaters charged forward.

"_Accio_ 'Arry!" cried Fleur, her wand pointing right at him.

Harry flew forward, past Voldemort, past all the Death Eaters. He extended his arm and spun around as he wrapped it around Fleur's waist and she wrapped an arm around his. Along with Voldemort, the Death Eaters spun around.

Fleur swept her wand down, and suddenly Harry felt as if his entire body was being squeezed through a straw. He then found himself, with his arm still around Fleur's waist, on the road between Hogsmeade and Hogwarts.

For a moment he stood still, unable to comprehend what had just happened. But then it hit him. He was alive!

Suddenly he threw his other arm around Fleur as the two of them hugged each other, barely able to process the relief that they had escaped from that trap. Harry wasn't quite sobbing, but his eyes were definitely tearing up a bit as Fleur held him.

"'Arry," she said after a moment, "You were _amazing_ back there. You saved my life."

Harry smiled. "Lucky we're already friends," he said, "Don't need to owe you a life debt."

"It is not luck," said Fleur, "I am just that good a judge of character."

Harry laughed at that. "Well you did make friends with Hermione…"

Fleur laughed as well.

"You did pretty well yourself," said Harry.

"Thank you," said Fleur, "I was not about to abandon you."

"I'm glad you didn't," said Harry honestly, "I feel really good right now."

"'Ow much of that do you think has to do with the fact that you are resting your 'ead on my chest?" asked Fleur playfully.

And of course he did have his head on her chest. How he hadn't noticed that he had no idea, but he pulled away immediately.

"Sorry," he said as he reluctantly let her go.

"Do not apologize," said Fleur, "If you 'ad offended me, trust me, I would 'ave let you know. In fact if you want to rest there again, it might be arranged."

"Thanks for the offer," said Harry, "I think you aren't the only person who might be making it though. One person in particular…, well, you understand I'm sure."

Fleur nodded, "It is about time you recognized that."

"We should get back to Hogwarts," said Harry awkwardly after a moment, "They might decide to come searching this road. It is the most logical place for us to apparate to. They probably won't, but they might."

"A good idea," said Fleur, who extended her hand to Harry. He took it without hesitation. And that was the moment he realized he no longer felt Fleur's allure - at all.

After walking for a few minutes they came up to the gates of Hogwarts. The gates were closed.

"Damn," said Harry, "IS ANYONE THERE?"

"Is that Harry?" shouted the booming voice of Hagrid who came running up to the gates. With one push he opened them up and came running out to Harry and Fleur.

"And Miss Fleur too? Where've you been?" asked Hagrid, "Yer both lookin' like you've been through the inside of a butcher's shop."

"We will explain once we reach the Headmaster," said Harry wearily.

"Well, yer friend Ginny she managed to free the real Moody and capture Crouch Jr., " said Hagrid, "He kept sayin' You-Know-Who had you, so we feared the worst."

"Voldemort did have us," said Harry, "It isn't quite the worst, but it isn't exactly great either."

Hagrid nodded at that. He'd lived long enough to get his share of bad news Harry supposed.

The crowd was still gathered at the Quidditch pitch. That was good. Harry wanted this information to get to as many people as possible. Fudge wouldn't want to admit it of course. Admitting it would be disastrous for his support among the purebloods.

As they approached the pitch, they heard a full scale argument raging between Hermione and Dumbledore.

"Miss Granger," said Dumbledore in that oh so patient tone of his, "We are doing everything we can to locate Mr. Potter and Miss Delacour. I know you are frustrated, but this is not helping."

"They wouldn't need rescuing if you had listened to Harry in the first place," shouted Hermione angrily.

"I must say, that if the boy did warn you Albus…" Fudge started to say.

"Harry had no proof," said Dumbledore lamely.

"You should have checked anyway!" said Moody, "What have I always said? Anyone can be an imposter, or Imperiused. Anyone! Myself included!"

"Hear, hear!" shouted Harry as he marched out onto the pitch, still holding Fleur's hand.

The crowd gasped at their appearance. Hermione rushed Harry, throwing her arms around his neck. He let go of Fleur's hand and embraced her.

"I was so scared," said Hermione, "I thought for sure you were… that they'd…"

"It was a close one, that was for sure, but between Fleur and myself, we managed to just barely get away," admitted Harry.

"Fleur!" shouted the voice of Fleur's father. Both of her parents, as well as Gabi, ran down to embrace their daughter.

Harry noted that Amelia Bones had arrived. Harry guessed that Daphne had insisted on her involvement, or maybe Susan. She had brought a whole cadre of aurors, and had Crouch, now un-polymorphed, under guard.

"What happened Harry?" asked Fudge.

"Has Crouch told you what he did?" asked Harry.

"He told us that he turned the cup into a Portkey, or rather he changed the destination of the Portkey," said Madam Bones.

"It took me to a graveyard. It was somewhere in England I think. Anyway, Peter Pettigrew was there…"

"Pettigrew is dead," shouted Fudge angrily.

"Yes, he is," admitted Harry, "As of tonight." Harry's heart sank. How would he prove Sirius's innocence now?

"And we have proof!" said Fleur. She picked up the package she had wrapped in Pettigrew's cloak. She had tied it to her robes and it had been hanging down by her legs this whole time. Surely she hadn't…

Amelia took the package and opened it. When she saw what was inside she gasped. "This is the head of Peter Pettigrew!" she said.

"What? What is Peter Pettigrew's head doing here?" demanded Fudge.

"He put me under the Imperius Curse," said Fleur.

Harry closed his eyes. "There really was no choice. I can't believe you took his head though, Fleur."

Fleur smiled, "Well you may recall I did say something about that."

Hermione laughed, her head still buried in Harry's chest. "She did you know," reminded Hermione.

"This means nothing!" said Fudge, desperately.

"It means Sirius Black did not murder Peter Pettigrew," said Amelia, "Which is enough to reopen his trial."

"Oh wait, Sirius didn't get a trial!" shouted Daphne who had managed to fight her way to the front of the crowd.

"That was Millicent Bagnold's decision!" shouted Fudge, glaring daggers at Daphne.

"Yes," said Harry, "It was. And you are going to make sure Black is properly questioned under Veritaserum, aren't you Minister?"

Fudge smiled. This was the sort of thing he was good at. "Of course! I would be delighted to see justice finally done."

"You killed Pettigrew?" asked Dumbledore softly, his voice disturbed.

Harry looked at the Headmaster and nodded grimly. "I… well I certainly didn't enjoy the experience, let me leave it at that."

Dumbledore nodded, looking somewhat relieved.

"So why did Pettigrew abduct you?" asked Madam Bones.

Harry raised his arm, showing the bloody cut from Pettigrew's knife. "He used my blood in a ritual that resurrected Voldemort."

And with that, the crowd went absolutely nuts. Teachers and aurors tried to restore order. Fudge looked shell-shocked.

"No," said the Minister for Magic, "it can't be."

"It is!" shouted Fleur, "I saw it!"

"Are you calling my daughter a liar?" demanded Mr. Delacour, "The French Ministry of Magic will be conducting a full investigation into these claims!"

Fudge immediately seemed to realize that he was in a bad situation. Fleur wasn't just anyone, she was the daughter of the Senior Undersecretary to the French Minister. This wasn't going to get swept under the rug easily.

"Amelia," said Fudge, "we must begin a full and thorough investigation of these claims. While I am not yet ready to admit that they are true, we must take no chances with the safety of the magical world." Harry suspected that full and thorough meant long and inconclusive in Fudge speak, but he kept quiet. This was about the best outcome he could have hoped for at the moment.

"If you will allow me, I wish to take Harry and Fleur to the hospital wing," said Dumbledore as he nodded at McGonagall and Snape.

"I'm coming too!" demanded Hermione.

"So am I!" said Ginny.

"Of course," said Dumbledore, "I'm sure you will be a great comfort to Harry."

XXXXX

Voldemort was about as angry as he could be. Not only had Potter escaped, which was bad enough, but the boy had been so sure of himself! His followers tried to hide it, but that performance had put Voldemort's superiority over Potter into doubt. Voldemort didn't know what that golden web had been, but he had to find out before he fought Potter again!

He and the rest of the Death Eaters had fled the graveyard at Little Hangleton. It was too dangerous, especially once Lucius had explained who the girl was. If Voldemort had known she was the daughter of such an important person he'd have insisted Pettigrew kill her, even if it meant having to deal creatively with Potter. That had been part of Potter's plan no doubt. What wasn't part of the boy's plan was that damned golden thread. Potter had clearly been shocked when it first appeared, but he had seemed to figure it out quickly. Too quickly. Potter hadn't expected it, but he had known or figured out what it was.

There was a knock at the door. "Severus Snape to see you, my Lord," said Lucius Malfoy, peeking his head into the room Voldemort had been given at Malfoy Manor. Voldemort couldn't stay here long, of course. Not until he was sure Fudge would take no notice of him.

"Let me see what Severus has to say for himself,' said Voldemort.

Snape swept into the room, confident as always. Voldemort had always liked that about Snape.

"I apologize for my tardiness, my lord," said Snape, "I had to maintain my cover with Dumbledore."

"Your cover?" asked Voldemort.

Snape smiled, "You did instruct me to spy on Dumbledore, to get into his trust, did you not?"

"So I did," said Voldemort, pretending he hadn't remembered, "So what you are saying is that all you have done, all the aid you've given Dumbledore, all the Death Eaters you turned in, all the plans you revealed, all of it was done to maintain your cover?"

"Yes," said Snape crisply, "If I have done wrong, I am of course willing to accept any punishment.

Voldemort peeked inside Snape's mind. Snape was a natural Occlumens, but Voldemort was one of the most talented Legilimens in history. But Snape's barriers weren't up, at least as far as Voldemort could tell. And everything in Snape's mind confirmed what the man was saying. Could Snape be fooling him somehow? No, Voldemort figured he might not be able to penetrate Snape's defense, but surely he would detect that he was being blocked.

"I see that you are telling the truth," said Voldemort, "In which case, well done Severus. You have executed my orders not only faithfully, but well beyond what I anticipated."

Snape's grin grew smug. "Thank you, my lord," he said.

"What is Dumbledore's plan?" said Voldemort.

"He intends to reform the Order of the Phoenix," said Snape, "He is not yet openly at odds with the Ministry, but Fudge is starting to act paranoid, so it is possible that Fudge will turn on him. For the moment, he does not have Ministry support."

"Good," said Voldemort, "The Delacour girl's survival has placed our plan in serious jeopardy already. Is Slytherin House ready to provide recruits for my new army?"

Snape hung his head. "In this, I have failed you. Next year, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger will be prefects. Once that happens they will use their power to suppress the pureblood faction as effectively as they can. Most of the house is at least moderately pro-muggleborn already, largely due to Potter's influence. I tried to issue corrective action, but…"

"I remember the incident with the troll," said Voldemort, "I believe that suppressing Potter may have been too great a task even for you."

"He has unified the houses including Slytherin to the task of cleaning up anti-muggleborn bias in Slytherin," apologized Snape, "He has even used the Deputy Headmistress to accomplish his goals."

"This is disappointing, but not unexpected." admitted Voldemort, "Potter has even given me trouble. Did Potter tell you what happened in the graveyard?"

"You mean the golden light?" asked Snape. Voldemort nodded.

"Dumbledore thinks it is because of your wands," said Snape, "You see, apparently, Harry's wand has a phoenix feather as its core. A feather from the same phoenix that gave the feather in your wand."

"Interesting," said Voldemort, "There are too many coincidences involving Harry Potter. Why is this boy so special?"

Snape hesitated, then sighed. "I mean no disrespect, but trying to kill Potter in the first place is probably what caused this. Prophecy is a complicated area of study. Some prophecies always come true, while others only come true if you try to prevent them. Apparently when you tried to cast the killing curse on Potter, some of your abilities transferred to him."

Voldemort considered that. It was potentially devastating, if true. "My guess," continued Snape, "was that the rest of the prophecy mentions this danger."

"Which means the recovery of the prophecy should be a top priority," said Voldemort.

"Also, has Lucius told you about what he did with the Diary you left him for safekeeping?" asked Snape.

"No," said Voldemort, his voice suddenly dangerous, "What happened to it?" The fact that Snape knew about about his horcrux, even just its existence, was disturbing.

"He gave it to a girl named Ginny Weasley. It possessed her and unleashed a basilisk upon Hogwarts."

Voldemort's jaw set, but he shook his head at that, "Lucius should _not_ have done that. I assume it fell into the wrong hands?"

"Dumbledore has it," admitted Snape, who shifted rather uncomfortably, "but it is no good to him."

"Good," said Voldemort, "I had hoped he wouldn't be able to identify it."

Snape shook his head. "No my Lord, not good," he said, "Dumbledore does not, in fact, know what it is. But whatever it is, the reason it is of no use to Dumbledore is because Harry Potter stabbed it with a basilisk fang."

Voldemort looked at Snape incredulously. He took a moment to collect himself then roared, "Lucius, get in here NOW!"

XXXXX

**June 25th, 1995**

Harry woke the next morning, rested, but sore. He'd slept well, courtesy of the sleeping potion that Madam Pomfrey had given him. Harry and Fleur had recounted their entire ordeal to Dumbledore after Madam Pomfrey had looked them over. He'd gone over everything in excruciating detail. The only thing Harry had omitted was Ginny's advice before the task. No need to get Dumbledore suspicious about that.

Ginny had seemed rather upset when Harry mentioned the form Voldemort had taken. Harry remembered what she had said about homunculi. What Voldemort had done still sickened her, as it sickened Harry.

When Dumbledore had finished questioning them, Madam Pomfrey had brought sleeping potions, designed to bring a deep dreamless sleep. Harry had heard Dumbledore tell Snape something. Maybe that he was to resume spying on Voldemort. Maybe that would work. It probably depended on how good Snape's cover was. Harry was interested in knowing more, but Dumbledore had pretty clearly not wanted Harry to know more.

Harry turned his head to see Fleur lying in the next bed over. She too was awake, but seemed to be lost in thought. Harry decided to leave her to her thoughts. For now.

Hermione walked in about five minutes later, carrying some of Harry's clothes. She was followed by the rest of Harry's Slytherin friends. Ginny and Daphne looked grim.

"I take it the news isn't good?" asked Harry.

"Not at all," said Daphne, "For all his promises of an investigation, Fudge is holding everything up at every opportunity. He's already got the Wizengamot building an 'exploratory committee.' He also seems to be consolidating power in the Ministry. He made a whole slew of late night department transfers and promotions after he left here last night."

"Percy was made a junior assistant. I don't know what Mum is going to say," said Ginny.

"Good for Percy," said Harry, "Fudge obviously knows the Weasleys support Dumbledore. He wants Percy's insights as to what they are doing, and wants to show that not all members of your family support Dumbledore. I think my rapport with Percy is good enough that this could be a serious mistake on Fudge's part."

"You think Percy would be a spy for you?" said Ginny incredulously.

Harry smiled mysteriously, but didn't reply otherwise.

"In any case, at least the French Ministry doesn't have it's head up it's own arse," said Tracey, "They already sent a team to Little Hangleton to investigate, pretty much against Fudge's request too."

"But the ICW is not going to back Fudge on this," said Daphne, "Technically, Triwizard champions are ambassadors of the countries of their respective schools. As such, they have a limited form of diplomatic immunity - which means ICW rules require Fudge to cooperate fully in this investigation, as an ambassador with diplomatic immunity was abducted on his watch."

"Which is why Fudge suspects Dumbledore set this all up, of course," said Blaise.

"Everyone knows it's Fudge who is setting things up, but only to bring Magical Britain into alignment with the Rotfang conspiracy," said Luna.

"In any case, Sirius Black turned himself in last night," said Hermione, "He was questioned under Veritaserum. Amelia Bones released him an hour later and declined to press any charges. The Wizengamot will have to meet before he can formally be cleared, but at this point it is just a formality."

"Fudge refused to hold an emergency session though," said Daphne, "Sirius could be holding a seat on the Wizengamot, and that should be restored to him once the Wizengamot meets. But Fudge does not want another progressive voting against him right now. I think Fudge will be able to keep Sirius out of the Wizengamot, at least for a while. Especially since my father…, well, my father had a conversation with Fudge last night. It didn't go well."

"Oh?" asked Harry.

"My father basically said that he believes You-Know-Who is back, and that we needed to take decisive action," said Daphne, "It didn't go over well. My father basically stormed out saying that he would use his influence to force Fudge to see reason."

"Can Fudge do anything to your father?" asked Harry.

"In theory, Fudge can ask any non-elected member of the Wizengamot to step down," said Daphne, "But doing this to anyone, especially a member of one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families, will spark a reaction that Fudge wouldn't survive politically. He might be able to ask a few of the older members who support Dumbledore like Griselda Marchbanks to step down because of age, but certainly not my father."

"Fudge is going to be an enemy from here on out," said Ginny, "Which means the Ministry will be watching us like hawks. Fudge has already made it clear he will be heavily enforcing the Reasonable Restriction on Underage Sorcery."

"Well I don't have the Trace on me anymore, so if I have to do magic, I can." said Harry.

"All well and good for you," said Ginny, "but I'd like to be able to defend myself without risking expulsion. Luckily, I can remove the Trace, if you'll help me. This means that we'll need to remove it before we leave school - for everyone on the war council."

"That is _very_ illegal," said Daphne.

"And?" asked an unimpressed Ginny

"Just letting you know," said Daphne, "I'm down with it."

"How can _you_ remove the Trace?" demanded Blaise.

"Drop it Blaise," said Ginny, "As I recall, you aren't on the war council anymore, so if you don't mind your own business I won't untrace you."

"I suppose it doesn't matter that much does it?" admitted Blaise casually.

"Good," said Harry, "That's a good precaution. We also need to develop security plans, especially for the muggleborns and their families."

"Right," said Hermione, "I'm not looking forward to telling my parents about this."

"Speaking of things that you don't want to talk to your parents about Hermione," started Harry "when you have a moment I'd like to talk. Privately."

Hermione grinned. "I'm looking forward to it."

XXXXX

"Harry!" shouted a voice as Harry walked towards the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry turned to see Cedric and Cho walking up to him. Cedric had his arm around Cho's waist.

"I'm sorry about what happened during the third task," said Cedric.

"It wasn't your fault," said Harry, "You were Imperiused."

"And I've been Imperiused ever since we ran into Barty Sr. in the woods!" said Cedric.

"Yeah," said Harry, "I knew. I _tried _to convince Dumbledore…"

"I know you did," said Cedric, "I could see you trying to, and he even apologized to me for not listening to you."

"Thanks for trying though," said Cho, "We all know that Dumbledore has been acting weird about you for a while now."

"Is it getting that obvious?" asked Harry.

"Well maybe not for people not on the war council," admitted Cedric, "But those of us who are? We can read between the lines."

After a few more pleasantries, Harry made his way to the Slytherin table. Draco seemed rather puffed up today.

"Something troubling you Potter?" he said with a malicious grin.

"I just utterly embarrassed Voldemort in a duel, so no, I'm good," said Harry, "Have you heard from your father yet? Cause when he finds out some of the stuff ol' Lucius has been up to, I think your father is going to be in a very uncomfortable position."

Draco recoiled a bit when he was reminded how Harry had stood up to Voldemort and survived. Harry took the opportunity to escape this conversation.

XXXXX

After breakfast, the students began to say goodbye to the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Krum took Tracey aside for a moment. The two of them had a long conversation, then Krum kissed Tracey tenderly before walking away. Tracey walked back to the rest of the Slytherins with her eyes alight.

"So?" asked Daphne.

"I'm going to visit him this summer," said Tracey, "Probably for the best to get out of the country for a while I think. I don't think anything is going to come of it honestly, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to give it a try!"

"Good for you Tracey!" said Harry. He was really glad that she seemed to be having some luck with Krum. Harry agreed with her that little was likely to come of it, but he knew she needed this to get her mind off Ron. And hey, maybe Krum knew that as well.

Fleur had been talking to Hermione apart from the others. From the look on Hermione's face whatever Fleur was telling her was rather salacious, as Hermione had started blushing as they talked. When they finished, Fleur walked over to the rest of the group.

"'Arry," she said, "I will keep in touch with you. You saved my life and my sister's life. If there is ever anything I can do for you, just ask." And with that she leaned in for one last hug, which Harry happily provided.

"It's been good having you here at Hogwarts this year," replied Harry as they let go, "I have to admit, I'm going to miss you."

"Oh, we will meet again 'Arry," said Fleur, "Count on it."

Soon the Durmstrang ship was sinking into the lake, and the Beauxbatons carriage was flying away into the sky. The Slytherins decided to head back to their common room.

Harry saw the Headmaster watching the other schools depart. Harry motioned for Hermione to head back to their room. He, on the other hand, had to speak to Dumbledore. Harry walked over to the Headmaster.

"Why did you stop believing me?" said Harry, "I did everything right. I pushed for unity with the other schools, helped my competitors. I did all the things that you would have wanted me to do, and you still turned on me."

"I trusted Moody, or rather the man I thought was Moody," said Dumbledore.

"There is more to it Headmaster," said Harry, "what went wrong?"

"I found your arguments unconvincing," said Dumbledore, his eyes furrowed with concern.

"Obviously," said Harry, who was not convinced.

"You don't understand Harry," Dumbeldore continued, "Every word of every sentence you spoke made me believe you less. I don't know what came over me."

"Could Barty Jr. have cast some spell on you?" asked Harry.

"One advantage of being Headmaster of Hogwarts, I know most of the strengths of every student who passes through here," said Dumbledore, "Crouch did not have the skill to affect me to that degree."

Was it arrogance? Or was Dumbledore certain? Harry couldn't tell.

"One thing I am certain of is that this year I failed you Harry," said Dumbledore, "I should have listened to you about the Age line, and I should have listened to you about Crouch. I let you down."

There was an offer there, between Dumbledore's words. An offer of explanation. Perhaps of mending the rift between them.

But all Harry could think of was that damned marriage contract. How could Dumbledore ever explain that? How could he fix that?

"Well, what else is new?" said Harry. And he turned and walked away.

XXXXX

When Harry got back to the common room. Hermione dragged him into their room.

"So, what did you want to talk about Harry?" asked Hermione.

"What makes you think I want to talk?" said Harry coyly. The truth was, this was why he had been unable to forgive Dumbledore. How much better would this be without the marriage contract being held over Harry's head?

"Harry," chided Hermione.

"Fine!" said Harry as he took Hermione's hand.

"So, I've given this a lot of thought," said Harry, "And I wanted to tell you that I don't want to date other people. I know we're young, and I know we're not really ready yet, but I can't help it. I… I've fallen for you, and hard. And I want to be with you. Like, as boyfriend and girlfriend."

Hermione nodded, "I… I feel the same way," she admitted.

Harry grinned, "I thought you did, but I wasn't sure. I…," and then he just started laughing out of the sheer joy of it. Harry grabbed her face and pulled her close, kissing her deeply.

When he finally let her go he looked at her in the eyes, deep in those eyes. For the first time it didn't feel weird, didn't feel uncomfortable. He knew what he was feeling now.

"Listen, things are going to get weird now. The war's going to start up again," started Harry.

"And I am going to be by your side through it all," finished Hermione, her voice deadly serious.

"If you want," said Harry, "But I did promise your father that if things got dangerous I would give you the chance to stand down. He wanted me to try to tell you what you could and couldn't do."

"Oh, that's a nonstarter," said Hermione, "you're mine now, Harry Potter, and I'm going to make sure no one hurts what's mine!"

Harry smiled. That sounded fine to him.

**Author's Note:** And that's fourth year everyone! One of my biggest pet peeves has always been that Fleur comes off as looking weak in canon, but she is supposed to be the Beauxbatons champion! So having her take part in her own rescue was really fun for me.

As for Moody/Crouch, Harry absolutely could have dealt with him, if he hadn't been so laser focused on convincing Dumbeldore. For example, if he had given all his evidence to McGonagall. She would have noted something was fishy and used her authority as deputy headmistress to inspect Moody's office. But Harry's focus on Dumbledore, along with Harry's reluctance to let other people in on his various schemes, meant that this didn't happen.

One of Harry's traits in canon is a tendency to get tunnel vision. He makes up his mind and ignores all the evidence that he is wrong. This is why he thinks Snape is trying to get the Philosopher's Stone instead of Quirrel, why he thinks Draco might be the Heir of Slytherin, why he misses all the signs that Sirius isn't trying to kill him. It's why he doesn't realise that the goal is for him to win the tournament, and why he gets tricked into going to the Ministry. Most importantly it is why Hermione doesn't believe Harry when he insists that Draco is a Death Eater. Harry enthusiastically and catastrophically misinterpreting pretty much everything that happens to him is one of his most important character traits up until Sirius dies in canon. Harry is perceptive in the earlier books, but he lacks the maturity to really take advantage of that perception.

My Harry follows the same model, though he has sharpened his perception significantly. One element of my story is that I very much want it to have the same themes and morality that the original Harry Potter books had, but spun differently.

That being said, uh, yeah things are going to go bonkers again really soon. Fifth year is about Harry getting fed up and deciding to take control of his life. And all the consequences that this decision brings. Fifth year is going to go darker than previous years. A lot darker.

I posted a question on my forum. You can find the link in my profile. I'm just looking for input as to which direction to take a scene in the epilogue.

Also I want to thank pixiepuff13 for betaing this! They really went above and beyond.


	33. Dementors Over Little Whinging

**Chapter 33: Dementors over Little Whinging**

**June 26th, 1995**

"Wait, who is registered to that floo?" demanded Harry incredulously.

Harry was just outside the Hogwarts Express, waiting for Daphne and Hermione to arrive. Hermione had decided that she wanted to try to meet Harry during the holidays, so she and Daphne had gone looking to see if there was a floo on the Floo Network near Little Whinging. What they had found was a bit shocking.

"The Floo Index says Arabella Figg," said Daphne, "Of Wysteria Walk, Little Whinging."

"She used to babysit me when the Dursleys went out of town!" said Harry angrily, "Are you saying she's a witch?"

"She might be a squib," said Daphne, "In fact she probably is! The Figg family used to have a presence in the magical world during my grandfather's day, but I can't think of one who is part of it now. Whole lines squibbing out has become increasingly common."

"It's because wizards are inbreeding," said Hermione, "You have to see that, right?"

Daphne nodded glumly, "I know, it's just a bit difficult for me, you understand? This is very personal for me. It could seriously impact my options for marriage, if I want to have children."

Late last night Ginny had shown Harry how to remove the Trace. It was simple actually, if you knew what to do, but it required you to not have the Trace on you. Harry had removed the Trace from Ginny, and soon the entire war council (plus Blaise and Seamus) had the Trace removed.

Ron, Seamus and Blaise were all talking together, as Harry, Daphne and Hermione approached them. Ron's face lit up. He sort of skipped over his luggage to hug Daphne and kiss her on the cheek.

"Ron's apparently an attentive boyfriend," said Hermione so quietly only Harry could hear her.

"Mind if I ride with you guys?" asked Ron.

"I don't object, but it might be a little tight," said Harry.

"That means I can sit in Ron's lap!" said Daphne.

"So if I ride with you guys I can sit in Blaise's lap then?" asked Seamus his eyes glinting mischievously.

"Go for it," said Ron.

"That does sound nice," said Hermione to Harry quietly, "Sitting in your lap, I mean, not Blaise's."

When they found the compartment that Tracey had saved for them, they found Tracey there with Ginny, Luna and Justin.

"How's this going to work?" asked Tracey.

"Oh, I don't mind sitting in your lap Tracey," said Luna, "Oooo, Ginny could sit in Justin's lap!"

Ginny scowled at her. Harry did notice that Justin didn't seem to mind that suggestion. Justin didn't press it though. Soon they were all arranged and seated.

"This is going to be rough next year," said Blaise.

"Next year Harry and Hermione will be prefects," reminded Daphne.

"Does that mean I don't get a lap to sit in next year?" Luna pouted.

"Don't worry Luna," said Justin, "You can sit in my lap even if there's a seat available. We Hufflepuffs know the value of a good cuddle."

"Thank you Justin," said Luna happily, "I can see why Ginny likes you."

Ginny blushed furiously at that. Then suddenly she reached into one of her bags. "I almost forgot again! Harry, I recovered this when I broke into the DADA office," Ginny handed Harry the Marauder's Map.

"Thanks, Ginny, this means a lot to me," said Harry.

"It also means a lot to all of us that you removed the Trace," said Blaise, "Especially me."

"Do try to not get into too much trouble, Blaise," said Ginny.

"I hope you guys aren't going to get too physical," Luna said to the couples, "I would hate to have to start kissing Tracey just to fit in."

"Yeah I agr… wait, what?" said Tracey.

Everyone laughed.

"Oh one last thing Harry," said Ginny, "I have an idea for a thing to try. To deal with your, uh, big problem. We need to get together some time this summer."

Harry nodded. "Once my godfather takes over my guardianship I'm sure we can arrange it."

"Big problem?" asked Ron.

"If you don't know it probably isn't any of your business dear," said Daphne.

"Oh, okay," said Ron, though he sounded a bit deflated.

XXXXX

As Harry got off the train, he proffered his hand to help Hermione down. She took it, but once she had stepped down she didn't let go. Well, why should she? They walked hand in hand as they searched for her parents.

As Harry looked around for Hermione's parents, he saw the Weasleys, and he saw Justin's dad glaring at the Weasleys. His glare grew positively murderous when he saw Ginny walking next to Justin. Harry noticed that most families were snatching their children up as quickly as possible and then leaving. Not a bad idea really, though Harry didn't think Voldemort was anything like ready to start attacking public targets.

"Harry!" said a familiar voice.

"Sirius!" shouted Harry as he ran to hug his godfather.

"Thank you so much for what you did for me!" said Sirius as he returned his godson's hug and then some, "You cleared my name, and I will never forget it!"

"You'll have to thank Fleur," said Harry, "She was the one with the presence of mind to pick up the rat's head."

"I would be delighted to meet Miss Delacour," said Sirius, his eyes sparkling.

"Sirius!" chided Harry, "She's much too young for you!"

"Oh, I wasn't thinking in those terms," said Sirius hastily, "But she does seem to be a good friend of yours."

"Uh huh," said Hermione unconvinced.

"I see the two of you are getting pretty cozy," said Sirius.

"We figured we should give the two of us a shot," said Harry.

"Good for the two of you!" said Sirius.

"Am I going home with you?" asked Harry.

"Soon, but not quite yet," said Sirius, "You saw the state my home was in two years ago. It's even worse now. We're trying to get the worst of it cleared out before we bring in any minors who can't use magic."

_Translation,_ thought Harry, _Dumbledore managed to convince him to keep me at the Dursleys for a week or two._

"Well, make it quick," said Harry, "I'd prefer not to spend much time at Privet Drive."

"Don't worry, I'll be having a word with them before you go with them," said Sirius, "And maybe we don't have to mention that I've been cleared for murder."

Harry's hand slipped back into Hermione's as they searched for the Grangers together. They finally found them near the entrance to muggle King's Cross.

"Mum, Dad!" shouted Hermione. Her parents turned to see Harry and Hermione holding hands.

"And what is this?" said Helen Granger.

"We decided to get together," said Hermione.

"I mean, how can any of the other girls compare to Hermione here?" asked Harry, "That was a huge hole in our 'let's date other people plan.'"

They introduced Sirius to the Grangers, and they all made their way through the barrier to King's Cross proper. Upon seeing his relatives, Harry turned to Hermione. They'd shared a rather intense kiss back on the train, but suddenly, Harry couldn't quite help himself, and they were kissing again. This wasn't quite as intense, but it did last long enough that Hermione's father began clearing his throat. Harry pulled back.

"Stay safe," he said.

"You too," replied Hermione.

Harry and Sirius walked over to the rather indignant looking Dursleys, Harry dragging his trolley.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley," said Sirius, "My name is Sirius Black…"

XXXXX

As her parents began to drive away from King's Cross, Hermione began to look out the back windows, scanning for anyone following them.

"Is something wrong Hermione?" asked Helen.

"Yes," said Hermione, "I'm making sure we aren't being followed."

"Who would follow us?" asked Robert.

"Death Eaters," said Hermione, "Listen, the last few days have been crazy."

"You could have written and said you were dating Harry now," said Robert.

"We only got together yesterday," admitted Hermione, "After what happened in the third task, well, neither of us was willing to wait. Harry came closer to death than ever two days ago."

"What do you mean?" asked Helen.

"Harry and Fleur were abducted from the task, and Harry's blood was used in a ritual which resurrected Lord Voldemort," said Hermione, "Fortunately, Voldemort got arrogant and tried to duel Harry. In the process of the duel Harry and Fleur managed to not only escape, but kill Peter Pettigrew and bring back proof that Sirius hadn't killed him."

"What sort of proof?" asked Robert.

"Pettigrew's head," said Hermione, a bit sheepishly.

"Harry cut off Pettigrew's head?" demanded Helen.

"He had Fleur under the Imperius curse! If Harry hadn't killed him Fleur would have been Pettigrew's slave," said Hermione, "And it was Fleur who thought to bring his head back."

"His slave?" asked Robert, though his voice betrayed that he indeed suspected what that meant.

"Yes father, I mean exactly what you think I do," said Hermione, shuddering at the thought of Fleur under Pettigrew's control.

"Well, in that case, good for Harry," said Robert.

"Robert!" protested Helen.

"I don't condone killing, but I think preventing a friend from being used as a sex slave is a pretty damn good exception to that," said Robert.

Helen looked a bit outraged still, but she couldn't say much to that.

"Is the war back on?" asked Robert.

"Not quite yet," said Hermione, "The Ministry, and by Ministry I mean Fudge, doesn't want to admit that Voldemort is back. But the evidence is pretty overwhelming. We'll need to take some precautions though."

Her parents both nodded. Hermione decided not to bother telling them about her plan to visit Harry. No need to stir the pot right now.

XXXXX

**June 27th, 1995**

Harry knocked on the door to Mrs. Figg's house. It was the day after he had returned from school. She opened the door quite quickly. She seemed rather surprised to see him.

"Harry Potter, is there something you need?" she asked.

"I'd like to use your floo," said Harry.

"Uh, my floo?" she said rather unconvincingly.

"It is in the Floo Index," said Harry.

"Well, I don't think Dumbledore would want you going anywhere," said .

"So you work for him?" asked Harry.

"Well, he asked me to keep an eye on you," Mrs. Figg admitted, "I am sorry that I couldn't be nicer to you, but if those muggle relatives of yours thought you were having a good time at my home…"

"Yeah, they'd have had me out real quick," admitted Harry, "Anyway, I don't want to go anywhere, I just want to talk to my girlfriend. And maybe let her come here?"

"Oh, in that case you are more than welcome to use my floo," said Mrs. Figg, "I suppose I owe you for not really being able to help you before, and I don't get many visitors."

"You're a squib, aren't you?" said Harry, his voice sympathetic.

Mrs. Figg nodded unhappily. "You know, I was the last chance for my family. The last chance for our family line to continue. Luckily my parents weren't stuck up like some of those pureblood supremacists. They loved me even without magic. But I never did adapt to the muggle world. Only thing I'm good at is raising cats."

"I like cats," said Harry, "My girlfriend has a cat named Crookshanks, he's a big mean furball, and I love him to death."

"You seem to like mentioning your girlfriend too," said Mrs. Figg a bit slyly.

"Well, we did just get together," admitted Harry.

"I once had a boyfriend," said Mrs. Figg sadly, "He was a wizard. Said he didn't care I was a squib. I think he did love me. But I couldn't bear the thought that our children might not be magical, so I turned him away. So here I am, just me and my cats. Stupidest thing I ever did, turning down his proposal of marriage. Now I'm not saying that his girl is the one for you, but I am saying you shouldn't let love pass you by. No matter how fleeting it may be."

Harry ended up spending the afternoon talking to Mrs. Figg. He felt sorry for her, and angry at the magical world for practically driving her out. Stupid wizarding bigotry once again.

XXXXX

**June 30th, 1995**

Hermione was sitting on her bed reading a book. Daphne had loaned this book to her, and it was on Wizengamot procedures. The Wizengamot had once been a body well ahead of its time, but that had been almost 200 years ago. As it was now, it was a relic, though perhaps some of the foundations might be useful for the future. It would have to be radically overhauled to be of any use. And that was the eventual goal, to reform the Wizengamot and the Ministry. Voldemort had the same goal, but in the opposite direction.

Her mother opened the door to her room. "Headmaster Dumbledore is here to see you," she said.

That was odd. Perhaps this was some security matter? Hermione got up and straightened her shirt. It seemed odd to speak to the Headmaster of Hogwarts in a t-shirt and shorts, but that was what she was wearing.

Coming downstairs, she saw the Headmaster sitting in a chair in the living room. Her parents were not there. Apparently he wanted to talk to her alone.

"My, my, muggles do have rather comfortable furniture these days, don't they," said Dumbledore, "I find that I haven't been able to spend very much time visiting muggle homes, not since I became Headmaster."

"I think most wizards would benefit from the experience," said Hermione, "though undoubtedly many would come away with the wrong idea."

"I agree," said Dumbledore.

"Excuse me, Headmaster, but you didn't come here to discuss muggles," said Hermione.

"Regrettably not," said Dumbledore, "I have heard a rumor that you and Mr. Potter have decided to pursue a romantic relationship. Is this true?"

"Yes," said Hermione, "Not that it is any of your business."

"It is only my business in that you are also a student of mine, and that being associated with Harry brings risks," argued Dumbledore, "Not that I am suggesting that you abandon Harry or any such thing. He will need your support more than ever now, but I am concerned for your safety."

"Sirius hired some wizards to put up wards all around the house," said Hermione, "Gringotts sent a cursebreaker to inspect them."

"All that might be enough, if you weren't Harry's girlfriend," said Dumbledore, "But you are. We have a safehouse that I have established with Sirius Black and the Weasleys. In a few weeks, we will move Harry there. You, on the other hand, could be moved at almost any time, as there is no need for you to remain here for these wards to function."

"You want me to move to your safehouse?" asked Hermione, "I'd have to ask my parents, but they would probably be happy to let me go, if it really is safer."

"The location is under a Fidelius Charm," said Dumbledore, "I am the Secret Keeper."

"That is some serious protection," admitted Hermione.

"However, until we move Harry there, I would have to ask you that you not say anything to him about what is going on," said Dumbledore, "There are certain dangers if certain information was to be intercepted."

"You can't possibly expect me to not contact my boyfriend," said Hermione, "Right now he's trapped at Privet Drive, and I'm his main lifeline into what is going on."

"I know this is a big ask, but you are also aware of the… connection between Harry and Voldemort," said Dumbledore, "I am not sure Harry is able to protect his mind well enough to hold Voldemort off."

Hermione frowned at the mention of that connection. It was, after all, a horcrux that Dumbledore hadn't even mentioned, much less done anything about.

"Voldemort would have to be very stupid to try entering Harry's mind again after what happened at the graveyard," said Hermione.

Dumbledore's eyes widened at her use of the Dark Lord's name. He didn't seem shocked, just a bit surprised.

"Anyway, Harry knows enough Occlumency now to keep him out," said Hermione, "I can understand not wanting to put something down in writing, or not wanting me to discuss sensitive matters over the floo, but are you asking me to not communicate with my boyfriend for several weeks?"

"Yes," said Dumbledore.

"I won't," said Hermione, "I will not do that to him."

"Very well then," said Dumbledore, "Sirius suspected you would say as much. Given that we are using this location as a secure headquarters we cannot allow you there until you do agree to this, or until it no longer matters."

"Once Harry is there you mean?" demanded Hermione.

Dumbledore, rose and walked towards the door. "I wish you had been more cooperative," he said, "If you change your mind, you can contact me and I will retrieve you."

And with that, he left.

Hermione's parents walked in. "He said he was going to take you someplace safe," said Robert angrily.

"His conditions were unacceptable," said Hermione, her voice filled with disgust, "He will come back to get me once he has moved Harry later in the summer. Apparently he doesn't trust Harry."

"The fool," said Helen, "After all Harry has done?"

Hermione was quivering with anger at this point. Something was very, very wrong with Dumbledore. She didn't know why he was doing this but she knew something had to be done. Just another thing to bring up with Harry.

XXXXX

**July 4th, 1995**

Harry looked at the letter from Percy. Apparently, the Daily Prophet was walking a very fine line to avoid violating the settlement they had signed with Harry. This had actively angered Fudge. He wanted the paper to smear Harry now, but they were limited in what they could print to things that were definitely true. Percy had warned Harry that Fudge had asked his Senior Undersecretary a woman named Dolores Umbridge, to get something they could "use against Potter," supposedly by any means necessary. Daphne had also mentioned Umbridge. She'd warned Harry about her. Repeatedly. Apparently Umbridge had a nasty reputation, and Fudge had named her Senior Undersecretary to increase his control of the Ministry in general. The Wizengamot was not having it for the moment, but they really couldn't do much unless they intended to remove Fudge.

The interrogation of Barty Crouch had gone poorly for Fudge apparently. Indeed, it had confirmed that Barty Crouch Sr. had used Polyjuice Potion to disguise his dying wife as his son so that Barty Jr. could escape Azkaban. But she died days later. Which meant that the dementors hadn't been able to tell close family members apart from each other, as Harry had suspected. That was useful to know, but also a bit disturbing.

Harry was also sad to note that Percy had broken up with Penelope Clearwater. He'd known there had been some tension there, but apparently Percy taking the job with Fudge had been the last straw. Arthur Weasley also had words with Percy recently as well, and it hadn't gone well. Percy however seemed unfazed by this. Well, more or less. He knew that this was going to be a hard road, but until Fudge started showing sense, Percy was in for a nasty time.

Harry put this aside. Today was the end of his first week with the Dursleys, and he was planning on meeting Hermione for the first time today. Nothing was going to get him down today.

He made his way to the park near Mrs. Figg's house, carrying a backpack. He had a few things stowed in there, just in case something went wrong. A few minutes later Hermione arrived. She was wearing a rather pretty sundress. The weather was rather suited for it, Harry noted.

"Hermione Granger, late?" he asked.

"I had to wait for my parents to leave," said Hermione.

"Hermione Granger, breaking rules?" Harry teased again, "It's a topsy turvy world, I tell you."

He walked up to her and kissed her rather thoroughly.

"Well, I guess that's one way to apologize for teasing me," said Hermione.

"Want to take a walk?" asked Harry.

Hermione smiled.

XXXXX

It was strange, Harry had snogged Hermione on beaches in southern France. They'd had a date in Hogsmeade. They'd even had a rather personal day once in Paris. Yet the time Harry spent with Hermione today, in Little Whinging, was probably the best time Harry had ever had in his life - and it was easy to see why. Almost all of his memories from this place were bad, but with Hermione here, he was making good memories. Just walking, holding her hand, talking, the occasional kiss; it was all so much better than he had ever dared hope. He was in love, and for the first time he could admit it freely, and could live a normal life.

Harry had been very angry to hear what Dumbledore had asked Hermione, and even angrier when he learned that he had refused to let Hermione into this headquarters. Still, Harry begged Hermione to reconsider agreeing.

"Please understand, I do believe you are right," pleaded Harry, "but I can make it on my own for a few weeks. If you can be even a little bit safer, please, it would be a load off my mind."

They stopped for lunch in a small pub several blocks from Harry's old school. Harry didn't have any muggle money, but Hermione had, of course, planned ahead. After lunch, they headed back to the park. Harry didn't want Hermione to leave, but of course she needed to get home before her parents did. Yet when they got to the park they found that neither wanted to leave just yet. So they sat on the swings, holding hands.

"I wish we could do this forever," said Hermione.

"Me too," said Harry.

Harry looked around the park. All of the equipment had been repaired at the beginning of the summer. It was in fairly good condition. Harry doubted that would last long once Dudley found this place.

"Speak of the Devil," said Harry as he looked out across the park. He could see Dudley and his gang approaching. Harry doubted that Dudley would notice them at this distance though. Harry had seeker eyes after all.

"My cousin and his goons," said Harry, "Why don't we just disappear."

Opening his backpack he pulled out his invisibility cloak. He and Hermione both stood up, and he quickly covered them both up so that they would be hidden. They moved away from the swings, so they wouldn't accidentally run into Dudley or his friends. Harry guided Hermione by putting his arm around her waist. She let out a slight sigh of contentment as he did so, resting her head on his shoulder. Suddenly, Harry heard a loud pop. Someone had just apparated.

Dudley and his friends did indeed see the playground as an unbearable temptation. They immediately set to breaking everything they could. Luckily they hadn't brought any real implements of destruction this time, just Dudley's Smelting stick. That would change. Next time they'd be better prepared for mayhem.

"What a waste," whispered Hermione into Harry's ear.

"Let's go," whispered Harry, "No need to watch this. Let's get you home before you get in trouble." As he said the word _trouble_, he gave Hermione a brisk pat on the backside. She barely managed to stifle a giggle.

"Sure," she said quietly as they walked off, "Brrr, it's getting cold anyway."

Harry stopped dead in his tracks. It was getting cold. Oh no…

"Dementors," said Harry. Hermione seemed to recoil in shock, then realisation dawned in her eyes. Someone had sent dementors to Little Whinging. But Voldemort hadn't had enough time to recruit them! Which meant…

This was Umbridge's surprise.

Fortunately none of Dudley's friends were looking at them right now, so Harry threw off the invisibility cloak. Just off of himself though. "Hermione, run for Mrs. Figg's house, and go back home. Now! Take the cloak! Just go! You can't be caught here!"

"All right Harry," said Hermione. Harry knew she would stick around until she confirmed that he was safe, but under the cloak at least she would be relatively safe, and would probably be able to get away. But Harry had a bigger problem. A much bigger problem, because Dudley was his cousin. If the dementors were here for him they might target Dudley by accident. Whatever Dudley had done, he didn't deserve to have his soul sucked out.

"Dudley!" shouted Harry, running toward his cousin. He could feel the panic and despair beginning to sink in. The dementors must be close.

"Potter!" said one of Dudley's friends.

The wind seemed to start howling, but Harry knew that wasn't the wind.

"Potter, are you doing this?" said Dudley quietly.

"I am not!" said Harry just as quietly, "There are some very nasty things out there right now, and they are after _us._ Get rid of your friends!"

There was no need as at that point the dementors sailed into Harry's view. While muggles couldn't see dementors, they could feel them. Dudley's friends seemed to collectively panic and run.

"Follow me now, or it will kill you. No, it will do worse than kill you," said Harry to Dudley. The dementors were just far enough away that some semblance of Dudley's reason still remained. He nodded and he followed Harry.

Harry's goal was simple. He had to get Dudley to a relatively isolated location, and once there he could cast a patronus. He led Dudley towards the nearest alley.

"Why's it after us?" said Dudley.

"It can't see, so it hunts by some other magical sense. It can't really tell the difference between members of the same family," said Harry, "It probably only wants to kill me, but it will kill you too just to be sure."

Dudley gulped. "Why does it want to kill you?" asked Dudley.

"It eats souls," explained Harry hastily, "But the reason it's after me specifically, well, I know how to drive it off. Someone set it after me in the hopes that I would."

"What, why?" asked Dudley.

"I'm not allowed to use magic out of school," said Harry, "They're trying to force me to break the law so they can expel me."

"What?" shouted Dudley, "You mean you've been lying about being able to do magic?"

"I'm _so_ sorry. I know I only did it so that you would treat me at least somewhat close to a human being while I was forced to live here. How selfish of me!"

Dudley didn't seem to know what to say to that. Harry turned them into the alley and ran them back as far as they could go. There was no one in sight. Hermione was probably close by, but no one else.

And then, the dementors were there. Coasting down the alleyway. Harry drew his wand. And concentrated. The smell of Hermione's hair. The feeling as he slipped his arm around her waist. That little pat on the bum he'd just given her. All of it brought to the surface pure joy.

"_Expecto Patronum,_" said Harry. His stag burst from his wand. The dementors immediately broke off and fled. They'd played their part.

Harry put away his wand. Hermione dropped the invisibility cloak. "The patronus didn't even get close to them."

"Don't put the wand away boy!" said a voice. It was Mrs. Figg.

"They won't come back," said Harry, "That was what they wanted. They wanted me to break the ban on underage sorcery."

"Oh damn that Mundungus Fletcher. When you disappeared he must've decided you'd gone back home." said Mrs. Figg.

"Hermione, go home now and contact Sirius," said Harry, "I don't have the Trace on me, so nothing will happen until those dementors report in. But that's a couple of hours at best."

"Right!" said Hermione. She ran up and gave Harry a hurried kiss, then ran off with Mrs. Figg in tow.

"Back to Privet Drive Dudley," said Harry, "this day just got a lot more complicated."

XXXXX

Hermione fell through the floo into her own home. Right in front of her parents.

"You're home early!" said Hermione, "Doesn't matter! I have to call Sirius."

"Where have you been?" asked Helen, though she seemed to know already by the tone of her voice.

"I promise you, my floo call to Sirius will explain everything," said Hermione, "but right now I'm in the middle of a genuine emergency, so please allow me to deal with this first."

"Hermione…" started Robert.

"Don't be foolish Robert, if Hermione says it's an emergency let her do what she needs to," said Helen.

Hermione was already grabbing a handful of floo powder. "I need to speak to Sirius Black," she shouted as she threw it in the fire.

Moments later, Sirius's head appeared. "What? Hermione? Why are you calling me?"

"Harry and I were just attacked by dementors!" she said, "he cast a Patronus to drive them off. There's going to be a delay in the Ministry finding out, but they will try to expel him!"

"How did you get to Little Whinging?" demanded Sirius.

"I took the floo to Arabella Figg's house," said Hermione, "You need to move Harry immediately. The dementors must have been sent by the Ministry. Fudge is moving against Harry! If the Ministry is moving against him the wards at Privet Drive may not be enough to protect him!"

"Those wards are stronger than any other I can think of," said Sirius, "But it is possible that they wouldn't protect against Ministry officials. But I think you are in more danger right now, if the dementors saw you."

"They didn't," said Hermione, "I was under Harry's invisibility cloak."

Hermione heard her father clear his throat angrily. Sirius just raised an eyebrow. "I see the two of you aren't wasting any time," he said suggestively.

"We were hiding from Harry's cousin Dudley!" said Hermione, "We didn't even snog once all day. Well, not properly at least."

"Oh, so instead you leave me disappointed in my godson?" said Sirius, "You certainly have a cruel streak, don't you?"

"In any event, stay there!" shouted Sirius, "Regardless of whether you were spotted, those dementors probably know someone else was there. And you're probably the first person they'll look into. I need to get you to safety."

And Sirius's head disappeared.

Hermione turned to face her parents. They both had stony looks on their faces.

"Well, I never said I wasn't going to go visit Harry," said Hermione lamely.

Helen break out into bitter laughter, "Oh no, that isn't cutting it this time."

XXXXX

Ginny was heading towards the kitchen, hoping to hear something interesting. Headmaster Dumbledore had arrived, but the Order of the Phoenix meeting hadn't started yet, so Ginny and Ron hadn't been shooed out yet. Sirius was speaking quietly, but urgently to the floo, so she was still able to observe him. She'd given Dumbledore a piece of her mind the other day when he'd reported that Hermione had refused to not reply to Harry. Sirius had almost taken Ginny's side in that argument. Even Molly, who usually acquiesced to Dumbledore, had considered that a bad idea. Apparently Snape had insisted on those terms however, and as he was the Order's spy, he made the rules.

The Weasleys had moved in here a few days ago. There had been a flurry of activity the first few days as the Order cleared the place out for habitation. With Fudge not openly moving against Dumbledore yet, they'd had a chance to bring in some cleaners. They'd managed to drive out most of the nasty critters that had taken up residence in the 12 Grimmauld place, but Sirius hadn't gone through very many of the dark artifacts yet. Two days ago the Fidelius had gone up.

Sirius pulled his head out of the floo, a look of panic on his face. "Harry was just attacked by two dementors in Little Whinging."

"Was that Arabella or Mundungus?" asked Dumbledore.

"It was Hermione," said Sirius, "Apparently she Flooed over to Arabella's and spent the day with Harry."

"Arthur hasn't sent word," said Molly, "And he has an ear in the Improper Use of Magic office."

"If Harry used magic, it would set off the Trace," said Dumbledore.

"Granger is probably trying to pull a fast one over on us," said Snape, "Probably as punishment for how the Headmaster treated her a week ago."

Ginny had to head this off immediately. "Harry doesn't have the Trace on him," she interrupted, "Daphne confirmed it the very night he was entered in the tournament. The Trace broke the moment his magical guardian failed to stop him from being entered in a dangerous contest just for overage wizards, even though it was his job to do so, and even though Harry had warned him it was a possibility."

Dumbledore hung his head. "I hadn't even considered… That law stripping Sirius of his guardianship! If it hadn't been passed…."

"Yeah, if it hadn't been passed Sirius would have been his guardian and Harry wouldn't have lost the Trace at that point," said Ginny.

"Hermione wouldn't lie about something as serious as Harry's safety!" said Ron with absolute certainty.

"I'm going to go pick up Hermione and Floo her over here," said Sirius, holding out his hand expectantly. Dumbledore nodded immediately, and quickly wrote down the location of Sirius' home. Sirius took the note. "After that, I'm getting Harry. He isn't safe in Little Whinging, not if this is the Ministry."

"We can't be sure of that," said Dumbledore.

"The Dark Lord isn't even close to being able to approach the dementors about switching sides yet," said Snape, "This is definitely the Ministry."

"I will go to the Ministry," said Dumbledore, "I should be there when the news hits. Do not Floo with Harry! Apparition should still be safe for the time being, without the Trace on Harry."

Sirius nodded, and then left.

Ginny got up and ran up to her room. Time to get ready for Harry's arrival. They had a lot of work to do.

XXXXX

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!" screamed Vernon at Harry.

"Nothing," said Harry, "I mean I saved his life, but otherwise everything that happened was the dementor's fault."

"Wait, are you saying a dementor tried to attack Dudley?" asked Petunia.

"Yes, well two dementors really," said Harry, "They couldn't tell the difference between him and me. They have trouble telling close relatives apart apparently."

"But you drove it off," said Petunia.

"Yes," said Harry.

Petunia looked very worried.

"What is a dementor?" demanded Vernon.

"They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban," said Petunia, "Lily always said they were bad news."

"She wasn't wrong," said Harry, "If they had caught Dudley they'd have sucked out his soul."

"So you did save my life?" said Dudley, confused.

"Apparently so," said Petunia.

Suddenly there was a sound like a loud crack as Sirius Black Apparated in. He was accompanied by Fred and George Weasley.

"Harry, are your things packed?" asked Sirius.

"More or less," said Harry.

"Fred, George, I want you to go and get Harry's things," said Sirius, "We're relocating you Harry, it's too dangerous for you to stay here with the Ministry out to get you."

Harry nodded. As soon Fred and George left, Harry turned to his relatives.

"Whatever those two say, if they offer you something, especially if it's food, don't take it! They're pranksters who love causing mischief," said Harry.

"That's no fun Harry," said Sirius.

"Much as I dislike my relatives, they've had enough trauma today," said Harry.

"Your father would be livid with you over this, but I suppose Lily would approve of what you are doing," admitted Sirius, as he held out his hand, "You can side-along with me."

Harry took Sirius's arm. "Goodbye for the summer," he said to his relatives.

"Hmph," said Vernon. Petunia just looked shocked.

"Thanks for saving me," said Dudley. He was clearly still in shock over what had happened. He was lucky the dementors had attacked in broad daylight. At night it would have been worse.

"Oh, wait!" said Sirius as he fumbled in a pocket, "Here Harry, I almost forgot."

He handed Harry a note that read: "The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is at 12 Grimmauld Place."

Sirius swept his wand down, and Harry felt like he was being squeezed through a straw again. Suddenly he found himself in Sirius's home in London. It was substantially cleaner than it had been the last time he had been here. He barely had time to turn around though before he was tackled by Ginny Weasley.

"I was so worried!" she said as she seemed to be trying to hug the life out of him. Harry managed to get his arms around her to pat her on the back.

"Well, I came through it all right," said Harry.

"Easy, Ginny," said Ron, who was running down the stairs, "He's Hermione's boyfriend."

"It's okay," said Hermione, who walked in from the kitchen followed by Molly Weasley and Remus Lupin, as well as another witch Harry didn't know, "Harry's brushes with death are a little too frequent. I don't begrudge any of his friends the right to show their relief."

"Oh, I could kill Mundungus Fletcher right now!" said the unknown witch.

"Harry, this is my cousin Andromeda's daughter Nymphadora Tonks," said Sirius.

"Just Tonks," said Tonks, "I'm an auror, and part of the Order."

Harry shook her hand after extricating himself from Ginny, then gave Remus a friendly pat on the back. Molly then engulfed him in a hug.

There was a pair of pops from upstairs. A few minutes later Fred and George appeared on the landing above.

"Awfully unsporting Harry..." said George.

"...warning the Dursleys' like that," finished Fred.

"Sorry," said Harry, "I thought they'd been through enough today. Any other day…"

The twins nodded.

"Well we aren't monsters, so I guess we understand," said Fred.

"But that being said, you still owe us for this!" said George.

"I'll do my best to make it up to you," said Harry.

"I'll show Harry his room," said Ron.

"Hermione and I can tag along," said Ginny. Hermione seemed startled to hear this, but didn't say anything. Ginny clearly had something on her mind.

Ron led them upstairs. He brought them to a room that had clearly once been Sirius's. It had pictures of scantily clad muggle girls all over the walls.

"Well, this is an interesting room," said Harry.

"I thought you'd like it," said Sirius as he passed by.

"Ginny wanted me to give you guys as much time as possible," said Ron. "I'll do what I can."

With that, Ron left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Harry, we have to destroy that horcrux in your head now!" said Ginny suddenly, "Now that Voldemort is alive he will eventually use the connection between you to attack you. And if he does it while you still have that thing in your head, you'll have more trouble than you might be able to handle."

"I'm all for that, but how do we do it?" asked Harry.

"How did I destroy a Horcrux?" asked Ginny, "You suck it dry. Use legilimency on it. I've confirmed from books the Black family has here that it will work. It will try to drain your life force and instead you can drain it. You already know you can do it, it would be almost the same as when your wand locked with Voldemort's."

"But that will give Harry Voldemort's memories," said Hermione, aghast.

"Adult Voldemort's memories," said Ginny, "including the horcruxes he created, and where they are."

Hermione's face turned despondent. "I don't want it to change Harry though," she said, her voice sounding tiny and scared.

"Hey," said Ginny, "I've been through this. It won't change him, not who he is at least. He'll just have new information. Yes, it will take getting used to. But, the only other way I could think of to get rid of the horcrux is to let Voldemort use the killing curse on Harry and hope it kills the horcrux instead of Harry."

Hermione nodded. That would be far too dangerous.

"All right," said Harry, "I'll give it a go. Keep an eye on me."

He pulled out his wand and pointed it at his forehead. "_Legilimens_."

Suddenly he could feel Voldemort's mind. For a moment it was so shocked that it did nothing, but then it struck, trying to claw its way free and into his mind. Harry held firm though and slowly pushed back with his will. As desperate as the horcrux was, it was only a fragment. It couldn't defeat Harry as long as he stayed focused.

When he had finally 'pushed' it as far as he thought he could, he saw a wisp of black… _something_ coming off of his forehead. And then he felt them. A whole host of memories where none had been before. He almost plunged into them, but the first few he saw stopped him cold.

"Merlin! I want to throw up," said Harry, "Voldemort is… I can't even…"

"Easy Harry," said Ginny as she put her arm around him, "It's all right. You're still you."

"I agree," said Hermione, also putting an arm around Harry.

But one memory bubbled to the surface, the one thing Harry wanted to know most of all. And suddenly Harry was on his feet, his fist clenched in anger.

"There was a prophecy!" roared Harry, "It predicted that I would face Voldemort! It's the reason he came after me. But _he_ didn't hear the whole thing."

Harry tried over and over to control his temper, but it wouldn't go down.

"Snape was the one who told it to him," roared Harry, still out of his mind with rage, "Snape was the one who set Voldemort on the path to kill my parents."

**Author's Note:** And there's another big twist. Though I have been heavily foreshadowing it for a while. But Harry getting Voldemort's memories and using them against him was always the plan for this story.

Now, time for some backstory! Originally Sirius was supposed to die in 3rd year, and Harry would have blamed Snape for turning him in. So once he discovered Snape's involvement with his parents' deaths, he was going to ban Snape from entering 12 Grimmauld Place. In the end I dropped that whole arc. In some of the earlier outlines this story had a bit of a Dark Harry vibe and one idea was for Harry to kill Snape. I rejected this idea pretty quickly, as it would mean completely rethinking the ending of the story.

I also think I should warn people, starting with 5th year the kid gloves are coming off. People are going to start dying this year. And not all of them are going to be bad guys.


	34. Mr Potter Goes to the Ministry

**Chapter 34: Mr. Potter Goes to the Ministry**

**July 4th, 1995**

"Harry, you have to calm down," begged Ginny anxiously, "If someone comes to see what's up how will you explain this? How will you explain what you know?"

"Please, Harry," said Hermione, putting her arms around him, "Please calm down. I know you're mad, and I know you are right to be mad. But if you blow your top here everything could fall apart!"

Harry seemed to growl for a moment, then took a deep breath.

"All right," said Harry, "I will do it. Because you asked me to, Hermione. I know you are looking out for me, so I'll trust you."

"Thank you," said Hermione. She turned Harry towards her, then kissed him. It started as a fairly gentle kiss, but suddenly Harry wanted more. The kiss grew more energetic, and suddenly it became far more than that. It was almost frenzied. Harry's hands began to move along her back, down...

"Hey, now stop that!" said Ginny suddenly, "Not only am I still here, but might I remind the two of you that much as you might want to, you can't be intimate yet!"

Harry pulled away, his face aghast. "Hermione, I'm so sorry…"

"Don't apologize Harry," said Hermione. She looked a bit flushed, but otherwise seemed to be okay, "I got carried away as well. Let's just say we were both getting a bit ahead of ourselves."

Harry shook his head. "I appreciate that, I just… well I was channeling my rage into, um, other areas."

"It isn't going to work," said Ginny, "Snape is in and out of here all the time. Harry will go off on him sooner or later."

"Why don't we just say he saw it in Voldemort's mind?" asked Hermione, "I mean, technically, it's true."

"No," said Harry, "I will control myself. It just came to me as a huge shock. I'll handle it from here."

Harry wanted to say something else to Hermione, but knew he couldn't. If he did everything would fall apart. No, he had to stay silent on this. He'd almost seriously screwed up today, and nearly cost him his chance to get out of that damn contract safely in the process.

"Harry," said Hermione as Ginny led the way out, "Even if we didn't have that difficulty to deal with, I don't think I'm ready for that _quite_ yet."

"I understand," said Harry.

Hermione smiled devilishly, "But I want you to know, I could almost feel you wanting me. It felt good. Keep your mouth shut, but I'm going to have to figure out exactly how I'm going to do this."

Harry swallowed, but said nothing.

Hermione laughed. "That's a good boy." And she led him out of the room.

XXXXX

"Fudge intends to put Harry on trial for Underage Magic," said Arthur that evening when he got back from work.

"I've never so much as received a warning," said Harry, "How can he justify this?"

"You cast a Patronus in broad daylight in front of two non-magicals," said Arthur, "He's trying to overwhelm you with minutiae and keep you off balance."

"I should talk to Daphne," mused Harry.

"You can't leave No. 12 Harry," explained Sirius.

"Then bring her here," demanded Harry.

"We can't let Daphne into the Order Headquarters," replied Molly.

"She's one of our closest friends Mum," said Ginny, "I'd trust her with my life."

"She will not betray us," insisted Harry.

"Sorry, we can't risk it. Dumbledore's orders," said Tonks.

"Hey, this is my girlfriend we're talking about here," said Ron, sounding slightly offended, "I say we can trust her."

"I know how you feel Ron, but we just can't let her in on the secret," insisted Sirius.

"It's your house," said Harry

"And Daphne will be welcome here anytime. Once the Fidelius is lifted. But she isn't getting in on the secret and that is that." said Sirius firmly. He didn't seem to like what he was saying though. He couldn't quite meet Harry's eyes.

Harry nodded. "Could I send Ron to speak to her?" he asked.

Molly and Arthur looked at each other for a moment.

"That would be acceptable." said Arthur.

"Let me write down what Ron needs to ask her," said Harry. He ran up to the room he shared with Ron. He didn't need to write anything down though. Instead he pulled out the note that Sirius had handed him. The one written by the Secret Keeper with the location of the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry ran back downstairs to Ron, who was at the floo. "Yeah, Harry just wanted me to bring a question or two through," said the boy to the fire, which had taken the shape of the head of Daphne Greengrass.

"Well I'd be delighted to have you over Ron, regardless of the circumstances," said Daphne.

Harry went over to Ron and whispered in his ear, "Just give her the note and bring her back through."

Ron glanced at the note then barely managed to stifle a laugh. "Right, I'm coming through," he said as he leapt into the fire.

It was several minutes before he came back. Harry assumed Ron was greeting Daphne, in whatever form she was willing to. Then, Ron came back through the floo.

"That didn't take very long," said Sirius suspiciously.

"Sorry," said Harry, "but I really needed to talk to Daphne. You really should have made sure that you secured that note you gave me."

"Wait, you didn't…" said Sirius angrily.

And then, Daphne Greengrass popped out of the Floo.

"So this is the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix," said Daphne, unimpressed, "I expected more."

"Harry!" shouted Molly angrily.

"I need Daphne to help plan my defense!" objected Harry.

"Dumbledore will lead your defense," said Tonks.

"I put my faith in Dumbledore last year," said Harry, "what I got for it was entered in a deadly tournament, a Headmaster who thought I was lying, and a Dark Lord returning. Sorry, I'm done just trusting Albus Dumbledore. He has to earn my trust back. I'm discussing my case with a person I trust."

Sirius hung his head. "I… I understand. Daphne can stay."

"What?" shouted Molly.

"Harry isn't the only one Dumbledore failed," said Sirius, "I've been a good soldier about it given how much he has done to help me since I escaped Azkaban, but he really let me down in the months following James and Lily's deaths. Harry has the right to be represented by the person he chooses. Harry has the right to ask Daphne to represent him, if that is who he wants,"

"She's only fifteen!" objected Arthur, "She can't represent him in front of the Wizengamot!"

"Actually, as Successor Designate of my father's seat on the Wizengamot, and with his permission, I can." said Daphne, "That is the law!"

"I trust Daphne with my life, as Ginny said," said Harry.

"We'll get started in a moment then," said Daphne, "But first, have you heard from Blaise at all?"

"Why do you ask?" inquired Harry.

"Because he ran away from home," said Daphne, "And no one has any idea where he is."

XXXXX

**July 5th, 1995**

Blaise slipped into the Hogs Head quietly. He was in real danger here. Anyone here might work for his mother. But she was less welcome here than anywhere else that Blaise knew about. If Blaise was going to find his father, he would have to take a few risks, and the risk here was far less than in Knockturn Alley.

And there was a lot of risk. He'd been on the run ever since he had walked into that room and seen the elder Crabbe and Goyle. At that moment he'd realized that his mother knew. And so, he'd started throwing blasting curses.

There was no one in the bar except the owner.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Aberforth Dumbledore, "School's been out for some time."

"I'm looking for someone," said Blaise, "My father."

"Does your father have a name?" asked Aberforth.

"Pascal Zabini," replied Blaise.

"Oh, that'd make you Blaise," said Aberforth, "Your mother has been looking for you."

"I am very aware of that," said Blaise.

"Your father rarely comes here anymore," admitted Aberforth, "He avoids any place that Clarise ever comes to like the plague, and while she ain't exactly welcome here, she will show up when she needs to."

"Dammit," said Blaise angrily.

"Now, I do know where you might find him, if he was trying to lie low," said Aberforth, "There's a place in northern Wales, a muggle pub called the Ram's Cradle. Out of the way for most wizards, and not a Floo for miles. Plus, your mother doesn't have a lot of friends in Wales."

Blaise nodded. It was worth a try. It was the only lead he had.

XXXXX

They'd managed to pull Daphne aside and tell her everything before they had started. She had been surprised that Harry now had Voldemort's memories, but she seemed to think this would be a big advantage.

"So who is Dolores Umbridge?" asked Harry. He was sitting with Daphne, Hermione, Ginny, Sirius and Remus in the sitting room. Molly was cleaning nearby, but obviously keeping an eye on the situation.

"Trouble," said Daphne, "She's the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic. That means she controls the Minister's Wizengamot agenda, and she is in charge of keeping the individual departments conforming to official Ministry Policy. She's also a vindictive bitch. If even half the stories from her tenure in the Improper Use of Magic office are true, she's a monster. She is very good at her job too, but that is mostly because she's so passive aggressive. She seems very nice and proper, until you get on her bad side."

"She was behind that abomination of a werewolf bill after our third year, wasn't she?" asked Hermione.

"Yes," said Remus, "Which I believe your father supported, Daphne."

"Oh, believe me, Astoria and I reamed him over that one," said Daphne bitterly, "He never listens to us though. He did manage to excise some of the worst elements of the bill, but that really doesn't earn him any points in my book. He should have opposed it."

"In any case," said Hermione, "We know Umbridge was behind the attack on Harry."

"How do you know that?" asked Sirius.

"Percy told me," said Harry tersely.

Molly, Sirius, and Remus all stared at Harry. "Percy told you?" demanded Molly.

"Yes, he's my mole inside the Ministry," said Harry, "He was most apologetic about the rather public fight he had with your husband, but it was necessary for Fudge to trust him."

"Why didn't you tell us this?" demanded Molly.

Harry gave Ginny a hard stare. "I don't know, why didn't you, Ginny?"

Ginny winced slightly, "Well I thought the feud would look more authentic…"

"If it was authentic?" said Harry, "That's pretty cynical Ginny. Your father can still avoid Percy at work without having to believe his son betrayed him."

"I'm sorry Mum," said Ginny, "I should have told you. This cloak and dagger stuff can get a bit confusing."

"Molly, given some of the decisions that Dumbledore has made," said Sirius, his eyes indicating Hermione, "Can you really blame Ginny for being overly security conscious?"

"I suppose not," said Molly.

"Back to the topic at hand," said Daphne, "If Harry's account is accurate, then the Ministry would have to be crazy to bring Harry up on charges. Without an Improper Use of Magic Office report indicating the Trace activated, how will they have any evidence?"

"They could use the Dementors as witnesses," said Remus.

"No, Dementors can't be used as witnesses," said Daphne, "They can submit anonymous testimony to the DMLE, but they do not bring dementors as witnesses to the Wizengamot. Ever. The only time they ever enter the Ministry is as guards for prisoners."

"What if Umbridge just assumed that there would be a record of it in the Improper Use of Magic office?" asked Hermione.

Daphne's eyes widened. "Yes, that might explain this. If Fudge set this in motion before she actually checked the Improper Use of Magic office for the violation…"

"Which means Umbridge probably hasn't told Fudge how weak her case is," said Harry, "She is probably going to try to just brazen through it."

"You know, Umbridge might try to bring up the dementors' testimony as anonymous Ministry officials," said Daphne, "It's legal, but…"

"But what?" asked Harry.

Daphne grinned viciously, "If she does so, we have her. My guess is that she will also try to make up an Improper Use of Magic violation, but I can deal with that. No, she is either going to lie to us and say the dementors have to have their identities kept secret for security reasons, in which case this must be approved by the Head of the DMLE, or she must claim they are exempt employees."

"Either way, we have this," said Daphne, "Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go spend some time with my boyfriend."

Daphne stood up and headed for the door.

"You know," said Harry as he stood up, "Someone should keep an eye on them."

"Yes, I'll join you," agreed Hermione.

The adults all had barely concealed grins as Harry and Hermione left the room.

"Well I guess I will have to keep an eye on _them_," said Ginny.

Harry and Hermione made their way up to the bedroom Harry shared with Ron. Ginny ran up right behind them.

"Is there something else?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah," said Harry, "The Prophecy."

"What prophecy?" asked Ron. Daphne also seemed confused.

"There was a prophecy made about me and Voldemort," explained Harry, "I've only heard part of it though. We need to hear the rest. Prophecies are kept in the Department of Mysteries. I could try to recover it when I go to the Ministry."

"You'd have to tell Sirius what was up though," said Hermione.

"Not necessarily, not if he isn't there," said Harry, with a smug grin, "What do you want to bet Umbridge tries to use the Prophet to smear me? But once we reveal that her allegations are lies..."

Daphne grinned, "You'll have them over a barrel then!"

"So what if I give Sirius another task, one he has to complete before picking me up at the Ministry…"

XXXXX

Sometime later, and after Ginny had long left the room, Harry had erected a curtain in the middle of the room to give them a small amount of privacy. Truthfully, he and Hermione weren't really snogging all that seriously. He was more interested in just holding her right now. He had put his hand up her shirt and on her belly, but that was basically it. From what he could hear from the other side of the curtain however, Ron and Daphne were being more active.

Harry probably should have guessed that Molly would barge in at some point. She took one look at the goings on in there and yelled, "Harry, Ron! What are you doing!"

Ron leapt to his feet. "We were just kissing!" he protested.

"And your hand, Harry?" demanded Molly.

"Is quite comfortable, thank you," said Harry, as he patted Hermione's belly. "It is also none of your concern. No offense Mrs. Weasley, but you aren't my mother."

"Sirius!" shouted Molly.

A moment later Sirius arrived at the door. "Is there a problem?"

"Your godson is… groping his girlfriend," protested Molly.

"Were his hands above the belt?" asked Sirius.

"Well, yes, but…"

Sirius shook his head. "I had this conversation with her parents. Neither I, nor they, care in that case."

"We weren't even snogging! Harry was just holding me!" objected Hermione.

"First, that is very sweet of you Harry," said Sirius, "Second, I'm very disappointed in you Harry. Imagine wasting a chance to snog like that!"

"We can snog whenever," said Harry, "I just felt we needed something a bit lower key after all we've been through today."

"Very considerate Harry," said Sirius, "Have at it!" And with that, he left the room.

"Does this mean I'm not getting in trouble for snogging Daphne?" asked Ron.

Molly's nostrils flared. "It most certainly does not! I am still your mother, and I determine what is appropriate behavior!"

Ron gave Harry a jealous look. Harry mouthed "Sorry," as Ron and Daphne were led out of the room.

"Poor Ron," said Hermione, "And Daphne too, I suppose."

"It's fine," said Harry, "Daphne won't get in trouble for this, and Arthur will convince Molly to go easy on Ron. As long as his trousers were still zipped at least. Did you happen to see if they were?"

"I wasn't looking at that part of his anatomy, no," said Hermione.

Harry laughed.

XXXXX

**July 6th, 1995**

The next day Harry rose early. He decided to head down to the kitchen, only to hear an argument coming out of it.

"I am the elf of this house!" said the voice of Kreacher.

"Harry Potter is my friend!" yelled the unmistakable voice of Dobby.

Harry ran into the kitchens. "Dobby!" he said excitedly, "What are you doing here?"

"I hired him on to help clean the place up," said Sirius, who was already at the table. "Only for the summer. He volunteered, if you believe it. He goes back to Hogwarts once school starts. He got that picture of my mother off the wall." Kreacher scowled at that.

"Seriously Harry," started Ginny as she walked into the room, "Be glad it's gone. That portrait was a nightmare."

There was a hoot as owls flew in delivering the morning editions of the Daily Prophet. Harry picked one up. The Prophet had a note on how they were looking for new investors. New ownership more like. The same note had been there for months. Harry grinned. He didn't have to look far to find what he had wanted.

"Oh my," said Harry, "Looks like the Ministry is accusing me not only of underage magic, but a violation of the Statute of Secrecy. And I apparently have no good explanation for my actions. Well, this is certainly libelous, as they didn't even ask me for my comment!"

Sirius grinned. "So you gonna bring them before the Wizengamot?"

Harry looked at Sirius shrewdly. "How'd you like to have something to do while I am before the Wizengamot?"

Sirius's eyes glittered, "What do you have in mind?"

"All you'll have to do is wait. I'll have Brokgut waiting there for you. When the result of my trial comes in, you'll make the Board of Directors for the Prophet an offer they can't refuse," said Harry with a grin.

XXXXX

**July 11th, 1995**

Harry and Sirius Flooed over to the Ministry on the day of the trial. While Arthur had argued that a non-magical means of transport might be better, Daphne had rejected that, saying that this might be seen as an admission of guilt to some. Daphne's advice was to act normally.

Harry and Daphne met with Arthur in the atrium. It was a large impressive space, but it was currently being remodeled. Apparently Fudge had thought the old atrium had not properly reflected his importance to the Ministry.

"Good thing you're here," said Arthur, "Fudge tried to move the time of the hearing up, but Dumbledore quashed that. Fudge was pretty mad."

"Well, I will see you two after the trial," said Sirius.

"You aren't going to stay?" asked Arthur.

"I have to be elsewhere when the verdict comes in," said Sirius, "I need to catch someone off guard. I'll come back and pick Harry up after I'm done."

Arthur led Harry and Daphne to check in. After that he led the two of them to the main lift.

"We're in Courtroom 10," said Arthur.

"Wait, we're holding this on level 10?" demanded Daphne, "That is for serious criminal proceedings! What is Fudge thinking?"

"He isn't," said Arthur, "I don't think he fully understands how badly this is about to backfire on him. I managed to confirm with an associate of mine in the Improper Use of Magic office that Umbridge only checked with them the day after the dementor incident. She is going to be in hot water once this goes south for her."

They got off the lift on level 9, which happened to be where the Department of Mysteries was. That would make Harry's next task a lot easier. They took a short staircase down to the next level, and stopped at Courtroom 10.

"Good luck Harry," said Arthur.

Daphne and Harry waited in an antechamber for several minutes, then an Auror ushered them into the Courtroom proper. Dumbledore was in the middle, next to Amelia Bones, running proceedings, and the Minister was to one side, with Percy sitting next to him, behind a very toad-like woman who was sitting in the prosecutors seat. Harry saw most of his allies opposite Fudge, including Bryant Greengrass and Augusta Longbottom.

Harry marched up to the center of the room and sat in the chair there, but he did not put his arms in the manacles attached to the chair. Daphne strode forward to address the Wizengamot.

"Who are you?" demanded the toad-like woman, "The defendant is not allowed guests on the floor of the chamber. Get out!"

"I am Daphne Greengrass, Senior Undersecretary Umbridge," said Daphne with a professional smile, "Successor Designate to Bryant Greengrass, and I am here serving as Harry Potter's counsel, with the permission of my father of course."

"This has indeed been logged with the court," said Dumbledore.

"She's just a girl!" objected Umbridge.

"I am Successor Designate," said Daphne, "I have the right."

"She does indeed," said Fudge, "Let's move on with this Dolores." Fudge clearly thought Harry was making a mistake.

Umbridge nodded, though she didn't look happy. She had probably been looking forward to running roughshod over Harry. Apparently Fudge had tried to take over the Chief Warlock's seat himself, but he didn't have enough votes to unseat Dumbledore.

"Harry Potter stands accused of two counts. One, is a count of underage use of magic. How do you plead to this count?" intoned Dumbledore.

"Not Guilty," said Harry.

"The other count is a Violation of the Statute of Secrecy. How do you plead to this count?"

"Not Guilty," said Harry.

Umbridge stood up. "On the day of July 7th, 1995, did you, Harry Potter cast a Patronus charm in full view of two non-magical persons?"

"I did," said Harry with a smile. Umbridge looked stunned at this admission.

"Really, what more needs to be said," said Umbridge, "He admits his guilt! Why waste anymore time with this charade? The prosecution rests "

"Why waste anymore time indeed!" said Fudge, "I say we render judgement now!"

"The defendant is entitled to a defense," said Amelia, her tone of voice rather cross.

"Indeed," said Dumbledore, "The defense will proceed."

Daphne smiled and took the place for the defense counsel. "I will deal with the charge of a violation of the Statute of Secrecy first. Can the prosecution give the identities of the non-magicals who saw Harry perform the Patronus charm?"

"What purpose does that information serve!" demanded Umbridge.

"The purpose of confirming for the court that the two people involved were indeed muggles," said Daphne with a smile.

"Of course," said Umbridge, with a smile of her own, "The two non-magicals were Dudley Dursley, and Arabella Figg."

"That is very strange," said Daphne, "as Arabella Figg is a squib, and Dudley Dursley is Harry's cousin who lives in the same household with him. Both are aware of the existence of magic! Casting spells in front of them is not a violation of the Statute of Secrecy, and you know it! I move that this charge be dismissed immediately!"

Even Fudge didn't dare object. The vote for dismissal was almost unanimous, with only Fudge and a few cronies voting no. Even the Death Eaters like Nott and Malfoy voted to dismiss.

"The second charge is more credible, at first glance," said Daphne, "Yet it too suffers from serious flaws. Harry, would you recount your story of what happened on July 7th?"

Harry told his story, omitting only the invisibility cloak and Hermione from the story. It wasn't really important anyway. He made sure to emphasize that the dementors withdrew as soon as he cast his Patronus.

"Now, that paints things in a much different light, doesn't it," said Daphne.

"Does Mr. Potter have any corroborating evidence for this story?" demanded Fudge.

"Do you?" demanded Daphne, "I have not yet even received a notice from the Improper Use of Magic Office showing that the Trace on Harry Potter was set off on July 7th. Please, if you could provide us with that, it would be most helpful."

"There is no need," said Umbridge, "He admitted he used the Patronus charm."

"That is right, he did," said Daphne, "Chief Warlock, for the record, what is the Patronus Charm?"

"It is a spell that summons a magical shield or protector to stave off certain dark creatures," said Dumbledore, "Its primary use is to drive off dementors and lethifolds."

"Sounds complicated," said Daphne, "I want to confirm that it was indeed the Patronus Charm that was cast. Surely you didn't expect Harry to just admit to using the Patronus Charm before this proceeding started? You must have the notice on you."

Umbridge looked surly. "Here it is," she said, holding out a scroll.

Daphne took it, read it then placed it on the desk of the Chief Warlock. "This is not evidence! There is no time and date when the Trace recorded his use of illegal magic. This is merely an affidavit stating that Harry used the Patronus charm at some point! Where is the actual magical record of the Trace being set off?"

Umbridge grumbled, but didn't speak up.

"Since the Senior Undersecretary won't speak up, I will. There is no record of this at the Improper Use of Magic office, for one simple reason: Harry Potter does not have the Trace on him!"

The Wizengamot began to buzz with excitement. "That is a blatant violation of magical law!" shouted Fudge.

"Quite the opposite, Minister!" shouted Daphne over the din, "The Trace is _designed_ to break in situations where a magical guardian fails their charge. Chief Warlock, you were Harry's magical guardian last year. What happened on October 31st, 1994?"

"On that date, despite my best precautions, and Harry's warnings to me, Harry was entered in the Triwizard Tournament against his wishes," said Dumbledore.

"The tournament has been known to kill people!" cried Daphne, "Harry gave specific warning to Dumbledore that Barty Crouch Jr. might try to enter him into the contest. Dumbledore did not ward the cup against someone Crouch Jr.'s age. This body is already familiar with that case."

Most of the members of the Wizengamot nodded.

"May I test Harry to see if he has the Trace on him?" asked Amelia.

"Oh course," said Harry.

Amelia stood and walked over to Harry, casting a magic detecting charm of some sort. Nothing happened. "Harry does not have the Trace on him!" she said.

The chamber was again full of buzzing chatter.

"So I ask the prosecutor, if the Trace did not go off, how do you know anything about this incident at all?" demanded Daphne, "You accuse me of having no evidence, but I have the testimony of one Harry Potter! How did you come to be aware of this happening at all?"

Umbridge grinned. "There were witnesses," she said, "They reported this incident."

"Why haven't we heard from them?" asked Daphne.

"They requested anonymity," said Umbridge.

"Witnesses cannot anonymously give testimony unless they are doing so under a security seal or as an exempt employee," said Daphne, "Which are you claiming?"

"They are exempt," said Umbridge, her smile triumphant.

"For those of you who are unaware," said Daphne, "In 1712, many exemptions were carved out in magical law for certain magical creatures and other categories to testify anonymously to deal with bias against those creatures. This is well known. What is substantially less known, is that since then, all but three exemptions have been repealed. Those three are, a goblin testifying against Gringotts, a centaur testifying against its own tribe, and a dementor under all circumstances."

"As this case has nothing to do with centaurs or goblins, only a dementor could claim an exemption!" roared Daphne.

The Wizengamot erupted angrily. Dumbledore smiled. Bryant was beaming proudly at his daughter.

"WAS THE EMPLOYEE THAT WITNESSED THIS ALTERCATION A DEMENTOR, SENIOR UNDERSECRETARY?" yelled Daphne over the noise. The hall immediately quieted.

Umbridge was trapped. If she said no, Daphne could accuse her of perjury. If she said yes, this case was over.

"Yes," said Umbridge.

"There was a dementor in Little Whinging on July 7th?" asked Daphne.

"Yes," said Umbridge, hanging her head. Fudge glared at her, his eyes almost murderous.

"Would anyone here _not_ use a Patronus if a dementor was present in the muggle world?" said Daphne, "This is a clear cut case of self-defense. The defense rests."

"I move that all charges be dismissed, on account of self-defense," said Augusta Longbottom.

"I second," said Bryant.

Fudge didn't even wait for the vote to be called. He just stormed out. The vote was unanimous.

XXXXX

"Well done Daphne! And congratulations Harry!" said Bryant as he approached them outside the Wizengamot.

"It was a pathetically weak case," said Daphne modestly.

"Yes, but you absolutely tore it apart," said Harry.

"I did my best," said Daphne with a smile.

"Mr. Greengrass, could I ask you to do me a small favour," said Harry.

"What?" asked Bryant curiously.

"Could you distract Arthur Weasley for ten or fifteen minutes?" asked Daphne, "Harry has some business in the Department of Mysteries that we'd really rather keep a secret from everyone."

Bryant's eyes widened slightly. "In the Department of Mysteries? All right then."

Harry walked over to where Arthur was standing and beaming at Harry.

"I hear that Daphne gave a virtuoso performance," said Arthur.

"She did," said Harry.

"Now Harry, you should know that just because you don't have the Trace on you it doesn't mean you can use magic whenever you like,' said Arthur

"I'm aware," said Harry.

"Good," said Arthur.

"I have to use the loo real quick," said Harry.

"Of course," said Arthur.

"Arthur, I hear Ronald is likely to make prefect this year…" started Bryant.

Harry quickly made his way into the bathroom and took a stall. He reached under his robes, and pulled out his invisibility cloak. Putting it on he quickly made his way out of the bathroom and climbed the stairs to level 9. There he walked into the rather imposing looking door to the Department of Mysteries.

Dropping the cloak, he stopped in front of the first person he saw.

"What are you doing here?" said the Unspeakable.

"My name is Harry Potter," said Harry, "I'm here to pick up a prophecy."

XXXXX

"We are worried about what Fred and George are going to do after school," said Arthur, "They say they want to open their own joke shop, but I'm worried they don't have the money."

"Fred and George do have a talent in that direction," said Daphne, "Maybe Harry could help them out."

"I doubt they'd accept charity," said Arthur.

"It would be an investment, of course," said Daphne, "If I mention this to Sirius, he'll order Harry to invest in their joke shop."

"You're probably right," said Arthur, "Much as I like Sirius, he really hasn't grown up."

"Being stuck in Azkaban for over a decade will do that for you, if it doesn't do worse," said Daphne, "Though I know your wife is a bit angry with him for not stepping in with Hermione and Harry."

"I don't blame Sirius to be honest," said Arthur, "Harry and Hermione weren't doing anything inappropriate really, unlike you and Ronald." Arthur grinned mischievously.

"What's this, then?" asked Bryant.

"We were kissing!" said Daphne, her face turning red, "We were kissing a lot, but it was just kissing. Molly just got upset because we were laying down. Ron is very respectful of me."

"That's good to hear," said Bryant.

"Too respectful, really," muttered Daphne.

"That, not so much," Bryant said with a scowl setting across his features.

"What is taking Harry so long?" asked Arthur.

"Sorry I took so long!" said Harry as he returned, "There was a bit of a queue."

Harry winked at Daphne. So far everything was going off without a hitch. Arthur took Harry back to his office. After a minute, Hedwig flew into the room with a letter. Harry reached out and took it. Upon reading the letter, Harry grinned.

"Did Sirius's secret task go well?" asked Arthur.

"Yes," said Harry, "You are now speaking to the new controlling owner of the Daily Prophet."

XXXXX

The note in Percy's inbox was brief, but on reading it, he realized that it had the potential to make a day that promised to be rather rough an absolute nightmare. _Fudge is going to blow up at this,_ thought Percy. The Minister was ensconced with Lucius Malfoy at the moment, but this couldn't wait. It was potentially disastrous for Fudge. Not that Percy was unhappy with this turn of events. Percy could read between the lines, and knew that Harry was almost certainly behind this. One thing that was abundantly clear was that Percy's decision to help Harry had just been proven to be the right one.

Percy knocked on the Minister's door. "Enter Percy," said Fudge.

Percy strode into the room officiously. Fudge was looking rather animated. He'd probably been cursing out Umbridge. Percy hated that woman. "I just received a note. I think you will want to read it right away. And I think you will want some privacy as well."

Malfoy smiled at Percy, "You think to tell the Minister how to conduct his affairs?" asked the blond Death Eater. Percy resisted the urge to punch him. It was hard though, this man had tried to murder his sister.

"Percy has shown himself to be a reliable reader of my moods," said Fudge, "I take it I won't like what is in that note?"

"Not even a little," said Percy.

"We can continue this tomorrow, Lucius," said Fudge.

"Of course," said Malfoy, who briskly marched out of the room.

"You don't like Lucius," said Fudge.

"He did try to kill my sister by giving her a dark artifact," said Percy, "I understand the necessity of dealing with him of course, but…"

Fudge nodded, "Of course, I understand. I dislike him personally as well."

Percy proffered the note. "Once you read this, well, you may have to be even more circumspect with your dealings with Lucius from now on."

Fudge took the note and read it. His face flared in anger as he sat down, and sat down hard.

"Do you know what happened?" said Fudge, "Who did this?"

"I don't know," said Percy, "But there is an obvious suspect."

Fudge motioned Percy to continue.

"Sirius Black wasn't at his godson's trial. Where was he? I bet he was right outside the Daily Prophet, ready to spring this on them the moment his godson was exonerated. After all, Harry could sue them for libel after what they published about him. They'd have pretty much had to agree to any settlement Sirius offered them. And imagine if all Sirius wanted was for the Prophet to sell him a controlling share. They have been looking for buyers recently anyway. Two birds, one stone."

Fudge sat up. "Good eye there Percy, I didn't even notice Black wasn't there. I suppose I should have. If true though, this is a disaster."

"Minister, if I may?" asked Percy. Fudge motioned him to continue.

"I think after this we have to conclude that our attempts to smear Dumbledore and Potter have failed. We need to take a new tack."

"Do you have a suggestion?" asked Fudge.

Percy nodded. "I know Potter fairly well. And one thing I know is that he and Dumbledore do not get along. Attacking Potter puts him on the defensive. It also drums up sympathy for him. The Prophet was getting significant pushback for the story they published on his trial."

"As they should have," said Fudge angrily, "it turns out that we had nothing!"

"Why don't we target Dumbledore instead, try to imply that he is using Potter for his own ends, and that Potter is just an innocent victim," Percy paused to grin, "I can practically guarantee that Potter would use that to try to get some distance between him and Dumbledore. At that point, Dumbledore should be able to be neutralized more easily. _And_ Potter will be more isolated as well."

"That is actually not a bad idea," said Fudge, "At the very least it would keep people from associating Potter and Dumbledore as immutable allies. Yes, there may be a way to do this."

Percy hoped that this was what Harry wanted, because it was the best he could do for now.

"Find me Dolores," said Fudge, "I'm going to have to ask her to take a break for a bit, especially if she is going to Hogwarts this next autumn."

"Senior Undersecretary Umbridge is going to Hogwarts?" asked Percy.

"Unless Dumbledore can find a new Defense against the Dark Arts Professor," said Fudge, "Hopefully she can handle a load of children better than she can the Wizengamot."

Percy wasn't so sure, given that one of those children had just made her look like an idiot. But that wasn't his business to point out.

**Author's Note:** Harry has finally reached the point that he just does not care what certain people want him to do, and he is willing to just do what he thinks needs to get done. He isn't going to just sit and let Dumbledore run things anymore. That being said, Harry _did _ miss a chance to get answers from Dumbledore at the end of fourth year. Dumbledore legitimately felt horrible about what had happened and he hadn't had time to process that. In the next chapter Harry will finally try and have that conversation with Dumbledore, but the additional time... well it hasn't done Harry any favors.


	35. A Darklight in the Darkness

**Chapter 35: A Darklight in the Darkness**

**July 11th, 1995**

The mood in 12 Grimmauld Place was rather triumphant that evening.

"Well, I have to admit that you really put Fudge's knickers in a twist today," snarked Tonks, who seemed to be spending as much time as she could at 12 Grimmauld Place, "Apparently he ordered Umbridge to take a month of leave time. The only reason that she isn't finished entirely is that she probably knows enough about Fudge to sink him."

Harry had a suspicion as to why Tonks spent so much time at Sirius's home, and it had to do with the frequent presence of a particular werewolf, but Harry wasn't going to touch that with a ten foot pole. That was very much none of his business.

"Daphne did very well," said Molly.

"She was brilliant," corrected Harry, "There's no way Dumbledore would have had the same effect on the Wizengamot. A fifteen-year-old girl utterly crushing the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister in court? Just brilliant."

Percy's owl Hermes suddenly flew into the room, and dropped a letter in front of Harry. Molly cried out in surprise. "You were telling the truth!" she said.

Harry picked up the letter and read it. "Apparently, Fudge has decided that going after me is just going to hurt him. He's going to try to cause a rift between Dumbledore and myself instead," said Harry.

"Sounds like Percy was trying to be helpful," said Ginny.

"Still, it _will_ help me," said Harry, "I won't have to have people wondering why the Daily Prophet's editorials changed so much, as it will all seem to be coming from Fudge. I'd like to keep the purchase of the Prophet on the downlow for the moment."

"Why?" asked Molly.

"Well obviously so You-Know-Who doesn't realize that Harry is able to directly counter him using the Prophet," said Sirius.

"Anyway, I've had a long day, so I'm going to turn in early," said Harry.

"I'll go with you and say goodnight," said Hermione.

"Ginny," said Molly in a tone that made her intent clear.

"I'll keep an eye on them," said Ginny.

"You know Molly, Harry and Hermione never seem to object to Ginny keeping an eye on them," said Sirius as they left the room, "It's almost as if she doesn't actually stop them from doing anything."

"You stashed it in your room?" asked Ginny quietly.

"Stashed what?" asked Fred.

"Keeping secrets?" asked George.

"We're Slytherins, of course we're keeping secrets," smirked Harry. As they passed the drawing room, Harry suddenly felt something in the other room.

"Woah," he said after halting dead in his tracks.

"Something wrong?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, and maybe no," said Harry as he rushed into the drawing room.

"This room isn't clear of dark items yet, Harry," said Fred.

"I can feel that," said Harry.

"Oh, bloody hell, I feel it too now!" said Ginny, "I can't believe I missed it before!"

Harry walked over to a table. It had a locket on it that carried a large S on the front. Harry recognized it immediately.

"This is one of Voldemort's horcruxes," said Harry.

"Horcrux?" said Fred and George simultaneously.

"A fragment of Voldemort's soul, placed in a physical container, to keep him immortal," explained Ginny, "the diary was one as well. Dumbledore refused to tell us that though, so I'd be grateful if you didn't didn't babble that we know about that to the Order."

"But won't the Order need to destroy it?" asked Fred.

"We can do that," said Harry, "In fact, we can do it very easily. We'll tell Dumbledore what he needs to know."

"We'll agree," said George, "If you let us in on your secret war council."

Harry turned to the twins. They would be useful, Harry had to admit. "Done!" he said as he extended a hand to each of them.

The twins grabbed his hands enthusiastically, but when they found that Harry was shaking back just as hard they laughed and left the room.

Harry stopped for a moment, trying to remember the last time Voldemort had seen this horcrux. He'd hidden it in a cave with the help of an elf, Regulus Black's elf. Sirius's brother, who had been a Death Eater had been asked to give his elf to help hide this horcrux. Voldemort had left him in the cave though, but of course, Harry knew house elves could apparate under anti-apparition wards, they did it at Hogwarts all the time.

"Kreacher," said Harry quietly.

The surly elf walked by the door, "What does the son of a mudblood want with me?" he asked.

Harry pointed at the locket. "What is that doing here?"

Kreacher's reaction was telling. "That was Master Regulus's locket!" he cried.

"But you hid it for Voldemort first, didn't you?" asked Harry.

The elf's eyes widened at the Dark Lord's name, but he nodded.

"And Regulus had you retrieve it, and... oh Merlin, he died getting it back didn't he?" said Harry. When Kreacher nodded, he added, "I am so sorry Kreacher. Did Regulus want to destroy it?"

Kreacher just broke out crying. "I tried! I tried and I tried! But nothing I could do harmed it! I could not fulfill your last wish, Master Regulus."

Ginny put her hand on Kreacher's arm, "Kreacher, I know how to destroy it, or at least the magic in it Regulus wanted to destroy."

"Really?" said Kreacher.

"Really," promised Ginny.

"Are you sure you should do this?" asked Hermione, "Maybe I should try it?"

Harry shook his head. "It is dangerous, but Ginny and I have done it before and know what we are doing. But, we only did it because we had to. I don't want you putting yourself at risk like that."

Hermione nodded.

Ginny pointed her wand at the Horcrux. "_Legilimens_!" she said.

For a moment, Ginny seemed to strain. The locket opened and images of Harry and Hermione in loving embrace came out.

"Is that the best this thing can do?" she asked. The locket seemed to scream in response, then a black mist rose from the horcrux, then dissipated into the air.

"Is that still something that bothers you?" asked Harry.

"No," said Ginny, "but it was the last time I destroyed a horcrux. It was reading the part of me that was connected to the Diary back in first year it seems, or maybe some fragment of the Diary that was still around. Anyway, it's gone."

Ginny paused, "And wow, I thought teenage Voldemort's memories were bad, but boy did he reach a whole other level when he grew up."

Harry picked up the locket. He could confirm, the horcrux was indeed gone. He handed the locket to Kreacher.

"Keep this," he said, "as a reminder of Regulus Black. A man who died to stop Lord Voldemort."

"Thank you Master Harry, thank you!" cried the elf, who ran off with the locket, to hide it.

Ginny shook her head. "Crazy day," she said.

"And it isn't even over yet," said Harry.

The girls nodded, and they made their way into the bedroom Harry shared with Ron. Reaching into his robes, Harry pulled out the prophecy orb. And then, they heard a somewhat familiar voice, but Harry couldn't quite place it..

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as an equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"_

Harry stood still for a moment, then broke out laughing.

"What?" asked Hermione, "What's so funny?"

"Harry has the power to defeat Voldemort, but only because Voldemort tried to murder him as an infant," said Ginny.

"Neville Longbottom shares my birthday," said Harry, "And his parents were also members of the original Order of the Phoenix. I bet they faced Voldemort at least three times as well. But he chose to come after me because I'm a halfblood, like him. And in choosing me, he made me his nemesis."

Harry set down the sphere, then drew his wand and leveled it at the sphere. "_Reducto,_" he casually cast. The sphere disintegrated.

"And that is that," said Harry, "And I can use this information now. Dumbledore knows he needs me, which means I can leverage this to finally get him to tell me what is going on."

"Or you could hide that you know this and frustrate the hell out of him," considered Ginny, "I think if he isn't going to be honest with us, we shouldn't be volunteering information to him."

"I don't know," said Harry, "He probably needs to know that he shouldn't waste resources watching over a destroyed prophecy."

"Let him waste his time," said Ginny, "It will be good for him."

"I suppose," agreed Harry, yet something about this struck him the wrong way.

XXXXX

**July 13th, 1995**

Blaise Zabini entered the Ram's Cradle. It was a rather dingy little pub, but Blaise wasn't put off by that. A couple of fellows were watching a football match on the tevelis… tleshiv… oh to hell with it, Blaise couldn't remember what it was called. A Telly. It had taken him days to get here. The nearest floo wasn't for miles, and Blaise had taken the wrong bus in Cardiff. The Knight Bus was out of the question, as his mother would almost certainly be watching it.

"Hey kid," challenged the barkeep, "Whatcha' doin' here."

"I'm looking for a guy named Pascale," said Blaise, "I heard he spent some time here."

"Whatcha want 'im for?" asked the barkeep.

"I'm his son," said Blaise.

The other man nodded. "In back," he said, pointing to the back room. Blaise walked into the room. It was dimly lit, but he saw his father, smoking a rather long pipe. The man looked shocked as Blaise walked in.

"Hello, father," said Blaise.

Pascale Zabini looked up and saw his son for the first time in years. With a strangled cry he leapt up and hugged Blaise, who eagerly hugged his father back.

"What the hell are you doing here Blaise?" cried Pascale as he let go, "Your mother is worried sick."

"That's why her Death Eater friends tried to put me under the Imperius curse, huh?" asked Blaise, "Because she was worried?"

"If she used the Imperius curse on you, how did you get away?" asked Pascale.

"She had old Goyle try actually," said Blaise, "I'm pretty sure he's gonna need an artificial leg now though, I really did a number on his old one. I might have killed Crabbe, though I can't be sure."

"I heard Goyle did lose a leg," said Pascale thoughtfully, "Though as far as I know Crabbe isn't dead."

"An inch either way could have made the difference between life and death I guess, so I'm not surprised," said Blaise.

"So what are you doing here?" asked Pascale, "Do you think I can protect you from your mother? If I could, I promise you, I'd have done so a long time ago."

"Where the fuck else am I supposed to go?" asked Blaise, "I'm only fifteen. Listen, I can take care of myself, but the Ministry is looking for me. And if they send me back to mum, I'm cooked. I need to get out of Britain. Or, you could contact Sirius Black and Bryant Greengrass. With their help, I bet you could get custody of me."

"How long would I keep it before your mother's goons got to me?" said Pascale, "I stayed away for a reason. Clarise's behavior towards me looks oh so innocent in the light of day, but she threatened to kill me if I interfered."

"We could go to Ireland," said Blaise, "She can't touch us there. Ol' Danny won't let her, not once he learns what's going on. But I can't get to Ireland on my own. Half the fucking British army's in the way, what with the Troubles and all."

"Where would you stay in Ireland?" asked Pascale.

"I have a mate there, Seamus," said Blaise, "He'd take me in."

"Clarise contacted me, you know," said Pascale, "She said you were taken with some Irish boy. Wouldn't be that Seamus, would it?"

"What if he is?" said Blaise, "Does it matter? We care about each other, that's all that matters."

"Heh," said Pascale, his face a mask of grim humour, "Serves her right. All she cares about is her precious blood, and she gives birth to a son who would never willingly pass it on. I'd almost call that cosmic justice."

Blaise relaxed.

"Don't worry, I'll get you to Seamus," said Pascale, "But you'll have to deal with Ol' Danny, while I'll have to deal with the Wizengamot."

"Danny's not a problem," said Blaise, "If mum hadn't been a Death Eater, she could have handled him."

"That's always been the if with your mum," said Pascale mournfully, "Now we better get you into hiding now. Your mum doesn't run things in Wales, but she sure as hell has eyes here."

XXXXX

**July 29th, 1995**

Two days before Harry's birthday, Sirius walked into Harry's room and sat down at the foot of his bed.

"So, I've been putting off this conversation, but I don't think we can anymore," said Sirius, "Now you may recall that I'm aware of your living situation at Hogwarts."

"I had actually forgotten that," admitted Harry, "Is there an issue?"

"You tell me," said Sirius.

"Hermione and I have never… we've been relatively circumspect," stammered Harry, "We haven't been… intimate if that's what you want to know."

"I wasn't going to ask, but it's good to know," said Sirius, "Listen, Harry, I'm not worried about that exactly. You're at an age that you are going to do what you are going to do. But the fact that you are living together could add some complications on top of that. Most teenagers your age don't really have the opportunity to sleep with each other every night…"

"We are not doing that," said Harry firmly, "And we won't be after we… well you know…"

"Good," said Sirius, "I know in some ways you've been forced to be an adult early, but development in _this_ area can get very messed up if not allowed to progress normally. As I said, you're at the age where this is a thing you are going to consider, and I know you and Hermione will be responsible. But you are too young to be doing that all the time."

Harry nodded in agreement. And then he decided. He would trust Sirius, at least with this. "Dumbledore and Molly Weasley put me in a marriage contract with Ginny. Without telling either of us."

"WHAT?" shouted Sirius, "No wonder you haven't been getting along with them!"

"I think Molly regrets it, and that she wouldn't have done it if she hadn't been convinced by Dumbledore," said Harry, "Please don't make a thing of this. The contract has a virginity clause, and at some point in the near future I think Hermione plans to, uh, take care of that. We'll deal with it, and it'll be over. No need to let Dumbledore even know that we know."

"All right, if that's how you want to play it," said Sirius begrudgingly, "I bet Ginny was happy though."

Harry shook his head. "Ginny was devastated. Prior to the signing of that contract, I was interested in both her and Hermione. After though… well she knew what my reaction would be."

"Poor girl," said Sirius, "And, well, I guess I have a better idea of why you don't want to just trust Dumbledore."

"I wish I could," said Harry, "I wish he'd talk to me. I wish I could tell you everything as well."

"What if I promised that I would not tell Dumbledore any of your secrets?" asked Sirius.

"I'd rather Dumbledore explain himself," admitted Harry, "I really need to speak with him. I should have spoken with him before I left school, but I was too livid."

"Okay, how about this then," said Sirius, "We'll see if we can get Dumbledore to come clean with you. If not, then you tell me everything. And I promise I won't tell Dumbledore."

Harry nodded reluctantly. He had to hope the headmaster was willing to listen to reason.

XXXXX

**July 31st, 1995**

On Harry's birthday they had a small celebration. A few presents and a cake, nothing fancy. But the festivities were interrupted when Daphne came barreling through the Floo.

"Blaise is in Ireland!" she said her voice sounding relieved, "He sent me a letter. Apparently his mother found out…" she trailed off as she realized that Molly, Sirius and Remus were present.

"Found out what?" asked Molly.

Daphne nodded. It looked like everything was going to have to come out.

"Blaise isn't interested in girls," explained Ginny, "He and Seamus are an item."

"Ginny!" objected Ron, "I don't think Blaise wanted that getting around."

"They have to know," said Daphne, "It's the only way Fudge lets this get a hearing. Madame Zabini had the elder Crabbe and Goyle try to Imperius Blaise. Blaise got away, managed to talk to his father. Apparently, Clarise has been threatening Pascale Zabini's life if he tried to get in contact with his son. In any case, Pascale is going to try and get custody of Blaise, but Fudge will never let it go through unless we make it completely clear that this has nothing to do with Death Eaters."

"Fudge has been relatively willing to hear cases involving abused gay teens in the past," said Remus, "apparently his cousin was a lesbian who was badly abused by her family. I wouldn't have thought Fudge would be sentimental about things like this, but apparently he liked his cousin enough that it's had an impact on him."

"Either that or he uses that story to humanize himself with the voters," said Harry, who thought this was a far more likely explanation.

"More likely it's a mix of both," said Daphne.

"I assume Bryant will be taking the lead on this?" asked Sirius.

"Yes," answered Daphne.

"If he needs any help…" said Sirius.

"I'll be sure to let him know," said Daphne.

"Ginny, you have to let Percy know about this," said Harry, "He can help convince Fudge this isn't Death Eater related."

Ginny nodded.

Harry hoped that Blaise was safe in Ireland.

XXXXX

**August 1st, 1995**

Daniel O'Keefe was the leader of the Irish magical underworld. He had been so since Ireland had tried to rebel from the United Kingdom in the First World War, hence his nickname: Ol' Danny. And he was, Blaise decided, a rather difficult man to hunt down.

There weren't any warrants for his arrest or anything, but Danny had always felt that it was best to keep out of the limelight. There had been times when the British Ministry had very much wanted to get ahold of him. And once the Irish Ministry had spun off the British Ministry, the Irish Ministry had continued that tradition. Danny saw the Irish Ministry as stooges of the British Ministry, so he was just as happy not being in their custody.

But Seamus and Blaise had finally managed to secure an audience with him. With his help, Blaise could try and turn his situation around. Without it… well he'd just have to see, wouldn't he?

The pub they had gone to was in Belfast, which was a surprise in itself. Blaise had assumed that Danny would be in the Republic proper, but apparently he was making a play for Northern Ireland. The pub was a rather exclusive establishment. Danny's private pub, most likely. Blaise and Seamus had needed to show his letter to them to get in.

Entering the pub, Blaise and Seamus were led to a private room. There they saw Danny, who had white hair and a scraggly white beard, and about four guards. Well he did have a right to be suspicious, Blaise supposed. The last time Blaise had been in Ireland, his mother had tried to kill Danny.

"Seamus Finnegan," said Danny, his face smiling as he greeted the boy, "It's been a while."

"Only because you don't visit your cousin enough," said Seamus.

"Seamus is my cousin's godson," explained Danny, "He's a good lad. And it's for his sake that I'm giving you this meeting Zabini."

"I'm here because my dear mum has tried to place me under the Imperius curse," said Blaise.

"She back to her Death Eater ways?" Danny asked, his hands raised above his head as if he was trying to scare a small child with a boogeyman.

"A bit, but there was more," said Blaise as he glanced at Seamus.

"Ah, say no more," said Danny, "I've seen that look before. Well I'm not one to judge. After all, we're all the dregs of magical society here, so we've no place to be doing so. I daresay that's one of the better reasons to take a stand against one's kin, though."

"I can give you names," said Blaise, "Names of my mother's contacts in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, England."

"And why would I be interested in your mother's contacts in Wales?" said Danny, "I can't even get her out of Northern Ireland."

"It's called fire in the rear," said Blaise, "Plus, my dad is trying to organize resistance there. If they are successful enough, she might get kicked out of both Wales and Northern Ireland."

"Ah, there's the rub," said Danny, "But you've been up front with me. More than most people are. I hear you don't hold with that pureblood garbage your mummy has been spouting."

"One of my best friends is a muggleborn," said Blaise, "You know, I used to think that maybe magical society should be controlled by those familiar with it, but then I realized that even they still just fuck it up. So what's the difference right? What makes almighty Malfoy or Greengrass the boss of us? Fuck it, I'm done making excuses. I say, the time is right to shake things up."

"Damn right, boy," said Danny, "you know, I might be starting to like you. Well, how 'bout this: you stay here, well back in free Ireland, safe for the rest of the summer, and when you come back from Hogwarts next summer, we put you to work?"

"Seamus and I _are_ pretty good at setting things on fire or blowing them up," said Blaise.

"Haha!" shouted Danny, "I like your optimism boy! As if I won't have you running simple errands. Oh, and I've heard your friends with the Potter boy. Tell him: if things get too rough in Britain, he has a safe haven in Ireland."

"I will," said Blaise.

XXXXX

**August 8th, 1995**

Percy had apparently managed to explain the situation to Fudge. With Fudge on their side, the situation in the Wizengamot went from hopeless to a foregone conclusion. Clarise Zabini went in expecting the governing body to easily side with her, and instead she left having lost custody of her son. She wasn't happy.

Which Sirius didn't care about right now. He made his way over to Dumbledore quickly. Fudge had finally been forced to give Sirius his Wizengamot seat, not that Sirius was all that enthusiastic about it.

"I need a quick word," said Sirius.

Dumbledore nodded. "Meet me in my office."

Dumbledore's office in the Ministry was a rather barebones affair. It was really just a place for him to sit while he was awaiting a session to start to be honest. Dumbledore walked into the office moments after Sirius.

"Is there a problem with Harry?" asked Dumbledore.

"You're damn right there is a problem with Harry," said Sirius, "He's within an inch of deciding to write you off and start figuring out how to defeat You-Know-Who on his own."

"I doubt Fudge's pronouncements have been helpful in that regard," mused Dumbledore.

Indeed Fudge had been openly claiming that Dumbledore was just using Harry, and trying to drum up support to take over the Ministry.

"Give Harry a little credit," said Sirius, "He sees through Fudge. But he is still angry at you from last year, and the thing with Hermione has him livid. He also has other grievances, but he has been much less forthright about those."

"I know this has been hard on him, but there are security concerns…"

Sirius shook his head. "I think Harry has figured out that you need him more than he needs you Albus. He hasn't exactly wanted to put it that way, but he is on the edge right now. Whatever bad you think may come of meeting with Harry, I'm willing to wager a whole stack of galleons that not meeting with him would be worse."

"Though, honestly, I don't know what you are worried about," noted Sirius, "Harry's Occlumency is shockingly good for someone his age."

"Perhaps you are correct," said Dumbledore, "Perhaps I need to see to this matter myself. Tell Harry I will be by in a few days."

XXXXX

**August 10th, 1995**

"Hogwarts letters are here!" shouted Ginny as she poked her head into Harry and Ron's room at 12 Grimmauld place. She was gone in an instant. Harry ran downstairs. Molly and the twins were in the kitchen already, with Ginny. Hermione was already there, holding her prefect badge. Harry opened his letter, and indeed, a prefect badge was there for him as well.

Ron walked into the kitchen, still yawning. He took his letter and opened it, dumping it's contents on the table. Everyone heard a clunk as another prefect badge hit the table.

"Congratulations Ron!" said Molly excitedly, "That makes everyone in the family!"

"Hey!" said Fred, "What are we, chopped liver?"

"I'm not even old enough to be prefect," said Ginny, "Not that I'd want to."

"Oh Ginny, you are definitely going to be a prefect," said Hermione.

"Everyone else in your year is scared of you," said Harry, "Casually defeating a Death Eater in front of the entire school probably hasn't helped that any."

"I could turn it down," said Ginny.

"Oh Merlin, can you imagine _Luna_ as prefect," said Ron.

"Mandatory hugs and wrackspurt inspections," said Hermione.

"I mean, I like hugging Luna, but that doesn't mean everyone else in Slytherin wants to," said Harry.

Sirius walked into the kitchen, yawning.

"Man, I'm tired," said Sirius, "I got a letter from Dumbledore. He's going to stop by to talk to you later today."

"Finally," said Harry.

"I think he wanted to wait until you got your prefect badge," said Sirius, "He knows it's going to be a difficult conversation. Try not to go too hard on him regarding what happened with Hermione. From what I gather, Dumbledore was only doing what Snape asked him to."

"I will try to keep that in mind," said Harry noncommittally.

XXXXX

**August 14th, 1995**

"Harry, it is good to see you," said Dumbledore as Harry sat down in the drawing room across from him, "Congratulations on making prefect. I will admit, I wasn't sure that it wouldn't be too much for you, with all your other problems, but you have earned it."

Harry had dressed in his casual robes. He noted that his resizing charms weren't quite cutting the mustard anymore. He'd need to get new ones soon.

"Thank you Headmaster," said Harry calmly, "We should talk more than we do, given what is going on."

"Have you seen Fudge's latest spin?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry nodded, "He's clearly trying to push us apart, which would be clever if it wasn't so transparent. If he'd tried this from the start it might even have worked."

The headmaster's face seemed to relax a bit. Harry couldn't really blame him. Fudge was proving rather intransigent on the matter of Voldemort's return. At this point reactions on both sides were starting to heat up.

"I want to start with something important," broached Harry, "Why have you refused to see me? Is it because of my connection to Voldemort?"

"That is it precisely," said Dumbledore, "Voldemort is a master Legilimens. If he were to possess you, he could attempt to read my mind through your eyes."

Harry nodded. "That's a reasonable concern, though I would argue the moment it became a possibility you should have warned me about it."

"You are correct," admitted Dumbledore, "I thought letting you know might make it more likely that Voldemort would detect it, but as it seems you already suspected it seems my efforts were wasted."

"In any case, I have greatly improved my Occlumency," said Harry, "I'll never be a master Occlumens, but I can keep small pieces of information completely hidden, and Voldemort would have to seriously exert himself to enter my mind. In fact, I would be able to drive him from my mind in short order by using counter Legilimency." Harry didn't mention that the connection between them had been severed, and he'd have to be facing Voldemort for this to happen. He would mention it if the headmaster came clean.

"Do you mind?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry wasn't thrilled with the idea of Dumbledore poking around in his head, but he realised that it was a legitimate concern. Harry gestured at the old man to go ahead. He soon felt a pressure against his mind. It intensified suddenly, but Harry's barriers held. Suddenly it stopped. As it stopped, Dumbledore seemed to grow even more relaxed.

"Very good, Harry," said Dumbledore, "I believe that you have sufficient defenses to keep Voldemort from possessing you at least. That is a large worry off of my mind."

"Now as to why you dismissed my claims about Crouch last year," said Harry, his eyes narrowing.

"I made a grave mistake," admitted Dumbledore honestly, "I believed he was Moody, largely because he refused to condemn you for being suspicious of him. Also, some of the things you were doing seemed suspicious, especially training with all the other champions. I've rarely seen such a generous act from a Slytherin." Strange. It sounded like lame justifications again. Did he not want Harry to know the real reason? Or did he not know?

"You shouldn't judge people based on their house," admonished Harry.

"No, I shouldn't," said Dumbledore, "In truth, much of what you are doing still disturbs me. You use people, Harry." The last was said accusingly.

"I do occasionally," admitted Harry, "But I try to do so in a way that doesn't conflict with their own priorities. I'm not trying to manipulate people into doing things they wouldn't do otherwise, I just give them encouragement to help me along with whatever else they were planning to do. I realize it might seem somewhat shady, but I need to protect myself and Hermione. Speaking of which…"

Dumbledore put out his hand to forestall Harry's next point. "I am aware that you are upset about how Miss Granger was treated earlier this summer. I had promised Snape I wouldn't let anyone contact you until it was safe to do so. Looking back, I should merely have insisted that they practise information security when contacting you. Refusing to allow Miss Granger into a place of safety did not sit well with me at the time, and in retrospect I wish I had not done it."

"If you do it again, it will be more than a problem," said Harry menacingly, "If she comes to harm, and I find you could have prevented it…"

"I will not let that happen," said Dumbledore, "But I wanted to speak about how you have been using Miss Lovegood."

"Luna," said Harry, "Is a very special friend. I am not using her for anything. Everything she has done for me, she has volunteered to give."

"Even her aura-reading?" asked Dumbledore.

"I only ask her about that on very rare occasions, when I have no other options," said Harry, "Only once has it been vital to my plans, and that was only after I started to suspect Crouch was impersonating Moody. Her reading of Crouch made me very suspicious."

"Yet, you encouraged her to be sorted into Slytherin," said Dumbledore.

"I… I just wanted her to have friends," said Harry, "I knew I would be her friend, and so would my friends. I thought that she'd be all alone in Ravenclaw, and it kind of broke my heart."

"Listen," said Harry, "I love Luna, just like I love Ginny or Daphne or even Blaise. I know for some reason you suspect I'm some sort of Dark Wizard coming up, but I am capable of love, whatever anyone else tells you."

"And Hermione?" asked Dumbledore.

"I love her as well, but… that's different. And none of your business," said Harry.

"I don't think you are a Dark Wizard, Harry," said Dumbledore, "Only… maybe your actions place you in a certain peril. Still, it is possible that those fears are overblown. Sometimes I almost feel..." Dumbledore trailed off, as if somehow he couldn't bring himself to finish that sentence.

Dumbledore's face suddenly brightened. "Oh, I did wish to say that I did not disapprove of you bringing Miss Greengrass here. While I will not hide that I have had my suspicions about you, as far as I'm concerned Miss Greengrass is an intelligent and loyal young woman. I would have approved of her coming here, had I been present."

"I appreciate that," said Harry.

"The question is, how far are we going to trust each other?" asked Harry, "Because we need to do so. Badly. Yet you have lied to me in the past."

"I know," said Dumbledore, "Yet there are some things that are too dangerous for too many people to know."

"But I am one of the people who needs to know!" insisted Harry, "It is obvious that Voldemort targeted me as a baby, not my parents. It is obvious that something about me scared him, even as a baby. I'm not dumb! I know I am going to play a key role in this war. You need me! And frankly, no matter what the truth is I need to know. Because not knowing scares the hell out of me."

"Harry, it isn't so simple. Even Voldemort doesn't know the full extent of his folly. Coming after you was a grave mistake, one which he doesn't know he made! If I were to tell you, he might be able to figure it out," said Dumbledore.

Harry shook his head, "I need to know that you trust me Headmaster. I need a gesture. Can you tell me what Tom Riddle's diary was? Can you tell me what you are doing to combat Voldemort now? Can you tell me how you want me to contribute to the fight? I need something!"

"I told you that I did not know what the diary was," said Dumbledore.

"And I told you that I knew you were lying," said Harry, "By which I mean I knew it! You were lying! It wasn't a guess. It was a test. And you failed it. Please, don't fail this one."

"Harry, you need to trust that I will tell you what you need to know in the proper time," insisted Dumbledore, almost as if by rote.

"If it was just me? I'd do it in a heartbeat. But it isn't just me! It is Hermione and every muggleborn! It is every pureblood labeled 'blood traitor!' Please give me something, anything to let me know that you aren't leading us down another dead end. You nearly lost in the last war. I need some assurances that this one is going better," begged Harry.

"Harry, I need you to trust me," said the headmaster. There was no force behind that demand. In a way, Harry found it pathetic. Yet it also disturbed him in a way Harry couldn't quite put his finger on.

"I need you to trust _me_," said Harry, "But I see for whatever reason you can't. How disappointing."

Dumbledore's face fell, "Harry…"

"No, you've made your position abundantly clear," said Harry, "We aren't enemies Headmaster, so don't think I'm going to turn on you. But it is clear that we aren't really allies either."

And with that, Harry stood. "I will see you at Hogwarts, Headmaster," Harry said before turning and walking out the door.

XXXXX

Sirius made his way into Harry's room, where both Ginny and Hermione had gathered to console Harry. Harry looked up at his godfather, hoping that he meant to keep his end of the bargain.

"I take it things went poorly," said Sirius.

"He wouldn't tell me anything," said Harry angrily.

Sirius nodded. "Well, I meant what I said. Let me into your confidence. I won't tell the headmaster a thing you don't want me too."

"Voldemort is staying alive because he created dark artifacts called horcruxes," said Ginny immediately.

"Horcruxes!" yelped Sirius, "That's very dark magic. Makes sense though. It's one of the few things that could do it."

"Three of the horcruxes have been destroyed," said Harry, "but he made four more. He only meant to make six, but he accidently turned me into a horcrux when he tried to kill me."

"What?!" demanded Sirius, his face turning to one of abject terror.

"Don't worry, I've already been cured," said Harry, "As such I actually no longer have my connection with Voldemort. But what I do have are his memories."

"We destroy the horcruxes by absorbing the magic from them," said Ginny.

"That's incredibly dangerous!" said Sirius anxiously.

"The first one we had no choice," said Ginny, "It was already about to kill me. I destroyed it that way in self-defense. Harry had to do the same with the one in his head, for obvious reasons."

"I suppose you wouldn't want to use fiendfyre on yourself," admitted Sirius.

"But the magic comes with what I would call an imprint of all of Voldemort's memories," explained Harry, "at least those memories he made up to creating the horcrux."

"So you know where all the other horcruxes are?" asked Sirius.

"Yes," said Harry, "One is at Hogwarts, another is in the Gringotts vault of Bellatrix Lestrange, and one is in the shack that Voldemort's mother lived in before she died. The last horcrux is his familiar Nagini. That one I know because I was connected to her when Voldemort resurrected himself."

"We have to be careful not to get caught going after any of the other horcruxes," said Hermione, "if we do, he might move the others."

"Wow, that's one hell of a secret," said Sirius, "Dumbledore knew you were a horcrux?"

"I'm certain of it," said Harry.

"That bastard," swore Sirius with a cold anger in jos voice.

"We're organizing a faction at Hogwarts," said Harry, "and some of the people who are helping us will be graduating this year. Once that happens, we'll need someone on the outside to help start organizing things."

"That's what you want me for," realised Sirius.

"Exactly," said Hermione.

"Count me in," said Sirius.

Harry smiled. Now things were really moving.

XXXXX

**September 1st, 1995**

"Did you hear!" squealed Tracey as she ran to embrace Harry and Hermione on Platform 9 and 3/4, "I'm Quidditch Captain!"

"Great!" said Harry as he hugged her.

"How was your summer in Bulgaria?" asked Hermione, as she also leaned in for a hug.

"It was fun," said Tracey, sounding a bit cagey, "Viktor was nice, but I think he just wanted me there so some of his female fans would lay off of him a bit. He was a perfect gentleman the whole time. Maybe a bit too perfect. I wouldn't have minded the odd groping or two you know?"

"So…?" asked Harry.

"We are not an item," said Tracey, "Though I do think of him rather fondly. Guess I'm still on the market."

"Harry!" shouted the voice of Luna Lovegood. She ran over and jumped onto Harry, throwing her arms around his neck. Harry just barely managed to get his arms under her so she didn't fall down. Suddenly she kissed him full on the lips.

"Uhhh," stammered Harry but suddenly Luna let go, and she turned and did the exact same thing with Hermione, then with Tracey.

"I'll see you in a bit!" she said happily as she ran onto the train.

"She seems to be less depressed," said Hermione.

"I talked to Susan and I think I found out why Luna flipped out last year," said Daphne, "Susan says that Neville has a crush on Hannah. Apparently Luna thought catching Crouch would impress him, which is why she didn't come to you with it. Failing to catch Crouch made her feel like she had nothing to offer anyone."

"If I know Luna she won't stay down for long," said Harry, "She'll figure out a way to snap back. I wouldn't be surprised if she has already."

"Harry, I'm surprised at you," said Blaise as he walked over, seemingly out of nowhere. "You had a nice handful of Luna's backside there." Blaise's voice was faux mocking.

"I was just trying to keep it from crashing into the ground," explained Harry, turning a bit red.

"Ignore Blaise," said Daphne as she also walked up, "He's been manhandling Seamus all day already."

"Seamus is my boyfriend," said Blaise proudly, "But I thought Hermione was Harry's boyfriend."

"Oh, quit it," said Hermione, giving Blaise a withering glare, "I am perfectly content with Harry's behavior."

"We'll stow our stuff with you guys," said Harry, "but we do have a prefects' meeting to get to."

"Oooh, rub it in," said Tracey.

XXXXX

Cedric Diggory was the Head Boy, and a Ravenclaw named Rebecca Larson was Head Girl, though rumour had it that she was only Head Girl because Angelina Johnson turned it down in favour of being Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor. Still, Harry knew very little about Larson. Cedric on the other hand...

"Given that You-Know-Who is back, we have to be extra vigilant this year, and make sure that students are observing curfew," said Cedric.

"According to the Minister, You-Know-Who might not be back," tried one of the seventh year Slytherin prefects.

"Well, I saw him come back, so I think we can put that one to bed," replied Harry.

"As far as I'm concerned, that settles it," said Rebecca firmly.

"I think we all need to be on the watch for purebloods bullying muggleborns as well," said Harry, "Previously it just might have been some bigotry on display, but now? It could be a sign of Death Eater sympathies."

"I agree fully," said Cedric, "I expect all of you to have a zero-tolerance policy for anti-muggle and muggleborn bullying. We must be united against this threat, and we must make it clear that anyone who acts against one of us, acts against all of us."

Most of the prefects nodded, including the sixth year Slytherin prefects.

"Fifth years have the first patrols," said Cedric, "then sixth, then seventh. I'll be here if you need me, Rebecca will be near the rear of the train."

Everyone nodded. The fifth year prefects gathered together. Ron and Parvati were the Gryffindor prefects, while Ernie and Susan were prefects for Hufflepuff and Padma and Anthony Goldstein were the prefects for Ravenclaw.

"We should let Ron and Parvati take first patrol," said Padma, "I'm sure Ron wants to get back to his girlfriend."

"I have no objections," said Harry.

"Thanks!" said Ron, as he headed out with Parvati.

Harry and Hermione had the second patrol. They only had one incident, where they found Draco, along with Crabbe and Goyle, hexing several Gryffindor second years.

"10 points from Slytherin," said Harry angrily.

"You can't take points from our own house!" objected Draco.

"Watch us!" shouted Hermione.

"That's it, Potter!" said Draco as he drew his wand. Crabbe and Goyle also went for their wands.

And with a single wave of his wand, Harry froze all three of them in place. Actually it was three quick jerks that looked like one fluid motion, but Malfoy wouldn't see that.

"Attacking a prefect? That'll be a detention," said Hermione.

"And stop bringing shame on Slytherin House!" roared Harry.

The Gryffindor second years cheered him. It felt pretty good.

**Author's Note:** As you can see, the story is starting to branch out a bit. There are some new elements entering into the story, like Blaise and Seamus in Ireland, though they won't really play a major role until later.

There have been a lot of chapters in this story where I was mostly doing setup and not very much has happened in them. I understand that it has been a long slow build. The next chapter is probably the last chapter we have like that. Events are accelerating, and once things start to move, things are going to move fast.

Anyway, next time, Umbridge is at Hogwarts, and she has a grudge, but it isn't against Harry.


	36. The Fall of the IUC

**Chapter 36: The Fall of the IUC**

**September 1st, 1995**

"She is here," said Daphne miserably, "My year just got a whole lot more horrible."

"Who?" asked Ginny as she scarfed down another bite of food.

"Dolores Umbridge," explained Harry, "Apparently she was appointed by the Ministry as the new Defense professor."

"I bet she had a speech all prepared for us," said Daphne, "And I bet she had to change it too."

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

Daphne handed Hermione a copy of the Daily Prophet. The main headline was "Fudge Admits Death Eaters Again Active." The subheading was "Minister still skeptical on Dark Lord's return."

"Ouch, that's got to hurt," said Harry.

"Well, at the last Wizengamot meeting, my father excoriated Fudge over not taking any precautions in case You-Know-Who was back," explained Daphne, "Furthermore, there was a motion to vote to force Fudge declare a state of emergency. It failed by only a single vote. He has to take action at this point, because the Prophet is making him look weak. There has been an upsurge in attacks on muggles in the last three months. Fudge is issuing a travel advisory to foreign witches and wizards, but he is resisting informing the muggle Prime Minister."

"The pressure is going to get worse," said Ginny, "My brother Bill is in France now, and the French Ministry have formally asked the ICW to investigate whether Fudge is doing enough to protect the Statute of Secrecy against 'internal problems.' Apparently the ICW is taking this very seriously, especially since Dumbledore is the Supreme Mugwump."

"Bill pays a lot of attention to French politics then?" asked Blaise.

"Well, he has been since he started dating Fleur Delacour," said Ginny with a smirk.

"Oh, nice," said Harry, "I thought I saw something there."

"Yes, yes, congratulations on setting my brother up," said Ginny, "Mum's gonna flip. She gets a bit insecure around a certain class of people, given that she used to be in that class of people."

"I hadn't noticed," said Harry dryly, "It's not as if she is constantly wielding your lack of money like a club to beat everyone with."

"The Prewitt family _was_ well off, but most of the family money is gone now," said Ginny, "Mum gets really sensitive about it at times, but it isn't like she's unhappy. She just doesn't feel like she relates to _those _people anymore."

A few minutes later Dumbledore got up to give his beginning of the year speech. However, as he finished introducing Umbridge, the new defense teacher interrupted him and started giving a speech.

"Thank you for the introduction," said Umbridge, "I have come here to teach you Defense against the Dark Arts. Now this is no doubt an important subject, one that the Ministry takes very seriously. Indeed, given the upswing in Dark magic users in recent months, it is imperative that we keep up our guard. But we must do so sensibly, without resorting to panic or unconfirmed rumour. Magical society is still strong, and by taking a hand in properly training the next generation of witches and wizards, we will remain strong."

"Sounds like the Ministry line is starting to budge," noted Hermione.

"Umbridge, doesn't give a damn about muggle-baiting," said Daphne critically, "Whatever she's going to do, it isn't going to change. It's just the rhetoric and justifications that have changed."

"Hagrid isn't up there," said Harry.

"What do you bet Dumbledore sent him to meet with the giants?" asked Blaise.

"I don't take sucker bets," said Tracey.

"Oooh, I'd like to meet a full-blooded giant," said Luna, "Too bad most of them were killed by the Rotfang Conspiracy."

"How was your summer, Luna?" asked Hermione.

"I learned a lot of new magic over the break," said Luna.

"What sort of magic?" asked Harry.

"Useful magic," answered Luna, "Mostly illusions and the like. Also some other mind-affecting spells."

"So, you are saying that you want to spread your break from reality around?" asked Blaise.

"That is a really artful, yet mean and condescending way to put it, Blaise," said Luna with the straight face that Harry knew meant she was joking. Mostly.

"Uhhh, sorry, I meant…" stammered Blaise

"It's all right Blaise, I know you love me anyway," said Luna, "It isn't your fault you were raised to treat everything as a joke."

Harry had to admit, Luna was definitely capable of being completely savage.

XXXXX

Harry and Hermione had led the first year Slytherins to the secret entrance to the common room. "Password is Dignified," said Harry as the wall to the common room opened up. With that dealt with, both of them headed up to the Head Boy and Girl's quarters. Arriving there they found McGonagall waiting there with the Head Boy and Girl, as well as the other prefects.

"Good," said McGonagall as they arrived. "The prefects have a special bathroom, as you are no doubt are aware. The password this year is Clean Room. I would… suggest that you show a certain degree of restraint in how you use the prefect's bathroom. Try not to engage in any unbecoming activities."

"What do you consider unbecoming activities?" asked Parvati, a bit archly.

"No shagging in the bathroom," ordered Rebecca firmly.

"Seventh years have school patrol tonight," said Cedric, "fifth years should patrol common rooms."

"Got it," said Harry.

"All right, we'll have another meeting tomorrow," said Cedric.

"One thing," said McGonagall, stopping Harry and Hermione, "I appreciate you two looking after my lions on the train. Malfoy has filed a grievance against you, but I rejected it. I am very proud of how you have already shown impartiality towards your own house. Two points to Slytherin."

Harry grinned. "We'll head back down to the common room then," he said, taking Hermione's hand.

McGonagall's eyes widened a bit. "Am I to assume that the two of you are finally an item then?"

"Yes, we are," said Hermione.

"Well," said McGonagall after a moment, "I suppose it's about time."

XXXXX

**September 4th, 1995**

Umbridge's class was worse than useless. The fifth year Slytherins in Harry's group decided to commiserate together as they headed to charms.

'She is deliberately trying to keep us from learning anything in Defense against the Dark Arts!" protested Hermione.

"I know," said Harry, "I have certain advantages, and I'll be glad to help any of you. But I can hardly teach the whole school how to use Defensive magic, can I? Not at the same time when I'm a student."

"Umbridge is clearly worried that Dumbledore is trying to recruit an army out of Hogwarts," said Daphne.

"Well, that is a legitimate concern," admitted Hermione, "I mean Voldemort did it during the last war."

"But she isn't worried about Voldemort," insisted Tracey, "She's worried about Dumbledore."

"And us," said Harry.

"Well, assuming I get re-elected president of the IUC, I think that maybe we can take a look at helping at least the O.W.L. students," said Daphne.

"That's a good idea," said Hermione.

"The Defense position is probably cursed," said Tracey, "so we probably will be rid of Umbridge after this year. We just have to wait it out."

"I agree," said Blaise, "But we should try to collect dirt on her if we can, just in case."

"I'll keep an ear open from the people she assigns detention to," said Harry.

"And you keep your head down around her Harry," insisted Hermione.

"And you too, Daphne," said Tracey, "You humiliated her. She won't forget that."

XXXXX

**September 6th, 1995**

The first IUC meeting decisively turned out Daphne as third time president of the club.

"Thank you!" said Daphne with a bow. Harry noticed that Dolores Umbridge was in attendance today. More unusual was Snape's attendance. He had never seemed to have much use for the IUC before.

"So in order to help everyone the most, we're going to do some more units on defense this year," said Daphne, "I think everyone can agree that it is important that the new Ministry approved curriculum is a success. So we will be providing a safe environment for older students to help younger students practice what we are being taught. We are going to prioritize O.W.L. level studies, but anyone is free to ask for help on anything."

There was a huge sigh of relief from the student body. At least they would get some practice with defensive spells this year, given that Umbridge had more or less banned practical lessons. Blaise had conjectured that Umbridge wasn't capable of giving the lessons. Harry wouldn't be shocked if that was true.

"Now we will be taking suggestions on what to focus on at the next meeting, so please, drop a suggestion in the box!" Daphne pointed at a suggestion box that was placed outside the Great Hall."

As the meeting wrapped up, Umbridge approached Daphne. Harry saw Snape narrow his eyes. So that was why he was here.

"So, what is the purpose of this club?" asked Umbridge.

"The IUC is about helping others," said Daphne, "It started as students coming together to prevent the bullying of others, but we have expanded into helping in other areas. What is most important is that the people of the different houses come together and form friendships outside their houses. This will lead to a more prosperous and fruitful magical society in the long run. In the IUC we don't have Hufflepuffs, or Slytherins, or Gryffindors or Ravenclaws. We are all students of Hogwarts."

"Most admirable," said Umbridge, though her voice seemed to indicate it was anything but, "did you start the club?"

"Harry came up with the idea two years ago," said Daphne, "But he decided to allow others to run it, so that it wouldn't appear as if he was trying to push his personal agenda on the IUC."

"I see," said Umbridge, her tone a bit amused. She clearly didn't believe that Harry was so uninvolved as that.

"I am a bit concerned that you seem to be delving into areas of study that are under _my_ supervision however," said Umbridge, "I would be grateful if you didn't use this group to involve yourself in tutoring defense."

"It would defeat the purpose of this club to exclude a subject from discussion," argued Daphne.

"Whether it does or not, I do not want the IUC helping students with their Defense work!" said Umbridge, her eyes flashing.

"You do not have the authority to say we can't help each other study!" said Daphne.

"Detention, Miss Greengrass!" shouted Umbridge angrily.

Suddenly Snape was there. "Now, really Dolores, that was uncalled for. Miss Greengrass is quite right, you were out of line asking her not to hold what amounts to a school sponsored study group. The IUC has the blessing of the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress. And students are definitely allowed to study with whom they see fit in general."

"Professor Snape," said Umbridge dangerously.

"And furthermore, Miss Greengrass is a member of Slytherin house, and as such I will not allow her to be subject to your… revenge fantasies," snapped Snape angrily, "While I am aware the two of you have differences, you will not let that impact your professional behavior towards her. Or you will have me to deal with. Am I absolutely clear?"

That last sentence was spoken with such cold directness, that Umbridge took a step back. Snape seemed on the verge of stepping on her like a bug. For once, Harry appreciated Snape as the head of Slytherin house.

"I will take this to the headmaster," said Umbridge.

"That was the proper course to begin with, not leveling unfair punishments at a member of one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families," said Snape.

Umbridge stared at Daphne angrily, then stormed out.

Harry walked up to Snape and Daphne.

"Umbridge is going to be trouble," said Harry, "and apparently she has decided to go after you."

"Fudge probably ordered her to stay away from you," guessed Daphne, "Lucky me."

XXXXX

Later that evening, Harry was sitting quietly in the common room. He had a bad feeling about what had happened earlier with Umbridge. He wasn't sure, but her targeting the IUC did not seem random, nor did it seem to merely be a hit job on Daphne. Which could be very bad, all in all. Umbridge was a blood supremacist, and it was possible that the idea of helping muggleborns was somehow offensive to her.

"Harry," said Astoria Greengrass, breaking Harry out of his reverie, "Professor Snape wants to see you in his office."

"I'll be right there," said Harry, "Oh, and did I hear that you were going to try out for the house team this year from someone?"

Astoria grinned, "My father will probably have a fit if I do, but I don't see why not. Daphne doesn't necessarily object, but she says I'd have to be careful."

"What's their problem with it?" asked Harry.

"I've never been really healthy," admitted Astoria, "I've done better at Hogwarts, because of all the magic around here."

"Magical ailment of some type?" asked Harry.

"Actually, years ago an enemy of the Greengrass family put a blood curse on us," said Astoria, "I'm just the first girl who isn't an heir who has been born since then."

"Ouch," said Harry, "Sorry."

"I try not to let it run my life," said Astoria.

"Nor should you," agreed Harry, "Well I shouldn't keep Snape waiting."

Harry left the common room and made his way to Snape's office. He knocked on the door.

"Enter," said Snape.

Harry walked into the office, and closed the door behind him. Snape had never asked him to come here alone before. This was a new one to him.

"You took your time, Potter," said Snape accusingly.

"That was because I hadn't talked to Astoria in a while," admitted Harry, "I wanted to check up on her a bit."

"You aren't going to be ridiculously overprotective of her because of her… condition, are you?" demanded Snape.

"I didn't even know about her condition until two minutes ago," said Harry, "And I agree, it would be silly to overprotect her when she is doing so well."

Snape nodded. "Blood curses that old seldom have that much power left, but the worst thing you can do to a person who suffers from one is to coddle them. Astoria needs to be building up her physical and mental strength, daily if possible."

"That sounds reasonable," said Harry, "But you would certainly know better than I would."

"Yes, I would," said Snape.

Snape sighed slightly. "Look Potter, this is not easy for me. I find myself… concerned for your well being. It has not escaped my attention that you and the headmaster are not getting along. Normally I would put this down to your arrogant and stubborn nature, but recently I have started to see things that concern me."

"What have you seen?" asked Harry neutrally. He hadn't forgotten Snape's role in his parent's deaths. Nor had he forgotten Snape's role in the fiasco with Hermione this last summer, but then again, Harry hadn't heard Snape's side of that story.

"For one thing, Professor Dumbledore blamed me for what happened with Miss Granger this summer. I did not tell him that she could not contact you. I did tell him that everyone living at 12 Grimmauld Place would need to be extraordinarily cautious in corresponding to anyone outside of it. He took that to mean no contact with people he considered risks. Mind you, it is a legitimate interpretation of what I asked, but from what I gather, he told you that I said that Miss Granger specifically couldn't contact you. That is not true."

Harry's blood went cold. This was far worse than he had expected. _If_ Snape was telling the truth.

"Also, he has begun to distance himself from the IUC ever since Umbridge objected to it. I think he is going to tell Daphne to weaken her curriculum according to instructions from Umbridge. I do not approve of this at all."

Harry sputtered. "W-w-why? That makes no sense."

Snape shook his head, "Unfortunately it does Harry. It makes perfect sense. He is trying to force you back to the table with him. And it could work. You care a great deal about Daphne and the IUC, and seeing her hurt might get you to turn to Dumbledore for help, even if you don't think you can trust him."

Harry considered this. He was suspicious of this of course. If he didn't know any better he would consider this a ploy to deepen the rift between him and Dumbledore. Yet he couldn't quite shake a sense of uneasiness about this whole thing. Would Snape do that? In Voldemort's memories, the memory of Snape begging for Lily Potter's life loomed large in Harry's mind. And Harry wasn't stupid. He could read between the lines. But now he needed to hear it from Snape's own mouth.

"Why are you saying this?" asked Harry, "If I didn't know better, I would say this was a Death Eater trick. So why did you switch sides?"

"The Dark Lord threatened the life of someone dear to me," said Snape, "Beyond that…"

"My mother," said Harry, "It was my mother. You were still in love with her."

Snape looked at Harry in surprise, then hung his head, "It would be more accurate to say that I still loved her. Saying I was in love with her would imply a relationship that we never had."

Harry began to rub his forehead, "That doesn't explain why you want to help me. You hated my father, and you seem to hate me."

"You look so much like your father Harry," said Snape, "You have no idea what he did to me."

"He bullied you," said Harry, "That much is obvious. It makes sense. He was a privileged boy from a well off family, you were the half-blood son of a nobody, and you dared try to take the girl he wanted."

Snape's eyes flashed.

"Of course, from his perspective you were probably fairly sinister, the Slytherin boy trying to tempt the poor innocent muggleborn Lily Evans, not knowing that she could never have a future in the world he undoubtedly wanted to create," said Harry.

"I was never aligned with the Death Eaters before I had my falling out with Lily!" shouted Snape.

"Oh? You didn't have any Death Eater friends? You didn't privately call muggleborns mudbloods and mock them? How did a half-blood like you survive in the old Slytherin house then?" demanded Harry.

Snape glared at him angrily.

"You have every reason to hate me, and I have lots of reasons to hate you," said Harry, "So I hope you understand when I say that I can't take what you say on faith. Why are you helping me?"

Snape finally sagged in defeat. "You are still _her _son. You are all that is left of her in the world. If I could change that, then maybe I wouldn't feel as I do. But as things are, I have to keep you alive. Otherwise, I failed Lily entirely. You see…"

Snape stopped, as if paralyzed by what he was saying. Finally he spoke again. "I was the one who set the Dark Lord upon you Harry. It was by accident. I overheard part of a prophecy, and I relayed what I heard to him. But when I discovered it meant Lily… I begged him to spare her, but… so I went to Dumbledore. To save her."

Harry looked at Snape dumbly. He hadn't actually expected the man to admit it.

"Well," said Harry, "I knew most of that already."

Snape's eyes widened.

"Don't worry, Voldemort doesn't have access to my mind, no matter what the Headmaster seems to think," said Harry.

"Thank you for your honesty," said Harry after a moment, "I don't necessarily think better of you, but I can accept that as a reason for your assistance."

Snape nodded somberly.

As Harry returned to the common room to inform Daphne and the rest about what was going on, he started to wonder, had he misjudged Snape?

XXXXX

**September 10th, 1995**

"Everyone line up!" yelled Tracey, "Seekers to the left, then beaters, then chasers, and finally keepers!"

The Slytherin team tryouts were far less crowded than they had been during Harry's second year. Harry noticed, as he stood to Tracey's left, that no one else came and stood near him.

"Well, guess you are Seeker by default Harry," said Tracey, "Why don't you come over here and give me a hand then?"

Tracey wanted a completely new tryout, but Harry wasn't sure why she'd bothered. Crabbe and Goyle were the only two people trying out for the beater positions. Millicent didn't have any competition either. The open chaser spot had attracted about six people vying for it. But that was about it.

Blaise and Nott weren't really in any danger. Crabbe and Goyle were better than they had been last time they tried out, but Blaise and Nott were now an experienced team. They utterly dominated Malfoy's personal goons.

As Nott finished up, he flew down past the chasers and gave Ginny a wink. Ginny rolled her eyes, then picked up her broom. Chasers were next.

And once again, she showed just how dominant she was at chaser. She put on a nearly flawless trial run. As she flew back to the ground, Blaise started clapping.

"Nice one, Weasley!" he shouted, before he began hooting and chanting at her.

"Thanks Blaise," she said wryly. She didn't like people making a big fuss about her usually, but Blaise doing so was weird. But then Harry noticed the glare Nott was giving Blaise, which explained everything, really. Blaise had intentionally done this to prevent Nott from having the opportunity to compliment Ginny himself.

"Everything all right?" Harry whispered to Ginny.

"Nott's been flirting with me recently," she said quietly, "It's annoying."

Harry nodded. "More annoying than Blaise hooting at you like that?" he asked.

"It is rather close," Ginny admitted.

Most of the other chasers were rather good, but none was a stand out among the others. Until Astoria flew. Harry had seen Daphne fly before, and she'd been rather good. But Astoria was a much better flyer. She didn't have Ginny's killer instincts, but she seemed comfortable in even the most dangerous situations she flew in.

"Astoria is just dying to live a little," said Harry to Tracey after everyone had left, "She's the best flyer by far, though her quaffle handling skills are a little rusty."

"That could be taken care of," said Tracey, "though I'm afraid what Daphne will say to me if I put her sister on the Quidditch team."

"Because of the curse?" Harry asked quietly.

Tracey nodded. "Daphne didn't want to discourage her sister, but she is really scared that the curse will leave her weakened if she gets hurt at Quidditch."

"I don't think that would be a problem at Hogwarts," said Harry, "The extra magic here should buffer her natural magical healthiness."

"I agree," said Tracey with a shake of her head, "I don't suppose you'd care to tell Daphne?"

"It's Bryant who's gonna flip," said Harry.

"Don't I know it," sighed Tracey.

XXXXX

**September 16th, 1995**

"We need to have a meeting of the war council," said Harry the next weekend, "but I don't want Umbridge finding us."

"Ohh, we need a secret room," said Luna excitedly, "We could use it to throw parties!"

Harry grinned. "That's exactly what we need," said Harry.

"Why not ask Dobby?" suggested Hermione, "The house elves know this castle better than anyone."

Harry grinned. Yes, Dobby would be the perfect person to ask.

XXXXX

**September 18th, 1995**

"So Dobby told you about this place?" asked Cedric.

"Yeah," said Harry, "the elves call it the Come and Go room, but it's proper name is the Room of Requirement, because it comes when you require it." It was also the place Lord Voldemort had deposited the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, which he had turned into one of his horcruxes. Harry had thought about destroying it already, but he was reluctant to do so while Dumbledore was in the castle, or while Umbridge was here. Plus, he and Ginny had just absorbed horcruxes this summer. He wasn't absolutely sure that there would be no ill effects from absorbing them, so he wanted to wait a while before absorbing another one.

The war council had already started to arrive. It had become an impressive group. Ron, Neville, Dean, Parvati, Lavender, Fred, George, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Colin and Dennis Creevey had come from Gryffindor. Ernie, Justin, Susan, Hannah, and Cedric were there from Hufflepuff. Padma, Sue, Cho, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner and Rebecca had come from Ravenclaw. And of course, from Slytherin, Harry himself plus Hermione, Ginny, Daphne, Tracey, Luna, and Astoria. Blaise still refused to take part on account of his 'shady' connections, and Seamus had said his connections were no better. Harry suspected they were up to something of their own to fight Voldemort, but he wasn't about to question them. He'd still keep trying to get them back though, they'd both be damned useful.

"So, the first thing we need to do is identify who is supporting the Death Eaters," said Hermione.

"If we find that out, what can we do about it?" asked Padma.

"Not much yet," said Harry, "but that should change fairly soon. We don't have a real plan yet, and won't until we get a handle on how big our problem actually is."

"There never were a lot of Death Eaters," said Neville, "or even supporters of the Death Eaters. It's just that the ones who were involved were influential."

"I might be able to get some ideas out of my aunt," said Susan, "If I frame in terms of who to avoid…"

"Worth a shot," said Harry, "And that being said, we need to start training with each other. Not necessarily in a big group, but we can coordinate practice sessions, so it won't seem as if anything special is going on. Everyone in this group has to be able to defend themselves."

"Isn't the IUC going to help there?" asked Cedric.

"It would," said Daphne, her voice sounding depressed, "and it will as much as it can. But I'm getting real pushback from Umbridge." Ron put his arm around her shoulders. Daphne lay her head back against his shoulder contentedly.

"Dumbledore is trying to pressure the IUC in order to get me to go along with his idea of how to fix things," said Harry.

"Maybe you should listen to the Headmaster," said Rebecca.

"He wants my cooperation? I'm willing. I told him what he had to do. He needs to come clean with me about the things he's lied to me about," Harry shook his head, "But after he failed me so spectacularly last year, It would be irresponsible for us to trust him implicitly."

Hermione nodded. "We have inside information that says the Headmaster intends to torpedo the IUC. It won't be too long now."

"Why not go to the Board of Governors?" demanded Angelina, "Surely Bryant Greengrass…"

"Since Daphne is involved in this, he can't take the lead in this," said Harry.

"Do you want us to prank Umbridge?" asked Fred.

"We'd make it a good one!" insisted George.

Harry shook his head. "Right now everything is under wraps. We don't need everything to spin out of control. Let's just keep our heads down for the time being, and see what Umbridge's next play is. That being said, be careful. That woman sent two dementors after me, and I'm not sure if she was just trying to get me expelled, or whether she actually wanted them to kill me."

"Another thing we should consider," said Daphne, "The war council is getting a bit unwieldy. Maybe we need to reorganize it. Centralize control…"

Harry shook his head. "The last thing we need is Fudge thinking I'm gathering an army, at least until we are certain he is no longer going to see us as a threat."

Everyone nodded.

"All right, now that we have a safe meeting place…" started Cedric.

"It's even safer than you might think," said Neville, "I bet if I experiment with this place I can get it to open doors all over the castle. We might be able to call meetings without anyone being the wiser."

Harry grinned. He hadn't even thought of that!

XXXXX

Ginny was one of the last to leave. She was certain Nott would be waiting for her in the Slytherin common room. He usually was. She turned to Luna, but her roommate had suddenly vanished.

"Have something on your mind?" asked Justin, who had just sat down next to her.

"A bit," said Ginny, "I certainly am not excited to have Nott fawning all over me."

"I heard he's been giving you trouble," said Justin, his voice suddenly tense.

"He isn't exactly," said Ginny, "He hasn't really done anything inappropriate yet. He asked me to dance at the Yule Ball and that was it. He just really obviously likes me, and I'm not interested in him at all. I wish he would come out and say it, then I could politely decline his offer. But he keeps acting all mysterious about it!"

"So you aren't looking for a date right now," said Justin.

"Well, that would depend on who was asking," said Ginny.

"What if I was asking you to go to the next Hogsmeade weekend with me?" asked Justin.

Ginny barely stopped herself from gasping. "I'd, uh, be glad to. I really would!"

"All right then," said Justin happily.

Ginny was so happy she couldn't contain it and ran out of the Room. She found Luna just outside.

"So, did he ask you?" Luna said expectantly.

"You knew he was going to, didn't you?" asked Ginny.

Luna nodded.

"Your aura sense must come in handy." said Ginny.

"It does," said Luna, "But that has nothing to do with this. He told me he was thinking of asking you and wanted to know if you would say yes."

"What did you tell him?" asked Ginny.

"Well he did ask you, didn't he?" said Luna with a wink.

Ginny couldn't argue with that.

XXXXX

**September 20th, 1995**

The second IUC meeting had gone well, thought Harry. Daphne had done a refresher course on the Patronus charm, which was always a fun thing to practice. Many of the older students who had taken Lupin's course had produced corporeal patroni, including Daphne herself. Harry had left the meeting feeling that things had gone very well.

But then Daphne hadn't come back. Harry and Hermione waited and waited for her to return, along with Tracey. Finally she charged into the common room, her eyes full of unshed tears.

"Dumbledore has disbanded the IUC," said Daphne, her voice thick with both anger and sadness as she threw herself on one of the sofas. Crookshanks leapt up onto her lap and Daphne began stroking the cat absently.

"What!?" demanded Hermione.

"Umbridge said the Patronus charm was too difficult for us to be casting without adult supervision," said Daphne, "Dumbledore disagreed, but was forced to admit it was within her rights as Defense teacher to insist we not practice it. I stood up for my people, said that we had a right to defend ourselves. And then I said… I said that the woman who sent two dementors to kill someone had no right to determine whether anyone else should be using the Patronus charm or not."

"Oh," said Tracey with a grimace.

"She blew up and immediately gave me detention. She demanded that the IUC be disbanded or she would bring this up with the Minster as an example of 'dangerous propaganda' brought up at Hogwarts." Daphne hung her head, "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault."

Harry shook his head as he gripped Daphne by both shoulders, "Telling the truth is never your fault. We shouldn't have to lie, and the fact that we do is their fault, not ours. What you did might not have been wise, but it was right. Never forget that, Daphne." And as he finished, he hugged her.

"Thanks Harry," said Daphne, "It means a lot to hear that."

"When is your detention?" asked Tracey.

"Next week," said Daphne.

XXXXX

**September 21st, 1995**

Harry wasn't about to take this lying down. Working with the war council, he quickly spread the word among the houses. When he stood up the next morning, everyone should be following his lead.

Harry waited until almost everyone was in the Great Hall for breakfast. When Dumbledore finally arrived Harry stood, immediately everyone in the hall hushed or was hushed. Harry walked up and stood in front of the staff table.

"Headmaster, would you care to explain why you have disbanded the Inter-house Unity Committee?" demanded Harry, "It seems to me that just because one teacher had a grudge against its president is not a good reason to disband it."

"Harry," said Dumbledore good-naturedly, "Professor Umbridge felt that it was serving as a distraction from her class."

Harry's eyes flashed dangerously. "I disagree, and I don't think I'm the only one." Harry held out his hand, holding the petition Hermione and Ginny had helped him write. "I have written a petition to the Board of Governors. I will be in the entrance hall if anyone wants to sign."

About half of the school stood up and followed him out immediately. About half of the rest followed a few moments later.

Harry couldn't be sure, but he thought that the headmaster was actually smiling.

XXXXX

**September 27th, 1995**

Despite their petition, the Board of Governors wasn't likely to meet for a few weeks, given how close to the start of term it was. So Harry had little to do but wait. Umbridge had not replied to Harry's stunt in the Great Hall yet.

That being said, Harry was worried about Daphne. So the evening of her detention he'd made sure to send her off with a hug and a smile. Surely nothing Umbridge would do as a Professor could be all that bad.

The next morning however, Daphne was nowhere to be found.

"She didn't come back at all last night!" said Tracey frantically.

Harry considered this a moment. "Maybe she went to the Room of Requirement," he said.

"Why would she do that?" asked Tracey.

"Because she wanted to see Ron afterwards, obviously," said Harry.

Harry made a beeline for the Room, Tracey and Hermione right behind him. He arrived, only to discover the room was already in use. Luckily the door wasn't closed against him, so Harry went right in.

The room was comfortably furnished with couches and chairs. On one of the couches, Ron was sitting, with Daphne clinging to him, her head buried in his chest. They were both dressed in their robes, and were asleep.

"There you are Daphne!" shouted Tracey, "I was so worried about you!"

"Oh, Merlin, Tracey! I forgot about you!" said Daphne.

"W-w-we didn't do anything!" shouted Ron as he woke up.

"I don't care what you did or didn't do in the slightest," said Harry, "Daphne, what did _she_ do to you?"

Daphne shuddered, and extended her hand. On it seemed to be lightly carved into her flesh the words, "I will not talk back to my teachers."

Harry's world went red. "Ron, you need any help killing Umbridge?" Harry asked.

"Harry, no," said Daphne, who was smiling through her obvious discomfort, "We have her."

**Author's Note:** Some people have been complaining about the characterization for Luna. Which is fair, Luna never acted like this in canon. But I have two points. One, Luna never really screwed up like she did in my story in actual canon. And two, Luna hasn't given her side of that story yet, we just have Daphne's speculation. Luna's storyline has it's climax between years 5 and 6, so you won't have to wait that long to get her side of things. But as you can all see, Luna didn't just sit around and wallow in her sorrow. Luna has a huge role to play in the very near future.

I'm not going to say much about the next chapter right now. Just that in the next chapter Harry and friends make their first big moves.


	37. Triumvirate Rising

**Chapter 37: Triumvirate Rising**

**September 27th, 1995**

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"This was done with a Blood Quill," said Daphne, her voice disgusted at what she was saying as she held out her hand, "Their sole use in magical law is the signing of certain contracts. Very, very few magical contracts call for them, and they are highly regulated. It is blatantly illegal for Dolores Umbridge to have one in her personal possession. The penalty for forcing someone to use one is a minimum of a year in Azkaban."

"Why would she risk using it on you?" asked Tracey.

"I told her I didn't know what it was when she showed it to me," said Daphne innocently.

"Wait, and she believed you?" said Harry.

Daphne nodded, a wry smile appearing on her face. "I think she didn't care if she got caught. I have a theory on that."

"It's still really dark magic, Daphne," said Ron.

"I know babe," said Daphne, "But now we have her."

"Has she used this on anyone else?" asked Harry.

Daphne's eyes widened. "Oh bloody hell, I should have thought of that."

Harry began to stroke his chin as he thought. "You know, we _could_ turn her in for this…"

"Ooooh, Harry has a plan," said Tracey.

"If she's using this as a standard punishment, we could kill two birds with one stone," mused Harry, "Deal with the other problem we've been having here at school as well."

"Oh, Harry... you think we can use this to get rid of Dumbledore?" asked Hermione.

Everyone in the room stared at Harry as if he was crazy.

"I do," said Harry, "The moment he surrendered to Umbridge on the IUC, he made it clear that he wouldn't stand up for the school, or for the students who needed his protection."

"I don't know," said Ron, "Fred and George have been keeping an eye on him. They seem to think he was happy you were standing up to Umbridge. I know Snape says that the headmaster is doing this to pressure you, but what if he's lying? What if instead Dumbledore's trying to get you to mobilize the school against Umbridge so her position here becomes untenable?"

"If that is the case, then simply turning this in would be the best course of action," said Tracey, "I know that Dumbledore hasn't done much to engender trust in you lately Harry, but I can't believe that he's this far gone."

"We need to summon the war council," said Harry, "get everyone's opinion."

Everyone nodded.

"Are you sure you're alright Daphne?" asked Harry.

Daphne grinned. "Ron just spent the night making me feel better. Right now, I'm _fine_."

Harry and Hermione laughed at that, while Tracey smiled tolerantly. Ron just blushed and grumbled quietly.

XXXXX

**October 2nd, 1995**

The war council met the next week. It was the same group as before, but with Blaise and Seamus added. Apparently Ginny had convinced them that they needed to be here for this one, though Harry wasn't sure how. Still they were all sitting comfortably in the Room of Requirement, which had summoned them a giant conference table with comfortable armchairs. Everyone had already been briefed on both of the two plans before this meeting.

"We've managed to confirm that at least six students have had Blood Quills used on them by Dolores Umbridge," Hermione explained to the assembled group, "This constitutes all of the detentions she had given that were not given to people part of Malfoy's anti-IUC group.

"Malfoy is clearly working with Umbridge then?" asked Sue.

"There's no doubt," said Justin, "Zacharias Smith saw him relaying information to her."

"I thought Zacharias was part of Malfoy's group," said Ginny.

"He got cold feet when Voldemort came back," said Hannah scornfully, "He's scared half to death that he's going to be forced to become a Death Eater."

"This is perfect then!" said Cedric, "We turn her in, Umbridge is gone, problem solved."

"There is still a problem," said Harry, "The fact that she is using the Blood Quill on multiple people is trouble."

"It means that she knows it is possible that someone would identify the Blood Quill for what it is, but she doesn't care," said Hermione, "Hell, if Daphne had recognized it, she had to know she'd also know how illegal it is."

"So what's her angle in using it then?" asked Alicia.

"I think she's trying to revive corporal punishment at Hogwarts," speculated Daphne, "she had to pivot away from discrediting Harry, so she's pushing that old darling of the purebloods."

Everyone looked at Daphne expectantly.

"It used to be common practice for corporal punishment to be used here," she explained, "I know everyone thinks that Argus Filch is full of nonsense when he goes around saying that the school used to torture people, and he mostly is, but they did once use corporal punishment. Headmaster Dippet phased it out though. But Hogwarts is still allowed to use it under the law, it just doesn't. A lot of crusty old purebloods think we should bring it back though."

"There is also a waiver for Hogwarts in the use of certain Dark objects for legitimate academic purposes," realised Padma, "Ever since Dumbledore took over the school hasn't taught any of those things, but the waiver still exists. Blood Quills are probably on that list. Umbridge could say she possessed the Blood Quill in her capacity as a teacher at Hogwarts. That wouldn't address how she got it of course…"

"I mean the Board of Governors would still fire her if we brought this to their attention," insisted Rebecca, "and Umbridge would get in legal trouble for acquiring one."

"Not if Fudge says he authorised it," said Daphne, "That's the real key here. Umbridge thinks she is invulnerable. She isn't thinking about public opinion."

"_If_ the news is public, it would give us no real leverage over Fudge. The damage would already be done and he would move on," said Harry, "But the threat of this information being released would force Fudge to come to the table. Along with our little trap of course."

"But that option has us getting rid of Dumbledore!" said Fred.

"I know he's been a royal pain in the arse, but isn't that going a bit far?" said George.

"I'm hesitant to pull the trigger on this one, I do admit," said Harry, "But this would also give us _lots_ of leverage over Fudge. We'd neutralize most of the friendly fire against us in one move, and could concentrate on planning against Voldemort."

"I think this is a bit too risky," disagreed Neville.

"I'd agree, if not for the tournament," said Cedric, "Dumbledore has been making a lot of mistakes lately."

"I agree," said Ron. While Ron hadn't been certain of this before, Harry knew that he had changed his mind when he realised that Dumbledore's refusal to stand up for Daphne had led to her being tortured with a Blood Quill.

"I think that Dumbledore wants us to deal with Umbridge," said Angelina, "It makes sense."

"It doesn't matter what Dumbledore wants," snapped Blaise, his voice cutting through everything else, "What matters is, as Headmaster of Hogwarts, he has failed. And he needs to be gone."

Everyone looked at Blaise. "Please,' said Harry, "continue."

"His job as Headmaster is to create an environment conducive for learning. He has failed there with Umbridge, that's for sure. But that's his lesser offense," said Blaise carefully, "He hasn't protected us, his other job. In fact, due to making Fudge a political enemy, he's made every student in this school a pawn in Fudge's political games."

"But surely that is Fudge's fault?" asked Angelina.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is!" shouted Blaise, "The fact that it has happened is enough! When he realized that his presence put the children at risk, he should have resigned! Instead we're now forced to play these games!"

"Everyone on this council has volunteered to be part of this," said Daphne.

"Did every student who is being forced to use a Blood Quill?" demanded Blaise, "Did Stacey Rutledge, the muggleborn second year who was forced to use a Blood Quill because she said the Ministry's policies seemed to hurt muggleborns, deserve to be forced to be a part of this? NO! Dumbledore has to go. He should have done it willingly, but he didn't, so we'll force him to do his duty."

Everyone hung their heads. Of course Blaise was right, they just hadn't wanted to admit it.

"Is everyone okay with the plan we've made up then?" asked Harry.

"I want to be a part of it," said Ginny.

"We can't risk Percy by letting any of the Weasleys get caught up in this," said Hermione.

"Speaking of which," said Harry, "One of Percy's last notes said Fudge intends to create a new position, Hogwarts Inquisitor, and intends to install Umbridge in the post."

"We need to do this before she takes that post," said Daphne, "that way we can ensure that she doesn't try to take the Headmaster's position from McGonagall."

"In fact, we need to make that one of our demands," said Luna, "Allowing Umbridge to take over would just be inviting an infestation of Nargles."

Everyone nodded their assent to the plan. A good number seemed quite reluctant to do so though.

"Thank you, everyone," said Harry, "especially those of you who are going to volunteer to help us."

"Oh, come now Harry," said Luna, "It's just like getting a tattoo."

"Say that when it's your hand," said Daphne.

"She will be," said Harry, "that's the whole point."

XXXXX

**October 5th, 1995**

They had to move fast, so Harry called the group that would be the center of this protest together as soon as he could. The choice had been made to use more than just the war council people, as that would give Umbridge too good an idea who was arrayed against her. So they had needed help from outside the war council, but there were lots of people dissatisfied with the disbanding of the IUC. Even those who hadn't taken the IUC's mission seriously missed the extra study sessions. Harry had made sure to explain what the likely consequences of this would be. Everyone stayed, they were all on board.

And now, they were all gathered outside the Dark Arts tower, about forty students total. Hermione was right next to Harry, and most of Harry's other friends were around. Ginny had stayed away as she'd been asked to, as had Ron, Fred, and George. Though, Fred and George were rather miffed about missing the whole thing.

Harry used the Sonorus charm on himself. "Bring back the IUC!" he shouted.

"DOWN WITH UMBRIDGE!" shouted the rest of the crowd.

"Bring back House Unity!" shouted Hermione through her own Sonorus.

"KICK UMBRIDGE OUT ON HER ARSE!" shouted the crowd.

They kept up the chants. Finally, they saw a rather furious Umbridge standing at the window.

"NOW!" shouted Tracey to a group in the crowd, which Harry noted also had Luna, Seamus and Blaise, as well as several other students. They began to walk forward. In formation.

"Oh, bollocks, what have they got planned?" wondered Harry. This had not been part of the plan he'd approved.

Suddenly, the entire group led by Tracey spun around and lifted their robes, pointing their (bare) backsides squarely at Umbridge. There were letters on each cheek, spelling DOWN WITH UMBRIDGE.

"Oh dear," said Hermione, though her eyes were lit mischievously, "Well, now we know why Fred and George were so upset to miss this."

"Not everyday you get to show your arse to a teacher," agreed Harry, as the student

"I'd almost have been willing to join in," said Hermione, "Almost, mind you. For the cause of course."

"I'd give a lot to see that," said Harry with a grin.

"Well, I'll see if I can arrange that for you," said Hermione archly, "In private."

Harry grinned. "What has Slytherin house done to you Miss Granger?"

"What is the meaning of this!" screamed Umbridge who had managed to get down here so fast Harry wasn't sure how she had done it without apparating.

"We're protesting your incompetent teaching!" shouted Daphne. Tracey and her group all cheered at that as they spun around and mooned Umbridge again. Unfortunately, they were now out of order so their message read WION HTDW RIDGEBUM.

"Detention for all of you!" screamed Umbridge.

The crowd just cheered.

As they walked back to the Slytherin common room, Harry and Hermione walked up to Tracey.

"Nice little addition you had there," said Hermione.

"Oh, that was fun!" said Tracey.

"I'll say," said Harry, "Though I do say that as someone who just saw your bum."

Tracey giggled. "I know, right? Was it all you thought it would be?"

"Seamus's was better," said Harry with a straight face.

Tracey grinned, "Well of course it was, I'm not pretending to be perfect!"

"Don't listen to this philistine!" said Blaise, who was running to catch up to them. "Your backside stole the show!"

"This conversation is getting really weird," said Hermione.

"Ginny's going to be mad she didn't get to participate," said Luna.

Somehow, Harry wasn't so sure about that.

XXXXX

**October 11th, 1995**

As expected, Umbridge didn't waste time assigning Harry's group a single mass detention.

"She's really doing this," said Hermione to Harry as they got ready to go to the detention. They were both in their room, putting their books away.

"Yeah," said Harry, "She got away with it before, why won't she now?"

Hermione suddenly hugged Harry. "I'm really not looking forward to this."

"Neither am I," agreed Harry, "but when it's over, Umbridge will have given us everything we want. And I'll be here to kiss it and make it better, after all."

"I have a plan to help you get better too," said Hermione.

"Oh?" said Harry.

"Like our friends the other day, I have a message written on my bum," Hermione replied, "But this one is private."

Harry grinned.

XXXXX

As expected Umbridge assigned them lines. With Blood Quills. Each of them had a Blood Quill. Harry guessed she must have duplicated it, because he couldn't believe she had forty Blood Quills lying around. So they went at it for a bit, writing "I will not disrespect my professors," over and over again. And it hurt. It hurt a lot. But it would be worth it.

Daphne raised an eyebrow about 15 minutes in. Harry nodded at her. She quietly pulled out her wand and pointed it at Umbridge. Unfortunately, Umbridge chose that moment to look up.

"Miss Greengrass, what are you…?" started Umbridge.

And Daphne stunned her.

"Her seeing us is a problem," seethed Hermione.

"No it isn't," said Luna, "I've been playing around with obliviation and other mind magics, remember?"

Harry looked at Luna skeptically.

"I mean the worst that happens is I erase Dolores Umbridge's mind," said Luna, "no big loss."

Harry grinned viciously.

"Okay, everyone," ordered Hermione, "We have to finish our lines. And then sign them. We want the toad to know who the good boys and girls were now, don't we?"

Everyone laughed, as they got to work.

XXXXX

Dolores Umbridge awoke with a start. Had she fallen asleep during detention? That really did look rather bad, but she supposed the mood she'd been in had been rather exhausting. Everyone was gone, which was annoying, but all the students who'd been in detention had left signed sheets with their lines written on them in brilliant crimson. A brief inspection said they were complete. Umbridge gathered them up and filed them away in a drawer, giving no more thought to them.

XXXXX

**October 12th, 1995**

Draco Malfoy was sitting in the common room when Potter came in with Lovegood and Greengrass. They were always lording it over him these days because Potter was a prefect. Umbridge had put him in his place a few times, but that was only a minor balm to Malfoy. He needed to do something to Potter. And soon.

"Remember Luna, don't just leave that lying around," said Daphne.

"If Umbridge gets her hands on that contract we're all fucked," said Harry.

"Don't worry, I just need to get a couple more signatures," agreed Luna.

Draco stopped paying attention. Harry and his friends never left him anything interesting. They were quite effective at information security. Though they'd never given Luna anything all that important that he could tell.

So when he saw that Luna had left something behind, Draco decided to investigate it. It was a piece of parchment, labeled, "Dumbledore's Army: Those who have signed agree to join in the overthrow of Cornelius Fudge and his Tyranny."

Draco couldn't believe his good fortune. He grabbed the sheet and ran out of the common room, heading straight for Umbridge's office. He didn't notice the eyes of Ginny Weasley on him the whole time.

XXXXX

**October 24th, 1995**

It was a week before Halloween when it happened. Percy had promised them as much warning as he could give. In this case, it wasn't much, but enough time for Harry, Hermione, and Daphne to run down to the Entrance Hall.

Professor McGonagall was there as well.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, Miss Greengrass, why do I suddenly feel as if you being here has something to do with why Umbridge summoned me here," said the Deputy Headmistress.

"Because you are a very intelligent woman," said Harry with a smile, "Oh, and for what it's worth, I'm sorry about what's about to happen. It's dreadfully unfair to you, I know."

"Wait, what?" asked McGonagall.

"The Board of Governors is voting on removing Dumbledore right now," said Harry, "And Fudge is on his way to gloat. His gloating will be rather… short lived."

"Potter, what have you done?" demanded McGonagall.

"Only what he had too," assured Daphne.

"If Dumbledore had stood up for Daphne and the IUC, it wouldn't have been necessary," said Hermione.

McGonagall was about to reply when Umbridge entered with Fudge and two aurors; Dawlish (whom Harry recognized from his time living in Diagon Alley) and Kingsley Shacklebolt. When Umbridge saw Harry and his two friends she laughed.

"We're about to take down your precious headmaster!" snarled Umbridge. Harry looked at Hermione and Daphne and shrugged.

"Come along boy and see what a real player of the game can do," said Fudge triumphantly.

"Let's go," said Harry as his grin turned savage. Hermione and Daphne followed him, along with a very confused Minerva McGonagall.

XXXXX

Fudge charged into Dumbledore's office, Umbridge and the aurors behind him. Harry, his friends, and McGonagall were all right behind.

"I have you now!" shouted Fudge as he threw down a sheet of parchment. It was the list Luna had left for Draco. Harry resisted the urge to laugh.

Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly as he saw the parchment. He had definitely not been expecting that.

"Even now, the board of Governors is moving to remove you!" shouted a triumphant Umbridge, "They just got done examining this list privately!"

It almost hurt Harry to keep silent. Much as he was enjoying seeing the Headmaster on the back foot, he really wanted to get to the part where he turned the tables on Fudge. Fudge must have been in a hurry if he hadn't even waited for the Board of Governors to comment on his 'evidence.'

"Well, it seems you've caught me," said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eyes. Had he seen through what Harry did? Possibly, but it probably didn't matter. He had to know that Harry had arranged this at the least.

"How can I contend with such solid evidence as this?" asked Dumbledore, "I suppose that the board will remove me at this point regardless of what evidence I bring up. Isn't that right, Miss Greengrass."

"My father indicated that you should have resigned when it became clear that the Ministry intended to interfere at Hogwarts," said Daphne.

Dumbledore nodded, "He is probably correct. I had rather hoped that Cornelius here would see reason."

"Well, he's about to," said Harry, his smile vicious.

"I see," said Dumbledore, "Then I guess all I have left to do is one thing."

"What you will do is accompany these aurors to a Ministry holding cell, on charges of treason and attempted insurrection," said Fudge angrily.

Harry finally did start laughing. "That's a good one Fudge, say it again!" he said as he tried to stop his chortles.

"Harry has quite correctly deduced that I do not intend to, as they say, 'come along quietly.'" said Dumbledore. Suddenly his phoenix, Fawkes was flying in. And just like that, Dumbledore was gone.

Harry began to clap. "Well played, Professor, well played."

"Potter, you seem to be acting as if you aren't in trouble yourself," said Umbridge.

"Oh Professor Umbridge, how can you be this dense?" said Harry, "Don't you see what's going on here? Surely you have to suspect by now that things aren't what they appear to be. Now, one more thing has to happen before the other shoe drops."

The fire in Dumbledore's quarter suddenly flared to life, and the head of Percy Weasley emerged. "Minister, Minister."

"Yes, Percy," said Fudge impatiently.

"The Board has voted to remove Dumbledore," said Percy, "Though they rejected your evidence. They say it was an obvious forgery! They removed Dumbledore based on Bryant Greengrasses' insistence that Dumbledore had put the students at risk."

"What?" said Fudge, his eyes shocked, "It is real! It was even signed with a Blood Quill!"

"And it is entirely non-binding," said Daphne, casting a spell at the parchment. Every name on it started glowing red.

"What? But a document signed with a Blood Quill like this is binding!" insisted Umbridge.

"Unless it is signed by means of a duplication charm of some sort," said Harry.

"This looks more like a combination of duplication and the Protean charm," said Hermione as if she hadn't been the one to cast the spells.

"Notice the names of the people on that list," said Harry, "They are _exactly_ the people who were in detention with you Professor Umbridge. You made us write lines with Blood Quills."

"She did WHAT?!" screamed McGonagall, her wand now out.

Fudge was staring at Umbridge like she was insane. "Merlin! How could you be so stupid! That alone is enough to sink your career down the toilet!"

"Funny thing, all of us signed those sheets," continued Harry, "It's almost as if someone enchanted them to duplicate the names on another sheet. Auror Shacklebolt, I think you need to be in possession of that sheet, NOW."

Kingsley grabbed the parchment. "Sorry Minister, but if this evidence has been forged, that is a serious crime and we can't ignore it."

"As Minister…" started Fudge.

"Interfering in an official Auror investigation is a crime, even for the Minister for Magic," said Hermione.

"If the sheets we used for our lines have the duplication and protean charm necessary to automatically transfer a signature from one document to another, it will show up on those sheets," said Harry.

"Excuse me, while I go get them," cried out Umbridge before she ran out of the room..

"And excuse us while we make sure she isn't destroying evidence," said Dawlish, before following her with Kingsley.

"Oh good, both Aurors left," said Harry, "We can speak openly Minister."

"They aren't going to find those parchment sheets, are they?" asked Fudge.

"We placed them under a Fidelius charm when Umbridge wasn't looking, so probably not," admitted Harry, "They won't find them until we tell them to."

"Umbridge is going to go crazy trying to figure out why she can't remember the location of one of her desk drawers though," said Hermione.

"So…" started Fudge.

"What this means is that this incident will become public, along with everything else that has happened, if, and only if, we don't come to some sort of arrangement," said Harry.

"If I could prove that it was you that rigged this whole thing…"

"You won't," said Harry, "And the fact is, Umbridge used a Blood Quill on us. You could, of course, just fire her. I mean Greengrass would basically be able to take over the Wizengamot at that point and would probably unseat you as Minister before long, but you could do that."

"Or I can come to an agreement with you?" asked Fudge.

"First things first," said Harry, "_Legilimens!_"

And suddenly Harry was pouring all his memories of Voldemort's return directly into Fudge's mind.

"Harry! What are you doing!" shouted McGonagall.

Fudge held up his hand to stop McGonagall from interfering. Moments later, Harry cut the contact.

"That is _not _the preferred way to share a memory Potter, but it did the trick I guess," said Fudge, "Bloody _fucking_ hell, he's back! All this effort to deny it, and he's actually back! My career is over."

"Maybe not," said Harry, his eyes flashing, "If you start taking action in secret, you can say you were trying to lull the Death Eaters into a false sense of security."

"Perhaps," said Fudge, "Yes, that could work. But how do I explain Dumbledore?"

"Don't," said Daphne, "The Board of Governors didn't boot him out because of your evidence, it was because he was putting our education in danger by feuding with you."

"A feud that will continue in public for a while," said Harry.

"So I'd be covered there as well," mused Fudge.

"I only have one demand," said Harry.

"Oh?" asked Fudge.

"Umbridge must obey the school rules from now on and under no circumstances can Umbridge become Headmistress of Hogwarts. EVER," said Hermione.

Fudge smiled grimly. "That I can understand. How did Dolores make such a huge mistake?"

"For the second time," said Daphne.

"This _was_ a rather deliberate trap on our part this time though," said Hermione.

"I suppose this makes Minerva here acting Headmistress," said Fudge.

"So this was why you were apologizing earlier Potter," realised McGonagall.

"Can you say Dumbledore was doing the right thing in regards to the safety of the school recently?" asked Harry.

"No I cannot," said Acting Headmistress McGonagall, "Very well, I suppose I will need to be keeping Dolores on a short leash."

"Actually, she's going to be a pain in your arse," said Harry.

"Oh damnation, I forgot about that!" said Fudge, "They're voting on giving her that stupid Inquisitor position in a few days! I can't stop that vote, it cost me too much political capital to arrange it!"

"Don't worry," said Harry, "So long as you don't try to apply pressure to the Board of Governors, Headmistress McGonagall here is more than a match for Umbridge. Let her keep her empty title."

"Speaking of which, I think my first action as acting Headmistress will be to restore the IUC," said McGonagall.

"Good," agreed Daphne, "But they'll need a new president. I'm stepping down from the role. Umbridge's hate for me made the IUC a target. That can't be allowed to happen again."

"That is very responsible Daphne," said McGonagall.

"Make sure Umbridge doesn't step out of line again Fudge," said Harry menacingly, "I won't be so gentle with her next time."

Fudge nodded, but Harry saw a little flash of defiance in his eyes. He was cowed, but only for now.

XXXXX

**November 1st, 1995**

The announcement of McGonagall as Headmistress the next morning sent shockwaves through the school. The announcement on Halloween that Umbridge had been appointed Hogwarts Inquisitor also sent shockwaves through the school. Everyone knew that this was going to be a harbinger of things to come, but no one knew where the first blow was going to fall.

It fell over the IUC. Umbridge's first act was to Issue an Educational Decree that disbanded all student organizations. McGonagall immediately ordered this placed on hold and appealed the decree to the Board of Governors. The Board officially revoked the decree, and chided Umbridge in a public statement that indicated she had the right to review educational standards and student discipline standards, but had no right to interfere in school living standards or extra-curricular activities, and certainly had no right to interfere with the right of free association. Umbridge responded by asking Fudge for the authority to control all aspects of Hogwarts, but Fudge was true to his word and declined to do so.

"Next she'll try to get the authority to mandate what is an appropriate subject for study at Hogwarts," said Hermione, as she was talking to Ginny and Daphne in her room the day after, "It makes sense, and I think even the Board of Governors will have to cave a little there. But she won't do it right away."

"Why not? You'd think she'd want to recover some face after a stinging rebuke like that," said Daphne.

"This is bureaucracy, not politics," said Hermione, "Slow and steady wins the race here. She will need to build her case, and to do that she will need to provide examples to convince her superiors that a new rule is needed."

"My father…" said Daphne.

"Won't matter, he's just one vote," said Hermione, "Umbridge still has Fudge at her back as far as everyone else on the Board of Governors knows. If Umbridge comes at them with a full report, they'll figure he will pass a law if they don't act."

"He won't though," said Daphne.

"And all they will have on that is your father's word, since we can't exactly tell them we've blackmailed the Minister for Magic, can we?" said Ginny.

"That will open the door for Umbridge to regulate a lot of student conduct," said Hermione, "Though enforcement will be another matter. If the other teachers refuse to enforce it, she'll be powerless. So she'll be interviewing each professor, and any professors that refuse to play ball with her will find themselves on probation."

"Why didn't we force Fudge to withdraw her name?" asked Ginny.

"He'd never have agreed to that," said Daphne, "He spent too much political capital to get that vote. Withdrawing that measure would have alienated everyone who agreed to push it through. He'd have gone down fighting. And who knows how that would have ended up?"

"Umbridge is a masterful bureaucrat," said Hermione, "But she's impatient when she gets close to her goal. There's a reason she was moved out of the Improper Use of Magic office. She'll mess up again, count on it."

"What happened?" asked Daphne.

"Susan says that her aunt told her to be careful of Umbridge as soon as she was made inquisitor," explained Hermione, "Apparently, she was up for heading the Improper Use of Magic office, but got caught using blood quills on the clerks. Fudge had just been elected the first time though, and moved her to a Junior Undersecretary position right away. Apparently she'd been advising him on his campaign all along."

"Wonderful," said Daphne, "so she's completely psychotic."

XXXXX

**November 11th, 1995**

The Gryffindor/Slytherin Quidditch match was, frankly, insane.

Ron Weasley was the new Gryffindor Keeper, and by all accounts, the Slytherins thought he was going to be tough. Harry had to admit that Ron had come a long way in the years he'd known him. He was a lot more confident than he used to be, and less stubborn as well. Being the de-facto leader of the Gryffindor boys in his year had helped with that. He wasn't as good as Wood, but he was probably a bit better than Millie, who admitted herself that she was only above average.

On the Slytherin side, Astoria had caught up very well. Harry had to admit, Tracey was an amazing captain. Astoria's confidence with the quaffle had improved tremendously largely due to the rather innovative drills Tracey had put her through which forced her to handle the Quaffle expertly. She wasn't going to outfly Angelina Johnson, but she couldn't be isolated and ignored either.

And in truth, Harry was convinced that the teamwork Tracey was instilling in the Slytherin team was astounding. They really were close to reading each other's minds. Fred and George had close to that on the Gryffindor team, but the Slytherins would be just a bit behind.

The resulting match was, in a word, brilliant. Fred and George were still better than Blaise and Nott, but not enough so that they could dominate the match. Instead the bludger game was more or less even, and ultimately this meant that the battle between chasers was all the more important.

And that battle was brilliant. The Gryffindors had good teamwork, and they were generally better at flying. They were especially good at stealing the Quaffle. Tracey had countered this by staggering her chaser line sometimes and utilizing a highly effective chaser wedge at others. Simply put, no matter how hard they tried, the Gryffindors couldn't break the Slytherin formations. And the Slytherin defense was good at limiting passing.

The result was not a high scoring game, as both sides were playing excellent defense. But it was action packed. Even small mistakes were being punished severely. Astoria was proving the weak link in Slytherin's defense, but she was performing admirably when she had the Quaffle. The Gryffindors usually had a ten or twenty point lead, but they couldn't open it up.

As usual, it came down to the seekers. Colin had finally put on some weight, so he wasn't nearly as tiny as he had his first two years. This led to him having less maneuverability. But he was much more alert and skilled at spotting the snitch than he had been. Three times Harry barely stopped Colin from grabbing the snitch.

But in the end, it was Astoria who proved the decisive factor. The fourth time Harry and Colin were racing for the snitch, Astoria broke off from the Slytherin formation and flew right across Colin's path. He was forced to swerve wide, and Harry was able to pull ahead and snag the snitch.

Tracey had been about to pass to Astoria, only to see she wasn't there. Her puzzled face gave way to realization when she heard Lee Jordan's voice declare that Slytherin had caught the snitch.

"Good eye, Astoria!" shouted Tracey as she flew by.

Daphne had run down to the pitch of course. "Astoria!" she cried out, "When you flew in front of Colin my heart nearly stopped!"

"Oh please," said Astoria, "I was in no danger. Madam Pomfrey is right over there. And Colin wouldn't have hit me either."

Daphne looked rather annoyed at this, but wasn't really in a position to say anything more.

"Hey Harry!" shouted Hermione right outside the Slytherin locker room, "Nice catch!"

"Thanks," said Harry.

"I'm going to have to figure out some way to reward you for all the things you've been doing," said Hermione.

Harry grinned.

XXXXX

**November 20th, 1995**

"That was a mess," said Harry.

They had just had another meeting of the war council, and it hadn't gone well. About a third of the council was still a bit upset that Dumbledore was gone, another third thought things weren't moving fast enough and wanted to depose Umbridge immediately and the last third wanted to make sure everything remained completely secret, to the detriment of doing anything.

"We need more centralized leadership," said Daphne, "You need to take charge. They'll listen to you, Harry."

"I have no desire to take charge," said Harry, "And I won't unless the group asks me to do so."

Harry had stormed out shortly after that when everyone had insisted that he needed to take control. Daphne understood his hesitation, but felt it was misplaced.

So now Daphne found herself outside Blaise's room. She knocked politely. Blaise opened the door.

"Trouble?" asked Blaise.

"Yeah," said Daphne, "Harry is being stubborn. We need him to take charge of the war council. But he refuses to do it."

"Understandable," said Blaise, "The idea that he is turning Dark and is trying to create his own mini Death Eaters is something he tries hard to refute. It gets a lot harder if he actually puts himself in charge of his own faction. He still needs to do it, but I get why he doesn't want to."

"How do I get him to change his mind?" asked Daphne.

Blaise considered this for a moment. "Maybe we don't need to. I think the real problem is that Harry is worried that Dumbledore's criticism is right."

"What?" demanded Daphne, "What are you talking about?"

"Both Harry and Ginny have absorbed horcruxes," said Blaise.

"They haven't…" started Daphne

"Don't bother denying it, it is incredibly obvious," said Blaise smugly, "Harry is a bad liar, at least by my standards."

"Luna told you, didn't she?" asked Daphne with a smirk.

"That's a lie! A dirty lie!" said Blaise evasively, "But back on topic, before he absorbed the horcrux, Harry going Dark would have been ludicrous. But now, I think it worries him a bit. He needs to be sure that he isn't being influenced by Lord Dingus' memories. So, he has started to pull back from his leadership role. What we need is to design some way that his judgement can be checked, if necessary."

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of all this?" asked Daphne.

"Not if we take a note from the original gangsters," said Blaise, "The Romans. Marcus Licinius Crassus, and his buddies Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar."

Daphne gasped. "A Triumvirate!"

"Three leaders. An issue comes up, the council discusses, the Triumvirate votes, and the council does whatever the majority of the Triumvirate says," said Blaise.

"Who should the leaders be?" wondered Daphne.

"Who do you think?" asked Blaise, "Who does Harry trust the most?"

Daphne gasped as she realized what had to be done.

XXXXX

**November 23rd, 1995**

The war council met again three days later, by general agreement. They had to try to work through these problems.

"I would like to say something before we all begin," said Daphne as soon as they all were gathered.

"Of course, Daphne," said Cedric, who had taken it upon himself to start moderating these discussions. Not that it had helped.

"Our last session was very unproductive," said Daphne, "And part of that is that while we all agree on our general goals, all of us have different ideas about how to achieve them. That's great, but we don't have the resources to do everything. We have to make some decisions, but nothing has majority support. So I say, we need a leader."

"Daphne, we talked about this," said Harry.

"And I have modified my ideas a bit," said Daphne, "Obviously Harry is the one who brought us all together, and he's the one we trust the most, he makes the most logical leader."

"There are reasons that I should not be leading," said Harry.

"Harry is worried because he and Ginny have, in the process of destroying Voldemort's horcruxes, accidently absorbed his memories," said Daphne intentionally using his name.

"WHAT?" yelled Ron, "Ginny, why didn't you tell us!" The twins looked similarly shocked.

"Daphne!" shouted Ginny.

"Sorry," said Daphne, "but they need to know. Now. Because that makes Harry perfect to lead the fight against Voldemort. Has anyone noticed Harry acting any different this school year? Because he didn't have those memories before then."

"He has been more knowledgeable," said Sue, "But his values and priorities seem to be the same."

"I agree," said Justin, "It's still Harry, and I'd trust him to lead us."

"But I don't trust myself to lead us!" said Harry.

"Well, maybe no one person should lead us," said Daphne, "maybe we should appoint more than one leader. So we can discuss things, give advice and then have three leaders vote on it and tell us what we are doing."

"A Triumvirate!" said Justin.

"Exactly!" said Daphne, "So Harry would be one leader, but we'd have two others to keep him in check. Not because of the bit of Voldemort in Harry's head, but because all power should be checked."

Everyone nodded.

"I nominate Ginny Weasley," said Justin, "If she has You-Know-Who's memories too, we need her there."

"I concur," said Luna, "Ginny has definitely dealt with all her wrackspurts from being possessed by Voldemort. She can be trusted."

"Should we make Cedric or Rebecca #3?" asked Angelina.

"No, we're leaving at the end of the year," said Cedric, "I want to stay involved, but I can't lead from outside the school, at least not yet."

"What about you Daphne?" asked Tracey.

"I might not be the worst choice," admitted Daphne, "but it hasn't been my compassion and outrage that were what drove Harry to form this group in the first place. That honor belongs to Hermione. I nominate Hermione Granger to be #2. Ginny will be #3."

"What is the importance of the numbers?" asked Dean.

"Who's in charge during a crisis," said Daphne, "but outside of that, they'd be equals."

"Sounds like a plan," said Ernie.

"Can you live with this?" Daphne asked Harry.

Harry stood silent for a long time. "I trust Hermione and Ginny with my life," he said finally, "Yes, if they are acting as a check on me I'll agree to do this."

"All in favour?" asked Daphne.

Every hand went up, except Harry, Hermione and Ginny.

"We're abstaining," explained Ginny.

"The motion carries," said Cedric.

"I think that the war council needs a new name," said Luna, "given that we have new leadership."

"What do you have in mind?" asked Ginny.

"Well Umbridge didn't like Dumbledore's Army," observed Luna, "So we can be the Army of the Triumvirate."

"I like it," said Fred.

"It is catchier than the war council," admitted Hermione.

"I'm for it," said Ginny.

Everyone voiced their agreement.

"Well, it's unanimous then," said Harry, "We are now the Army of the Triumvirate!"

**Author's Note:**

I bet you didn't see _that_ coming! The shift to the Army of the Triumvirate is something I've been slowly setting up for a while, and Harry forcing out Dumbledore and taming Fudge was one of the earliest story beats I came up with. Originally, of course, it was a lot more personal. as Harry would have blamed Fudge for killing Sirius.

A key point, look at the contrast between Dumbledore not being willing to resign as Headmaster and Daphne willingly surrendering the presidency of the IUC. The main takeaway is that Daphne is showing her aptitude for leadership. It will be important later on.

Next Time: Shit gets real.


	38. Paying the Price

**Content Warning:** Character Death

**Chapter 38: Paying the Price**

**December 18th, 1995**

As Hermione predicted, Umbridge had gone quiet for a while. It was a welcome respite from the chaos of September and October, but Harry was uneasy. The Death Eaters were making moves behind the scenes as well. Hagrid had returned, and while he hadn't said much, he noted that the giants had joined Voldemort, or would do so in the future. Bad news, but not surprising. Harry liked Hagrid, but he questioned the wisdom of sending half-giants to do the negotiating. By all accounts, most giants treated half-giants with contempt.

But as the Christmas Holidays approached, Harry began to grow uneasy. Things had gone too well for too long. Something was bound to go badly. Harry was happy about the upcoming break however. Hermione would be staying with Sirius and the Weasleys at Grimmauld Place this year, as the Ministry had not yet openly begun taking measures against the Death Eaters. Harry had no idea what the Order was doing now, aside from his conversation with Hagrid. Even Snape wasn't telling him much, though Snape kept hinting that he'd like to tell Harry more now that Dumbledore was gone.

A few days before the students were set to leave for the Holiday break, Harry found himself woken rather rudely in the middle of the night. Snape had burst into the room he shared with Hermione.

"Wake up Potter, Granger," growled the head of Slytherin, "Something's happened. We're moving you to Grimmauld Place now."

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"We will explain momentarily," said Snape. He gave them a few minutes to get dressed, then he led them to the common room where Ginny was already standing there dressed. He led them quickly up to the Headmistresses office, where they found Ron, Fred and George.

McGonagall arrived a moment later. "I will cut to the chase. Arthur Weasley was attacked tonight on business for the Order of the Phoenix. He was standing guard and he was attacked by an unknown assailant. I do not know the details, except that he was very badly injured, and he is currently at St. Mungos."

Ginny gasped. Ron and the twins looked worried. Harry shook his head. If Voldemort had started to move, it would be very bad. They weren't ready yet!

"Was this attack directed against Mr. Weasley?" asked Hermione.

"We don't believe so," answered McGonagall, "As I said, he was standing guard. Luckily, he was in the Ministry at the time and someone found him relatively quickly."

"In the Ministry?" asked Harry, "Why would he be there?"

"We cannot answer that Harry," said Snape, "But he was injured just outside the Department of Mysteries."

Harry's heart sank. Ginny's face had just gone blank.

"We have opened up a floo connection to the Order Headquarters," said McGonagall, "Sirius will fill you in with what he knows. Dobby will bring your things to you, as he had been there before."

Harry nodded distantly. Was this his fault? Was this because Arthur had been guarding the prophecy?

Hermione had walked over and put an arm around Ginny. Ginny hadn't even seemed to notice.

XXXXX

"Sirius!" yelled Harry as he leapt out of the floo.

"Harry," said Sirius somberly.

Harry had been the last one through the floo. Sirius was there, as were Remus and Tonks.

"How is he?" asked Ron.

"Bad," said Sirius, "He was attacked by some sort of snake. We think it might have been You-Know-Who's familiar. They found him about 30 minutes after he had been attacked, and with venomous snake attacks, every minute counts. If they'd been even a couple minutes later, he'd already be dead."

"We need the four of you to proceed to St. Mungo's immediately," Tonks said to Ron, Ginny and the Twins.

Harry cringed. That was bad.

"Hermione and I should go as well," insisted Harry, "We'll stay out of everyone's way, we'll just be... nearby." He looked Tonks in the eye seriously. She nodded, as she realised he understood what was happening. None of the Weasleys seemed to notice.

"Okay," said Sirius, "We'll send the Weasleys through first."

Ron, Ginny and both Fred and George piled through the Floo to St. Mungos. Harry and Hermione soon followed.

As they came through the floo, they saw Molly Weasley waiting for them. "Oh, Harry, Hermione, you didn't have to come!"

"Nonsense," said Harry, "Ron and Ginny are among our closest friends. We needed to be here for them."

Molly nodded, though she seemed to be barely keeping it together. She too seemed to understand what Harry was saying. "Of course... that is very kind of you Harry, Hermione."

Molly turned to her children, "Your father is very, very ill. They have purged the venom from his body, but his internal organs have started shutting down. They are still working on him and using spells designed to keep his organs functioning while they are repaired. It is very tricky work. Hopefully, it will be many hours before we know more."

Meaning that if it was sooner, it would be very bad news, thought Harry.

They spent several hours in the waiting room, and before they knew it, it was daybreak. There was one update at about 5 AM when a Healer said they were making progress, but Arthur was still very much in danger.

As the sun started to come up, Harry began to feel a bit restless. "Hermione, why don't we go to the fifth floor and get some food? Anyone else want something?"

"No thank you Harry," replied Molly, "It is kind of you to ask."

No one else wanted to go either, so Harry and Hermione left on their own.

"Let's explore this place a bit," said Harry, "I've never been here before."

"I was here after my second year," said Hermione, "They weren't much help. Magical healing hasn't caught up to psychiatric medicine yet."

Unfortunately, Harry and Hermione managed to accidentally walk out onto the fourth floor, instead of the fifth. It took them a few minutes to realize their mistake, and as they made their way back to the lift. But as they approached the lift, Augusta Longbottom walked off.

"Harry Potter," said Augusta, "I remember you from your trial. And I suppose this is the impressive Hermione Granger."

"Yes," said Hermione proudly.

"Neville has told me all about you," said Augusta, "He thinks very highly of both of you."

"Are you here to see Frank and Alice?" asked Harry.

"Yes," said Augusta wearily, "I come here most days, as early as I can. I was going to tell them Neville will be visiting soon. It's good that he's been telling his friends about them."

"He hasn't," said Harry, "But their condition isn't exactly a secret."

"Neville needs to stop being ashamed of his parents," said August angrily.

"He isn't," said Hermione, "But think about it for a moment. Neville never knew his parents. They're alive, but they've never been a real presence in his life."

"I don't like to talk about my parents either," said Harry, "At least not with people I'm not really close with. Neville's got friends, but he's only recently started to become comfortable with us. When he needs to talk, he'll talk."

Augusta sighed. "I suppose you are right. I have heard about Arthur. I hope he makes a full recovery. Thank you for your time Mr. Potter."

"Mrs. Longbottom," said Harry with a slight nod of the head.

Harry and Hermione managed to get some quick tea and a few scones before they made their way down to the waiting area again. The Weasleys were still there.

About an hour later one of the Healers came out. "We've done all we can for him," she said sadly, "We've managed to make him comfortable, and you can see him now. But you should go in there now, as once our spells fail, he won't last much longer."

"What?" demanded Molly desperately, "can't you…"

"Mrs. Weasley, we couldn't apply any more spells to him. His body was on the verge of dying from shock. We stopped to give you this last moment with him, otherwise he would already be gone. The damage from the venom was simply too severe to repair."

Ginny stood up. "We need to go in mum," she said forcefully, "We're out of time."

Ron walked over to his mother, who was on the verge of tears. "Come on mum, we'll go in together." Ron took her hand and led her after Ginny. Uncharacteristically, the twins were left speechless.

Hermione buried her face in Harry's shoulder. She was crying, though not heavily. Harry reached around and patted her back. He tried to keep his tears in check. And it almost worked.

A few minutes later, Sirius, Remus and Tonks arrived. Remus and Tonks were not so subtly holding hands.

"How's it going?" asked Sirius.

Harry shook his head. "The Weasley's are in with Arthur," said Harry, "It won't be long now."

Sirius hung his head sadly. Remus squeezed Tonks' hand.

Suddenly Percy Weasley ran into the waiting area. "Harry, Hermione, I was just informed…"

"That way!" shouted Harry pointing at the door the Weasley's had just gone through. Percy nodded thankfully and ran through.

It was several minutes more, and suddenly Ginny burst out of the door, tears in her eyes. But Harry and Hermione were on their feet in an instant and before she could break for anywhere both of them were on top of her, hugging her. For a moment she seemed to struggle, but only a moment before she broke down and buried her face in Harry's chest. Harry just held her and gently kissed her forehead, while Hermione held her from behind.

Harry wasn't really keeping track of time, but a while later Molly walked out. She seemed a bit dazed, but it was clear that she was looking for her daughter. Seeing her daughter being held by her friends stopped her cold. A look of incredible guilt crossed Molly's face, followed by a look of incredible sadness. And finally, Harry realized that while Molly had made both Ginny's and his life hell the last couple of years, she had come to utterly regret it, and regret hurting them. He couldn't hold it against her. Not now. Not after this.

"It isn't your fault," Harry whispered to Ginny, "We all did what we thought we had to, but it was HIM who decided to use violence. It is always HIM."

Ginny looked up at Harry, then nodded, albeit a bit reservedly.

"Now go to your mother," said Harry, "She needs you."

Ginny exhaled angrily. But she did let go of Harry before walking over to her mother.

"Let's give them some space," said Hermione. Sirius, Remus and Tonks all nodded as they left the room.

XXXXX

**December 19th, 1995**

The next few days were rough. The Weasley's were all on edge, Ginny most of all. Despite Harry's words, it had been Ginny who had suggested they not tell Dumbledore that the prophecy had been removed. It was eating her up, and Hermione was spending a lot of time keeping an eye on Ginny. She didn't seem as if she was going to harm herself, but Hermione wasn't taking any chances.

Harry had taken matters into his own hands. "Sirius, you need to tell Dumbledore to stop guarding the Department of Mysteries," he said the moment he got his godfather alone.

"Harry the prophecy…" said Sirius.

"Is GONE," said Harry angrily, "I removed it this summer. I was going to tell Dumbledore, but then that conversation went south."

"Oh," said Sirius blankly, "Does Ginny know?"

Harry closed his eyes. "She suggested that we not tell him."

"Oh no," said Sirius sadly, "No wonder Hermione has been keeping such a close eye on Ginny. I'll let Dumbledore know that the prophecy is safe. It is safe, right?"

"I disintegrated it myself," said Harry.

Sirius nodded. "Good."

XXXXX

**December 22nd, 1995**

On December 22nd, Bill Weasley arrived with Fleur Delacour.

Ginny ran and hugged her brother, while Harry and Hermione greeted Fleur with a hug and a kiss on the cheek each.

"Gringotts is always generous with leave for funerals," said Bill, "Goblins take family very seriously."

"And they even gave Fleur leave?" asked Hermione.

"Goblins don't really distinguish between girlfriends and wives, as far as families are concerned," said Bill, "They don't really date the way we do."

"Let us just say that Bill and I 'ave met the criteria for me to accompany him on family leave, and leave it at that, for 'is mother's sake," said Fleur archly.

Ginny grinned at that wickedly. Apparently she approved of her brother's choice of partner. She quickly showed him to his room.

"Honestly, I think Fleur will be able to help mum," said Bill to Ginny when they were alone, "but she'll also be able to help Harry and Hermione as well. She was good friends with them, and they have to be hurting a lot about this too, with no one their age to help them."

"We've been here," said Ginny.

"But they've had to be strong for you," said Bill, "That can be very tiring for anyone, despite the fact that they love you."

Ginny nodded.

"Well, hopefully she can help them," said Ginny.

XXXXX

**December 24th, 1995**

"Fleur," said Hermione nervously, "I need your help."

It was Christmas Eve and the two of them were alone in the room Hermione shared with Ginny. Hermione was extremely reluctant to ask this. In fact, she was downright upset. But despite her feelings and her misgivings, Hermione had run out of time. She had to break the marriage contract between Harry and Ginny, and she had to do it today.

"Oh?" asked Fleur, "And what can I 'elp you with."

"Well, I need you to promise you'll be discreet," insisted Hermione. She was taking a risk involving Fleur, but she needed to do it. The way Hermione saw it, she and Harry had become close enough to each other that they were in serious danger of forgetting exactly why they hadn't become intimate yet. And now, in their grief, it was getting even harder. But that they could probably handle. Probably.

The bigger and more immediate problem was Ginny. They had so far declined to reveal the existence of the marriage contract publically to avoid a confrontation that would permanently destroy the Weasley family. But the truth was that Ginny was angry now. Angry at herself, for withholding information that got her father killed, and angry at her mother for degrading the trust between them so that Ginny had thought it was necessary.

And tomorrow, the Weasleys would head back to the Burrow to have Christmas with Charlie and Percy. And Hermione could see the truth in Ginny's eyes. She knew that Ginny would get into it with her mother if Hermione or Harry weren't there to stop it. She wanted that fight to happen, to assuage her guilt. But if the Weasleys had that fight right now, their family would be destroyed. Destroyed forever most like. Arthur probably could have smoothed things over. But Arthur was dead.

So, Hermione needed to remove that pressure from Ginny. Immediately.

"Of course," said Fleur, "I would never tell a friend's secrets."

"Okay," said Hermione, "Here's the thing you can't tell anyone, though Bill already knows so you can talk to him privately about it. During my third year, Molly Weasley and Dumbledore signed a contract for marriage between Harry and Ginny."

Fleur's eyes flashed dangerously.

"I see," she said angrily, "I take it that Ginny 'ad nothing to do with this?"

"Our theory is that for some reason Dumbledore thought that Harry was just pretending to care about his friends, which considering that Voldemort did just that isn't that insane," admitted Hermione, "Regardless, we think that Dumbledore thought that Harry's relationship with Ginny was genuine, and he was trying to encourage it in order to prevent Harry from becoming a dangerous dark wizard. We think Molly took some convincing, but ultimately gave in. Now all of this could be wrong, but..."

Hermione sighed sadly, "Molly so clearly regrets it though, you can see that it haunts her every time we make a comment. Not that she knows we know. Neither Molly nor Dumbledore know that we are aware of the contract."

"I am so sorry, 'Ermione," said Fleur.

"This is where I need help. The language in the contract is… archaic, but there aren't any real ways to cancel it. It does have a, uh, virginity clause though, but it has been designed so that neither Harry or Ginny can intentionally use it. There are… penalties."

"This is monstrous!" said Fleur.

"So, I've decided that Harry and I… well I'm not sure that we're ready, but I am sure that events have forced my hand. I don't want us to have one night of weakness and Harry ending up cursed for the rest of his life, and I don't want Ginny destroying her family in a single day of rage," explained Hermione, "There is a way to do it, but it will be challenging, because Harry cannot ask me to do it. He cannot act as if he is approving that I do it. I need someone to go ahead of me, and, well, _tell_ him what I'm about to do, and that he can leave the room if he doesn't want to."

"So you want me to go tell 'Arry that you wish to 'ave sex with him?" said Fleur, one of her eyebrows arched.

"If it isn't _too_ much trouble," said Hermione, her face turning scarlet.

Fleur started laughing. "Do you wish me to do anything else?"

"Harry might ask you to paralyse him briefly," said Hermione, "It would make certain that he can't accidentally thank me or something. But that's totally his decision."

"Would you need me to un-paralyse him then? Because of the Trace?" asked Fleur.

"Neither of us has the Trace on us," admitted Hermione.

Fleur laughed playfully again, "Very well, I will assist you in getting laid 'Ermione."

Hermione didn't feel very playful, though she didn't begrudge Fleur's reaction to the situation. Hermione had planned to do this during the summer, around Harry's 16th birthday. She wasn't sure that she was ready right now. But she knew how Harry felt about the Weasleys. She knew how she felt about them. They needed each other right now. And Hermione was not going to let this fucking contract destroy them.

And she had to admit, she really was very curious as to what this would be like. Whether she was fully ready or not, she had to admit that it was something she wanted to do. And maybe a part of her wanted this to help her deal with her grief. Whatever the reason, she was committed to this now, and she wasn't going to back down.

XXXXX

"So, the goblins anticipate construction to be complete in about two months, probably a bit less," said Sirius. Harry nodded approvingly.

The two of them were both sitting in Harry and Ron's room. Sirius had been to Diagon Alley yesterday and had met with Brokgut.

"That's good," noted Harry, "though I guess that means we need to think about how we are going to handle getting things set up."

"Well one good thing is that the central wardstone is still fully charged," said Sirius, "So you can add pretty much any protections you want."

"Does anyone know the location of the Hall?" asked Harry.

"Only a few people," said Sirius, "It has mostly been goblins doing the construction, and they are famous for their discretion."

"So if we added standard portkey and apparition controls, then made it unplottable…" started Harry.

"Yeah," said Sirius, "The work crews have all flooed in. They put up a temporary floo on site, and have been using the hall's floo ever since that room was built. They have no idea where it is. As long as the Ministry isn't under Death Eater control, no one will be able to find the place. Virtually everyone who knew where the old Potter estate was is dead."

"We'll need workers to get things set up," said Harry.

"That might take some time, finding someone we can trust," said Sirius.

"What about Dobby?" asked Harry, "I trust him with getting the place ready for habitation."

"A house elf would be perfect," agreed Sirius, "His magic would be invaluable. His taste on the other hand…"

"Obviously I'd ask him to go over any choices with me before making any final decisions," assured Harry.

"Well, it seems like you have a good idea of how to go about this," said Sirius, "I'll get back to Brokgut."

"The wardstone still being charged was a stroke of luck," admitted Harry.

"It was buried deep apparently," said Sirius, "Geomancy added to runes is powerful stuff."

Fleur poked her head into the room. "Might I 'ave a word with 'Arry for a moment Sirius?"

"Of course," said Sirius, standing up, "Stay out of trouble."

"It is not I who intends to start trouble," said Fleur with a wicked grin.

"Hoho, watch out for this one Harry. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some trouble of my own to start," said Sirius before leaving.

"Sorry about Sirius," said Harry.

"I am not offended," said Fleur, "your godfather was doing it to tease you, not me."

"Yeah," said Harry.

"I am here because Hermione asked me to come here," said Fleur.

"What for?" asked Harry, curious about the secrecy.

"She wishes to end your marriage contract and make love to you," said Fleur.

"Uh, what?" asked Harry, dumbfounded.

"I believe you heard me," said Fleur, "You understand why my involvement is necessary? You can leave now if you are not ready. Neither Hermione or anyone else will think any less of you, or care about you less. This is a very personal thing after all."

"I…" started Harry, then he shook his head, "No, I think I will stay."

"Very well," said Fleur, "Now I know you may have some difficulty with controlling yourself. Do you need me to cast some magic to restrain you?" Fleur's eyebrows arched amusedly.

"Probably better safe than sorry," said Harry reluctantly.

"Then lie down," said Fleur, her grin turning vicious.

XXXXX

Hermione waited until the time Fleur had asked for. She sat in her room, anxious, angry, and unsure of herself. This was a big step for her, and she was understandably upset that she had to make it. But it would be over soon. Hopefully.

When the time came she stood up and left her room. She walked over to Harry's door, and opened it. He was lying down on the bed. She entered quickly, and shut and locked the door.

XXXXX

Fleur sat down next to Bill in the kitchen. She'd made sure Hermione had made it into Harry's room, then had placed a few spells on the door to ensure privacy.

"What've you been up to so far today?" asked Bill.

"Oh, I 'ave been helping 'Ermione with a little project," said Fleur.

"Oh, what sort of project?" asked Molly, who was pulling food out of a cupboard in preparation to make dinner.

"It is a secret," said Fleur, grinning from ear to ear.

"Well, Sirius has gone to pick up another secret," said Molly.

"Oh?" asked Fleur.

"He's gone to pick up Hermione's parents," said Remus, who had just entered the kitchen, "He should be back in about fifteen minutes."

"Ah," said Fleur trying to hide her consternation. This was not part of the plan.

"He had to pick up a slip from Dumbledore to get them access first," said Bill.

"I see," said Fleur.

"Should be a nice surprise for Harry and Hermione," said Remus.

"Excuse me," said Fleur, "I have to get something." Oh, she really did not want to interrupt Harry and Hermione, but she was afraid she might not have a choice!

XXXXX

"Wow," was the first word Harry said when Hermione unfroze him.

"Yeah," said Hermione, "I'm not sure what I was expecting."

"I'm not complaining!" said Harry, "I just kind of wish we could have done this when it felt right, not preemptively."

"Yeah," said Hermione as she lay her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him. Harry quickly folded her into his arms. He had to admit, laying there, holding her to him bare skin to bare skin felt incredibly comforting.

"Here's the question," said Harry, "Does this change anything? I mean, are we waiting to do this again?"

"What do you want?" Hermione asked.

"I think, that as good as it felt, we should wait a bit," said Harry, "Are you okay?"

Hermione took in a deep ragged breath. "Yes, I am, but I won't pretend that this wasn't difficult for me. I mean, I liked it. But I… think we should wait a little while before we do this again. Well… except… would you like to do it again? Right now I mean? I think I'd feel a lot better about this if you were more of a participant."

"Well, I mean as long as we're here…" started Harry, letting a grin play across his face.

And suddenly, the door unlocked and Fleur walked in, shutting the door behind her. Harry realized that he wasn't covered at all, and was giving her a rather full view.

"'Ermione, your parents will be arriving in minutes!" said Fleur.

"WHAT?" demanded Hermione.

"Sirius went to pick up your parents as a 'nice surprise' for you. They will be here momentarily!" insisted Fleur.

And suddenly Harry was very unconcerned with his state of undress as he and Hermione both scrambled to put on their clothing.

XXXXX

"So this is your home?" asked Helen, "It's quite different than any magical house I've been in." It was considerably older looking for one thing.

"My family had a history of meddling in dark magic," said Sirius, "Not something that is true of the Greengrasses or the Weasleys. Still, we got all of the dark objects out of here this summer. It's perfectly safe."

"Muggles in Kreacher's home!" said what Helen could only think was an elf, who was passing by, "What are things coming to?"

"Be polite Kreacher!" said Sirius sternly, "These are Hermione's parents."

Kreacher's face seemed to soften at the mention of Hermione. "Apologies, parents of Hermione."

"Uh, don't mention it," said Robert.

"For Kreacher, that was close to an enthusiastic greeting," said Sirius, "My mother was a nasty piece of work, and trained poor Kreacher to hate muggleborns and muggles. But he seems to like your daughter well enough, or at least he has since this summer. Apparently Hermione, Ginny and Harry did something nice for him and he's warmed to the three of them since."

"That's good," said Helen, "Where is Hermione?"

"Either with Harry or Ginny I'd expect," said Sirius thoughtfully, "She's been keeping an eye on Ginny, just in case. Poor girl took her father's passing harder than any of the others. But Ginny has wanted, and really needed some time alone."

"So you just let Hermione be alone with Harry?" demanded Robert.

"Of course," said Sirius, "I trust both of them. I gave them clear boundaries."

"And if they disobey you?" asked Robert.

"I'll be very, very put out, and also very proud of them," said Sirius. "Mind you, with Fleur here they'd have a hard time doing anything without her knowing. Veela have a bit of a sense for that."

"Fleur?" asked Helen.

"I came 'ere with Bill," said Fleur as she walked down the stairs, "We are together, so Gringotts gave me leave to come 'ere for the funeral."

"Good to see you Fleur," said Helen.

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Granger!" shouted Harry who was at the top of the stairs. He ran down and gave Helen a hug. She was all too happy to give it to him. She found that she actually was starting to miss him as well as Hermione.

"Good to see you Harry," said Helen, "Where's Hermione?"

"She'll be down in a minute," said Harry, "she's, ah, occupied if you take my meaning."

"You haven't been starting too much trouble for our daughter have you Harry?" asked Robert.

"I haven't been starting anything at all recently," said Harry, his face suddenly grinning ear to ear.

Fleur tried very hard to stifle a giggle. Sirius gave her an odd look.

"Mum! Dad!" shouted Hermione from upstairs, "I can't believe you're here!"

Hermione's face looked a bit flushed, but was otherwise rather healthy looking. Her time away hadn't hurt her much.

"You didn't think we weren't going to spend Christmas with our little girl," said Robert.

Helen wasn't sure, but she suspected something was going on.

XXXXX

Hermione was happy her parents had come to stay for a few days, as she'd seen far too little of them this summer. But she was really off put by the timing. Sirius really should have told her.

It also meant things were getting rather crowded in 12 Grimmauld Place. Molly had fretted where to put Hermione's parents, as they were fast running out of bedrooms. So Fleur had put her foot down and moved into Bill's room. Molly hadn't exactly been upset about that, but she was clearly not quite happy about it either. Ginny hadn't reacted at all to her mother's rather mild distress unfortunately. That wasn't a good sign.

But as they dressed for the night, Hermione decided to let Ginny in on the news.

"So," said Hermione, "Harry and I decided to get you a Christmas gift."

"Oh, that's nice of you," said Ginny flatly.

"I know, right now you aren't concerned with things, and frankly I'm not sure what I could get you myself that would help you," said Hermione, "So in lieu of any of that, we decided to give you the best gift that we could. Freedom. We broke the contract."

Ginny looked at Hermione sourly. "That's a big sacrifice on your part."

"Considering that Harry wasn't able to reply in any way while it happened, yes, it was downright unpleasant in some ways," said Hermione, "Not that it was unpleasant on the whole mind you…"

Ginny looked about to respond acidly again, but stopped. "I'm sorry, you're right. I know you probably didn't want to do that yet. It's just…"

"Hey, you don't have to apologize to me," said Hermione.

"No, I do," said Ginny, "You've been watching over me ever since Dad died, making sure I don't do something stupid. And I appreciate it. I'm not saying I haven't had some dark thoughts, because I have, but I'm not going to hurt myself. Still, I appreciate that you've been so attentive to me, and the fact that you've tried to do it and give me space. I still have a lot to work through, but I'm doing a bit better. I can talk about it now at least."

Hermione nodded sadly. "There isn't a right or wrong way to handle this Ginny. You only do it one day at a time."

"Honestly this is a load off my mind," said Ginny, "You may not have noticed, but I've been getting a lot of my anger at my mum for the contract mixed in with my grief over Dad's death. I… I think I may have been on the verge of doing something stupid."

"I noticed," said Hermione, "That is why I did this."

"Hermione!" said a scandalised Ginny, "You didn't have to do that!"

"I wanted to," said Hermione, "Your family needs to start healing."

"Thanks then," said Ginny, "We really need it."

"The person I'm really worried about is Ron," continued Ginny, "He's trying to act normal, but he isn't normal. He's gonna blow up, and sooner rather than later. The twins are having a rough time as well, but they have each other. Mum, well she's dealing now. In a couple of months? In a couple of months I think she's going to just crack, but after that I think she'll be okay. I think she just can't believe it yet."

"What about Percy and Bill?" asked Hermione.

"Percy got to dad's side just in time. They got a nice reunion and reconciliation. I think Percy is at peace to a degree that we aren't. Bill, well he's got Fleur."

"In his bed, no less," said Hermione glibly.

Ginny grinned evilly, "Oh I'm gonna give him hell for that! And bring it up in front of mum. Serves her right…"

Ginny stopped. "Thank you for what you did Hermione. Really."

"You're welcome," said Hermione.

XXXXX

"You know Harry," said Sirius as the two of them sat together in the sitting room, "I must admit, I'm a bit disappointed in you. Or I was."

It was after midnight on Christmas Eve, so it was Christmas Day, really. Harry and Sirius were the last people up, Ron having gone to bed ten minutes earlier.

"Oh?" asked Harry, "How have I disappointed you?"

"Well, if James' father had told him 'no sticking your hands down your girlfriends pants', he'd have snuck off to do so straight away," said Sirius, "But I can find no evidence that you and Hermione were doing so. At least until today. Still, that is an awfully long time to go without sneaking around on me."

"You noticed that today huh?" said Harry.

"Neither you or Hermione was very happy to see her parents right at that moment," said Sirius, "I'm assuming you were having some alone time they wouldn't approve of."

"So that's what you think," said Harry, "Well first, Hermione and I didn't have to sneak around, Molly was just oblivious enough to use Ginny as chaperone. Ginny was more than willing to let us do whatever we felt like. I mean, of the stuff we were willing to do."

"So what you are saying is that you just brazened it out and did what you wanted openly?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah," said Harry.

"Then why were you so upset today?" asked Sirius, "You didn't act like that before."

"Uh, yeah, that was different," said Harry, "We, uh… did a lot more than we had before."

"Wait," said Sirius, "Did you break the…?"

"Yes," said Harry.

Sirius whistled. "Wow, okay, I guess I wasn't quite ready to hear that! Are… you okay?"

"Yeah," said Harry quietly, "I was going to give Hermione a more pleasant memory, but that is exactly when her parents arrived."

"Oh no," said Sirius, "That is all my fault too. I should have told her."

Sirius sighed, "Now Harry, I know that you may be very inclined to keep doing that…"

"We won't do it again for a while," said Harry.

"Good," said Sirius, "I understand the once, and that's fine, but you don't need to be doing that yet, and certainly not regularly. You're still a tad on the young side."

Neither of them noticed the shadow in the doorway that was listening to everything they said.

XXXXX

**December 25th, 1995**

Christmas was a rather subdued affair. The Weasley's had returned to the Burrow for the day so they could spend time with Percy and Charlie (who had finally arrived from Romania), neither of whom were able to visit Grimmauld Place. With Fudge now quietly moving against the Death Eaters, it was probably relatively safe. In truth, Harry suspected that the Burrow had been safe all along, at least so long as he didn't go there. So Harry spent the day with Sirius, Remus, and Tonks and her family, as well as Hermione and her parents of course.

Harry found that he rather liked Andromeda Tonks. She looked a little like her sister Narcissa, but had dark hair. Sirius said that she looked a lot more like her other sister, Bellatrix. Harry could definitely see that resemblance from Voldemort's memories. Ted Tonks was a rather intelligent man, and of course their daughter Harry had met before. He noticed she was still spending a lot of time with Remus. That seemed to confirm Harry's suspicions about them.

Harry did notice that he was having a hard time getting alone with Hermione. Helen seemed to be around every time they tried to lose any adult supervision. She clearly suspected something was up, but Harry didn't think she was aware of what had happened between them. She hadn't said anything, and he suspected she would if she knew. Robert seemed to be oblivious.

Still, Sirius managed to buy them a few minutes in the afternoon by asking her a lot of questions about what actually being a dentist entailed. It wasn't a lot, but it did afford them time to snuggle up together for a bit in the drawing room. They had been through a lot in the last few days, and they kind of needed to just hold each other for a bit.

They fell asleep of course, only to be awakened by Ginny later that evening.

"You two look comfortable," she said with a bit of a wicked grin.

"Oops. We fell asleep it seems," said Hermione as she yawned.

"I guess everyone noticed we were gone," said Harry.

"Yeah, they did," admitted Ginny, "But they seem to understand. Listen, we need to talk. Before you tell anyone about the prophecy."

"Okay," said Harry, "Is now okay?"

Ginny nodded. "Yeah. So here's the thing, Sirius said that Dumbledore is going to try a more unobtrusive means of watching the Department of Mysteries, so we won't be putting anyone in danger if we don't tell them. But here's the thing, we do know that Voldemort is also watching the Department of Mysteries. So he thinks the prophecy is there too."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Harry.

"We do what we did before," said Ginny, "We leave information for Draco, saying that we are going to go get the prophecy at such and such a time and place. He tells that to the Death Eaters, and they send a group of Death Eaters to capture us."

"And then we capture them?" asked Hermione.

Ginny inhaled sharply, as if she was preparing for a battle. "No. We should kill them."

Harry and Hermione both stared at Ginny as if she was crazy.

"Listen, I know how this sounds, but we have to do it," insisted Ginny, "Eventually the dementors will go over to Voldemort, and once that happens all the Death Eaters will be free. It will be a revolving door. The one thing Fudge hasn't done is remove the dementors from control of the prison. However, if we kill them, they don't come back. It sends a powerful message."

"Ginny," said Harry, trying to overcome his speechlessness, "Tactically, the plan is good. I think it could work. But you are talking about luring people in and killing them in cold blood."

"Death Eaters," insisted Ginny.

"But still people," said Harry, "I do not think this is a good idea. Killing someone is a lot… harder than you might think. And I'm not talking about the difficulty of pulling this off."

"Hermione?" asked Ginny, "Do I even need to bother?"

"I don't know," said Hermione, "Part of me is repulsed by the idea, yet I can't deny the logic in what you say Ginny. I… I'm just not sure. I don't have a real frame of reference for wrapping my head around this."

"I know," said Ginny.

"You should be glad that you don't know what it is like to kill someone," said Harry.

"I need to think this over," said Hermione, "I'm sorry, I'm just going to be a liability to you in this position."

"No," said Ginny, "you are not a liability. This is exactly why we have you here. This is a difficult decision, and one I hate where I ended up coming down on. But if my father's death is to have any kind of meaning we have to hit back at the Death Eaters in a language they understand. Plus it might deter others from joining them."

"This is a good time for you to be careful," said Harry, "As long as we keep the secret, I think we have plenty of time."

"I wish I had memories like you two do," said Hermione, "that would make this easier."

Harry and Ginny both shook their heads. "It doesn't, Hermione, believe me," said Harry.

"All right," said Hermione dubiously.

"Did things go all right today?" asked Harry.

"Umm, well Daphne came over for a couple of hours," said Ginny, "That… didn't go well."

"Oh?" asked Harry.

"Ron and her got into a big row over nothing," said Ginny, "I think Dad's death finally hit him. Daphne was trying, but she really didn't know how to deal with this, and Ron kind of blew up at her when she tried to comfort him."

"Maybe we can have Luna talk with Daphne," said Harry, "Luna knows what it is like to lose a parent. She might be able to help Daphne approach Ron again. I know Ron has a tendency to blow up when under pressure, but I can't exactly blame him right now. He has to deal with his grief first."

"I think that part of the problem is Daphne as well though," said Ginny, "She seemed to think that if she said the right thing she could make things better. But trying just made Ron angrier. I think that she needed to quit while she was ahead."

"Daphne thinks that she can save everyone," said Hermione, "I mean, I really like her and all, but she thinks she is going to solve all the problems of muggleborns as well. I like her positive attitude, but she can be a tad self-centered about it."

"I agree," said Harry, "She was raised as a wealthy pureblood. Even if she has rejected the bigotry of purebloods, she does think she has the answer to everything. And when you confront her about her prejudices, she _does_ try to address them. But she still has a long way to go. Look at the way she unconsciously treats Tracey."

"I'm not sure having Luna talk to Daphne is a great idea though," said Ginny, "She has a tendency to speak her mind, and as her roommate, I know what Luna thinks about their relationship. She isn't exactly a big supporter of it."

Harry grimaced, "Well, we'll see. I'll go talk to Ron. Don't worry, I won't put any pressure on him."

Ginny nodded, and gave Harry a quick hug. "Thanks, Harry."

Harry walked back to the room he shared with Ron. Ron was lying down, staring at the ceiling.

"Hey Ron," said Harry.

"Did Ginny send you here?" asked Ron.

"Well, she told me what happened," said Harry, "I understand if you don't want to talk about it right now. I just came over to let you know that if you need to vent or anything I'm willing to listen."

Ron nodded curtly, "I'm not feeling up to it right now mate…" Ron paused as he considered what had happened, "But maybe after the funeral tomorrow."

Harry nodded. "Of course," said Harry.

"Oh, and Harry?" asked Ron, "If you could floo call Daphne and tell her I still want her at the funeral tomorrow, that would be great. I… don't trust myself to talk to her tonight. I know she meant well, I'm just not really in the mood to talk about… well, you know, 'it' quite yet."

"Okay," said Harry, "I will."

"Thanks mate," said Ron, "I'm just so tired of people trying to tell me they know how I feel."

"Well, I honestly don't have any idea how you feel," said Harry, "I was too young when my parents died to know what was happening. It doesn't mean I don't feel sad about it sometimes, but I never really had to grieve for them. I'll admit that I'm in over my head."

"Heh," said Ron humorlessly, "I guess that is true isn't it?" Ron closed his eyes again.

Harry nodded and went downstairs to greet the rest of the Weasleys.

**Author's Note:** I noticed a bunch of you figured out where I was going with this a while back. Unfortunately given that I had already thrown out the "what if Hermione didn't have the time-turner to save Sirius?" and spared Sirius anyway, this one kind of had to stick. Ginny's reaction to her father's death propels a good chunk of the rest of the story.

But the marriage contract is broken! Honestly this was the very earliest I felt comfortable doing it. And this is about the closest to a sex scene that I feel comfortable doing, at least at this point. What I am saying is don't expect too much in the terms of the lemon department.

So news! Some of you may have noticed that I release two chapters of Twisted Path then one chapter of Harriet Potter and the Holy Grail. The next chapter of Holy Grail has a cliffhanger at the end though, so I will be releasing the next two chapters sequentially. Then I will release four subsequent chapters of Twisted Path then the last chapter of Holy Grail. From then on it will be all Twisted Path for a while.

Next Chapter: Hermione decides to get some help making her choice.


	39. Choosing a Path

**Chapter 39: Choosing a Path**

**December 27th, 1995**

Narcissa Malfoy wasn't usually invited to the meetings of the Death Eaters, but this was no ordinary meeting. Her husband was skilled enough in politics and business, but he was a terrible accountant. So when he had volunteered to act as the treasurer for the Dark Lord's war fund, he had essentially been giving the job to Narcissa. She wasn't exactly keen on the idea. The Dark Lord had been rather embarrassingly defeated last time, and Narcissa wasn't all that keen on getting too close to him unless he was certain to win.

"Fudge was at Arthur Weasley's funeral," observed Nott Sr., "That does not bode well for Fudge's continued neutrality."

"Virtually all measures against Dumbledore have ground to a halt," observed Lucius, "It happened about the same time Dumbledore was ousted as Headmaster. My guess is that Fudge overplayed his hand."

"Potter did make some sort of deal with Fudge," said Snape, "However, I had thought it only pertained to the school, as Umbridge was reigned in. If he managed to get Fudge to call off his campaign against Dumbledore, Fudge must really have overreached."

"Interesting, but irrelevant," said the Dark Lord, "He has not yet begun moving against us."

"Like us, he is almost certainly trying to make his initial moves in secret," argued Lucius. Narcissa nodded in agreement. That was the only course of action Fudge could now take.

The Dark Lord nodded.

"He has not yet taken Azkaban out of the control of the dementors," said Snape, "But eventually he will probably do so. I think we need to approach the dementors sooner rather than later, otherwise breaking our most loyal Death Eaters out will be significantly more difficult."

Narcissa nodded approvingly. That would include her sister Bellatrix, of course. Bellatrix was a bit… intense, but Narcissa would very much like to see her again.

"Make that our top priority," commanded the Dark Lord. "The Lestranges and Augustus Rookwood are among my most loyal servants. With their help we can finally begin our true campaign. What about the situation at Hogwarts? Are we any closer to breaking Potter's hold on Slytherin?"

"My son believes that Ginevra Weasley may not be as attached to Potter as has previously been reported," said Nott, "At the very least, she did not support him against Umbridge. He is going to try to approach her and convince her to stay out of things. She is a formidable witch and would be a very valuable asset."

"Given that we just killed her father, I hardly think her likely to jump ship," said Snape dismissively, "I am more inclined to believe that Ginny didn't want to make any trouble for her brother Percy, who is an assistant to the Minister, and sat out the campaign against Umbridge. I can guarantee you, my Lord, that she is absolutely loyal to Potter."

"Ginny?" said Lucius questioningly.

"She is one of my students," said Snape defensively, "And a good one too. If she'd been born into any other pureblood family we might have had a good recruit there. Unfortunately…"

"Please, we all remember how partial you are to redheads," said the Dark Lord, his voice slightly mocking.

"A-as you say, my Lord," said Severus, with a bow of his head.

Lucius was grinning. Severus had been scoring a few too many points with the Dark Lord recently. Someone needed to keep him in his place. And Lucius hadn't forgotten that Snape had told the Dark Lord about the diary. Not that he blamed Snape precisely, if Snape had held that information back he would have been punished. But Narcissa knew that Lucius was relishing this.

"How are our finances?" asked the Dark Lord.

Narcissa stepped forward. "We're in good shape, the fortunes of several pureblood families are behind us, as well as donations from the Parkinson family and Clarise Zabini. Clarise has been wanting to donate more, but it hasn't been possible yet. She is under rather close surveillance right now. Still, I would say that within a year we will be able to finance operations to begin taking over the Ministry."

There were murmurs of approval. Many people had objected to her taking this position, but Lucius had insisted. After he had been punished for losing the Dark Lord's diary, Lucius had been out of favour, and the Dark Lord had wanted him to move Draco towards being a Death Eater. In order to prevent that, Narcissa had agreed to take up this position. It seemed that most of the Death Eaters here were re-evaluating her skills.

"So soon?" said the Dark Lord.

"So long as Fudge doesn't start dropping sanctions on us," warned Narcissa, "We'll probably need imperiused agents to actually make it happen of course, but money will make that easier."

The Dark Lord smiled. "Good. Our enemies seem to have recovered a bit quicker than we expected, but they haven't made it all the way back yet. We still have the advantage. We must make use of it quickly. Macnair!"

The brutal executioner stepped forward.

"Prepare to meet with the dementors," said the Dark Lord, his face displaying a horrible rictus of a smile.

XXXXX

**January 8th, 1996**

Ginny's return to school was muted. She didn't really know what to expect. Was she supposed to feel glad to be back at school? Sad that she didn't have more time to grieve? Angry that Umbridge was still lurking about? She didn't really know. To be honest, Ginny just felt a bit numb.

Umbridge was up to something. She'd begun auditing classes, and things hadn't gone well with Hagrid. Still, she had shown rather remarkable restraint. Ginny supposed Hermione was right, Umbridge was building to something, and when it became obvious what she was planning it wouldn't be pretty.

Ron and Daphne had made up, largely due to Luna. Luna had been all too happy to help Daphne. Privately, Luna wasn't very optimistic about their chances as a couple though.

"Daphne and Ron just don't have anything in common," explained Luna, "Add in the fact that Daphne being rich makes Ron feel self-conscious, and it's a recipe for disaster."

"So you think a poor person can't date a rich person?" asked Ginny, her mind unconsciously drifting to Justin.

"If both parties have something to contribute to the relationship, sure they can," said Luna, "But what does Ron have that Daphne doesn't? They are too similar in all the areas where they might complement each other, and too different in the ones where similarity could help. The truth is that I think Daphne is mostly attracted to Ron because dating him annoys her father."

"Why not date a muggleborn then?" asked Ginny.

"Bryant Greengrass would probably refuse to object to Daphne dating a muggleborn on principle," said Luna, "Doing so would only confirm his daughter's worst fears. But a Weasley? Well, that's a social shocker."

"You are saying all this as an aura reader?" asked Ginny.

"I'm saying this as their friend," said Luna, "I don't need to see Ron and Daphne's auras to know they are in trouble. They _are_ both suffering from an acute case of wrackspurts, but that's just confirming what I already thought."

And that was when Ginny realized that Luna was no longer behaving the same as she had been before. She wasn't walking around as if she was in a dream anymore. She was talking to people and seeing things concretely. Analytically, but also empathetically. All the promise that Harry had seen in her was right there, come to the surface at long last.

Luna was growing up. Oh, she still liked to spend the day hugging a friend, or hunting for strange creatures, but she was relating to people as an adult now. Part of Ginny was a bit sad at that, but part of her was also proud of her friend. Slytherin had been good for her, it had just taken a while for it to show up.

It wasn't all good though. The third day she'd been back, Ginny had faced a rather rough meeting with Nott however.

"I'm sorry about your dad," said Nott on her second day back, "If there is anything I can do for you, I'm here."

"Thanks," said Ginny noncommittally. No reason to be rude to Nott, he was doing no more or less than was polite.

"There was a matter I did wish to discuss with you," said Nott, "It has to do with Potter."

Ginny's internal alarm started going off. Was Nott trying to recruit her? Now? She suppressed her internal revulsion at the idea. This could be useful. Malfoy was quickly losing his appeal as a conduit for seeding false information.

"What about Harry?" asked Ginny.

"You've not been supporting him the way you used to," said Nott, "I was wondering if you were staking out a more neutral position."

"I'm not sure," lied Ginny, "I'm certainly not interested in making the Ministry my enemy."

"I know how you feel," said Nott, "I wish the Dark Lord hadn't returned, I don't think that his plan for the muggleborns is right. But he has returned, and I'm afraid that this time he seems to be winning again. Throwing in with Potter is a good way to make him an enemy."

"I'm already his enemy," snarled Ginny, "My family are all blood traitors. He just killed my father!"

"I know," said Nott, "And I would certainly never ask you to support him after that. I don't want to support him. But maybe, if you stayed out of his way, he wouldn't need to come after you. I like you, Ginny, and I don't want to see you hurt. Can you really trust Dumbledore after all that has happened?"

"No," said Ginny honestly. Of course, Nott didn't know that for exactly that reason they had made their own faction to fight Voldemort.

"Listen, I won't pretend that this whole thing doesn't make me uneasy," said Ginny, "I'm not sure what I want to do yet. If I do decide, I'll let you know."

"All right," said Nott, who clapped her on the shoulder. His touch made Ginny want to bathe. She couldn't believe that he thought that she would sell out her friends like that! Sadly, Ginny now had to put Nott on the Death Eater list in her head. She'd hoped he wouldn't turn, but with his family connections she supposed it had been inevitable.

That very evening there was a IUC meeting, but Ginny didn't go. She didn't want to be in a big crowd right now. She didn't exactly want to be alone, but she wasn't ready for 100 different people to express their condolences at once. So she went to the Astronomy Tower to look out across the Forbidden Forest.

"Pretty view," said a soft voice. Ginny turned to see Justin standing behind her.

"Aren't you going to the IUC meeting?" asked Ginny.

"I thought you might want some company," said Justin, "Just because you don't want to face half the school, doesn't mean you want to be alone. Though if you do…"

"No, you're right," agreed Ginny, "I don't want to be alone. I guess your life debt to me is really giving you trouble, huh?"

"Nah," said Justin, "I'd have done this anyway. Funny thing, the life debt hasn't really caused me any trouble for a while now. Maybe because what I want to do and what helps you are the same thing."

"Funny how that works," said Ginny.

"I wish I knew what to say to you Ginny," said Justin sadly, "I wish I knew how to help you. But you don't have to be alone. I'm willing to listen, whenever you need an ear."

Ginny smiled. Here was Justin, not just expressing sympathy, but actually suggesting a way he could help her. How like him.

"You know what the worst part is?" said Ginny, "I am sitting here numb, and I hate it. I hate it! Is this how I really feel, or is it part of how HE would feel? I have all these ideas in my head, and I have no idea if they are mine! I want to cry and scream and lash out! But how can I? Would that put him in charge?"

"Is that how Voldemort feels?" said Justin, "Does he feel numb? Isolated from the world?"

"Well, no," admitted Ginny, "He hates everything. I mean EVERYTHING. He hates muggles worst of all of course, but he hates the purebloods who looked down on him, the other half-bloods who were too weak to stand up to him, the muggleborns who reminded him of the muggles. It is his hate that allows him to use the killing curse whenever he wants."

"You don't hate everything," said Justin emphatically, "You loved your father. And you love the rest of your family. And you love Harry, and Hermione, and Luna. And I hope… well, I think you are at least fond of me."

"I am," said Ginny.

"The point is, being numb just means you were hurt, and hurt badly. It's too painful to feel right now, so you've stopped. That doesn't make you a monster. It makes you human." Justin put his arm around her shoulders, "You should stop doubting yourself. I trust you."

"Thanks, I…" started Ginny before turning towards him. And suddenly his face was right there, next to hers. Ginny never knew whether she made the first move or he did, but suddenly they were kissing. It seemed to go on for a long time before she pulled away.

"I'm sorry," said Justin, "I shouldn't have…"

Ginny pressed a finger to his lips. "Don't apologize," she said, "I liked it. I like you, and… and…"

And suddenly, Ginny couldn't hold it in any longer. Justin had broken through her defenses, and suddenly everything hit her all at once. Desperately clinging to Justin she began sobbing into his shoulder. He put his hand behind her head and held her close. And for the first time since her father's death, it actually comforted her.

XXXXX

"That was a good session everyone!" said Colin as the IUC began to break up for the evening, "Keep practicing your stunners, and make sure to keep an eye out for the first years!"

Harry had to admit, Colin had done a good job taking over from Daphne as club president of the IUC. It was a big change, but one that Harry now had come to see as overdue. The IUC needed to be free from Harry's own machinations, and while Colin was one of Harry's closest allies, he was doing this for his own reasons, not Harry's reasons.

"Where was Ginny?" asked Ron.

"I don't think she was up to facing the whole IUC today," said Harry.

"Justin isn't here either," noted Tracey.

As they left the Great Hall, they saw Ginny and Justin coming down from the Astronomy Tower, hand in hand. Ginny's eyes were a bit red.

"Oi!" shouted Ron, "What have you been doing with my sister!"

"Ronald!" said Daphne angrily, "That was uncalled for."

"Justin was very kindly providing an ear for me to vent too," said Ginny, "And the two of us have decided to start seeing each other."

Justin nodded, though his enthusiasm seemed a bit dampened by something.

"Good for you," said Hermione, "I've always thought the two of you might make a good couple."

"Congratulations Ginny," said Harry.

Ron seemed to eye Justin suspiciously for a moment. Then he just sighed. "Oh, fine. It's not like I can make her stop seeing you anyway," he said, his voice sounding resigned to the prospect, "Just don't be a prat, hear me Justin?"

"Anyway, it isn't Ron you need to worry about," said Fred, who had appeared out of nowhere.

"It's us," said George.

Justin seemed a bit nervous at that, Harry noted. He'd get used to it. Probably.

XXXXX

**January 18th, 1996**

The news came in mid January.

Everyone was at breakfast when the morning mail arrived. With the mail came the morning editions of the Daily Prophet. And the front page story was a big one:

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN

Death Eater Prisoners Freed

"Augustus Rookwood, Bellatrix Lestrange, all of them, running free," said Daphne in disbelief.

"The only good news was that they hadn't sent Barty Crouch Jr. to Azkaban yet," said Ginny.

"Crouch will never go to Azkaban now," said Harry, "Amelia Bones has been interrogating him for months, but since he managed to escape from Azkaban, technically Fudge has the power to put him to death, pending approval from the Wizengamot. I bet you he gets it after this. Amelia will just have to find another Death Eater prisoner."

"You really think so?" asked Hermione.

"Fudge will do whatever it takes to stay in power," said Harry, "Hell, look at this article. He's already saying that this might be necessary. What he needs to do is remove the dementors from control of Azkaban."

"That will be an easier sell now," admitted Daphne.

XXXXX

**February** **17th, 1996**

The Slytherin/Ravenclaw Quidditch match was a bit of a bust. The almost complete lack of a Ravenclaw defense this year meant that Slytherin pulled away to a commanding lead right from the start. After 2 hours, Slytherin was up by 200 and Harry and Cho were actually cooperating to find the snitch. In the end, it was Harry who had caught the snitch, but not before Slytherin had gone ahead by another 50 points. Cho seemed distracted.

"Everything okay?" Harry asked as they landed.

"It's fine," said Cho, "Cedric and I, well we broke up."

Harry put a hand on one of her shoulders. "I'm sorry," he said simply, "I know you liked him."

"It's all right," said Cho, "I knew it wasn't likely to last once he left at the end of the year anyway. We left on good terms, but I would have preferred to wait till the end of the school year."

Harry nodded. He could understand that.

"Don't worry, it won't affect our work with the Army," assured Cho.

XXXXX

**February 20th, 1996**

Things took a much darker turn a few days later, however, as Umbridge finally played her hand.

"Umbridge made her play last night at the meeting of the Board of Governors," said Daphne, "She compiled a report showing that discipline and respect for teachers and prefects has been in decline at the school. Most of the stories in the report are completely made up, but it will take us time to prove that. Luckily, my father managed to convince the Board to recess to consider the report, but he thinks all the other members of the Board are going to vote in Umbridge's favour."

"What does she want?" asked Harry.

"She is trying to create her own system of discipline at Hogwarts," said Daphne, "Including something called the Inquisitorial Squad, which would effectively overrule the prefects."

"Damn it," said Harry, "She's still playing games with us."

"My father has already gone to see McGonagall," said Daphne, "His hope is that he can convince her to partially implement this plan so that she can still exert some authority over it."

Indeed, a few days later the plan that was announced was similar to this one, but it had some crucial differences. While the Inquisitorial Squad was given the right to hand out point deductions and detentions, they didn't have the assumption of impartiality that a teacher would. Both the Deputy Headmaster and Headmistress could overrule any punishment if they had reason to suspect it was fraudulent. All punishments leveled against prefects and the Head Boy and Girl would have to be approved by either Flitwick or McGonagall as well. And finally, if a prefect was present for the supposed infraction and disagreed with a member of the Inquisitorial Squad's punishment, the whole matter would be decided by the Deputy Headmaster. McGonagall made it clear that any member of the Inquisitorial Squad committing any rules infraction would be punished harshly, and could be removed from the squad.

Still, it meant that the lower years would be almost completely given over to the Inquisitorial Squad, as long as the Squad stuck to legitimate sounding punishments. Colin openly told the students in the IUC not to travel alone, as the only defense they had was traveling in large enough groups to discredit the accounts of the members of the Inquisitorial Squad. Umbridge, of course, seemed to only pick members of the squad from Malfoy's dwindling list of supporters of pureblood rights. Nott joined the squad, which Harry had found surprising. He'd thought the boy was all right, but Nott's encounter with Ginny and now this made Harry reconsider.

Nott hadn't visibly reacted to Ginny dating Justin, but Harry assumed he wouldn't be very happy about it. His lack of response was worrisome to Harry, but Ginny was just relieved that he hadn't caused a fuss. However she had started complaining about Snape again, but this time not for giving her trouble. He'd started needling Justin. That was very worrisome, though Harry had heard other stories of Snape harassing members of other houses who were dating Slytherins, so he couldn't be sure this was specific to Ginny. He hadn't been any worse to Ron when he had started dating Daphne, but part of that might have been that Snape already really hated Ron anyway and there was basically no way to treat him worse.

The school year slowly turned into March. Ginny was getting anxious as Hermione had still not made a decision about what to do about trying to trap the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. Harry was fine with her taking her time though. And then, one day in mid March, it all came to a head.

XXXXX

**March 14th, 1996**

The triumvirate was having a meeting in Harry and Hermione's room, and it wasn't going well.

"We're running out of time!" snapped Ginny angrily, "Eventually, someone is going to check whether the prophecy is still there, and when that happens, our opportunity goes out the window!"

"You're talking about killing people!" retorted Hermione, "I'm not going to commit to anything like that unless I'm sure it's the right option! And I am not sure."

"Well you need to get there!" said Ginny, "We need you to be able to make these sorts of decisions without you locking up for months!"

"Whoah, calm down," said Harry, trying to project calm, "This isn't getting us anywhere. I appreciate your desire to be certain about this Hermione, I really do. And this is a very important decision, so it shouldn't be rushed. Still, if we don't move soon, we won't even be able to capture any Death Eaters."

"Maybe we should have a debate on this?" asked Hermione, "get more input?"

"Do you think it would help?" asked Harry.

"The Gryffindors will say no, the Slytherins except for Luna (who will say no), will say yes. The Hufflepuffs will split down the middle and the Ravenclaws will mostly say yes," predicted Ginny, "Am I missing anything? Does anyone think it will go differently? The big problem is, we need to be certain about this if we do decide to do it, otherwise they will hesitate to go along with it. Holding a full debate kind of undercuts that."

"Just give me another day or two," said Hermione, "I need to figure something out quickly."

Ginny seemed exasperated at this, but Harry shook his head at her. "Take all the time you need Hermione."

XXXXX

Hermione sat by herself, miserable. She never should have accepted this position. She had been utterly outclassed by Harry and Ginny's resolve. The truth was, what they had seen had given them a larger perspective on the situation, and Hermione was feeling, for the first time in a long time, rather inadequate. If only she could understand things as clearly as Harry and Ginny! But they had Voldemort's memories in their heads. How could she compete on their level when they had that?

And suddenly Hermione realized what she could do. It was dangerous, but she knew she could do it. She began to make her way to the Room of Requirement. Harry had told her where it was, so Hermione was going to cleanse one of Voldemort's horcruxes.

XXXXX

Finding it was not easy, luckily Harry had described the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw quite well, just in case they happened to run across it accidentally. It took almost an hour of searching, but she finally located the diadem. Hermione wasn't certain about using legilimency on it though. She supposed that it would try to possess her if she just put it on.

And so she did. The moment the diadem hit her head, she felt a full on assault being against her mind. If not for her occlumency it would have carried her away and taken control of her instantly. Even with her occlumency, Hermione was on the back foot. This was far harder than she had thought!

"_Foolish_," whispered a voice inside her head. It wasn't Voldemort's voice though. It was a woman's voice.

"Who is it?" said Hermione aloud.

"_I am in your head_," said the voice, "_There is no need to speak_."

"_What are you?_" thought Hermione back.

"_I am a memory,_" said the voice, "_All that remains of Rowena Ravenclaw. And you have walked into a trap._"

"_I knew it was a horcrux when I put it on_," admitted Hermione, "_I didn't expect it to be this strong, I thought I could defeat it and take it's knowledge_."

"_You sought to destroy a horcrux and acquire knowledge of it's maker?_" asked Ravenclaw, "_A bold strategy. Worthy of a Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Which are you?_"

"_A bit of all three to be honest_," said Hermione, "_though I was ultimately sorted into Slytherin._"

"_A muggleborn Slytherin?_" wondered Ravenclaw, "_Well, that is interesting. Listen, your danger is far greater than you know. The diadem was designed to amplify the knowledge I placed inside it, make it easy to access. The horcrux is using this to empower itself! It is far stronger than a regular horcrux would be._"

"_So you mean…_" started Hermione.

"_You must find the strength to drive it back, or it will take control of you almost immediately!_" said Ravenclaw.

Hermione's stomach seemed to grow queasy as the horcrux assaulted her mind again.

XXXXX

"Where is Hermione?" Harry asked Ginny. They were both in the Entrance Hall as Harry headed downstairs from the library.

"What do you mean? Surely she's in the library at this hour," said Ginny.

Harry shook his head. "No, she isn't. I just checked. I guess she went somewhere to be alone, and figure out our problem."

Ginny grimaced a bit. "Do you think I was too hard on her? Sometimes I forget, she hasn't seen the true horror of what Voldemort can do. Both of us have, and we've informed our decisions based on how we've reacted to that, but lacking that, Hermione might not understand just how important it is to make decisive actions against him. One way or the other, getting lost in doubt is how things got bad the last time he tried to take power."

"I think maybe you pushed a bit too hard," said Harry, "But she does need to make a decision. One way or the other."

Ginny nodded, only to start smiling in the middle of that. Turning around, Harry wasn't surprised to see Justin.

"Well, we can talk more about this later," said Ginny, "there's only an hour until curfew, and it might take a while to find an unoccupied broom closet!"

Harry grinned, and made his way towards the dungeons. Maybe he missed her. Once he was downstairs, he saw Cedric, who waved him over..

"Hey Harry," said Cedric, "Rebecca just saw someone was using the Room of Requirement. Do you know who might be using it?"

"That's where Hermione has got to!" said Harry, relieved, "But why would she…"

Harry could suddenly feel the blood draining from his face as he realized exactly what Hermione was doing there. Without another word Harry broke out in a run. Pausing only long enough to make sure none of Malfoy's thugs were following him, Harry made his way to the entrance to the room. Sure enough, it was there, and when he went in, he saw the Room of Hidden Things.

"NOOO!" shouted Harry, desperately, "HERMIONE! HERMIONE!"

He ran straight towards where he knew Voldemort had hidden the horcrux. And there he found Hermione lying on the floor, barely conscious, the diadem on her head and her eyes fluttering as she came closer and closer to going under.

"No! Wake up! HERMIONE!" he screamed as he fell to his knees next to her. He pulled her into his arms. What could he do?

XXXXX

Each assault on her mind was stronger than the last. Hermione was buffeted again and again by the horcrux's power. Her Occlumency shield was long gone, now she barely managed to hold onto her own mind with each attack.

Suddenly she felt a presence around her, touching her. At first she feared an attack, but then she realized it was someone touching her real body. She heard Harry calling her name in the distance. He had found her! This time the attack slowed as it approached her. It still hit hard, but not as hard as it had before.

"_The boy, his presence gives you strength!_" roared Ravenclaw, "_Use this to rally your will!_"

Hermione gathered every ounce of strength she had left and struck back at the power of the horcrux. The power seemed to fall back a bit, but it still held against her.

"Hermione!" she heard Harry's voice more clearly, "Fight it! You can do it! I know you can. I believe in you! I love you!"

And with that last she struck back cleanly against the horcrux. Love. It was the power completely antithetical to a horcrux, the one thing it couldn't corrupt or destroy. And as that love filled her, it renewed her strength and power.

Hermione's eyes popped open. "I love you too, Harry," she said, "But first, I have to finish this monstrosity!"

And with that, she grabbed hold of the power which assailed her, and took all of it. And with that the Diadem began to scream as a black cloud came off of it.

"_Very good_," said the voice, "_You are worthy. Just know, that like all magic, this diadem gives neither wisdom, nor truth. That can only come from you, Hermione. You came for the knowledge of your enemy, and you leave with not just that, but as master of the Diadem of Ravenclaw. Use my knowledge well._"

And suddenly she saw. She saw the life of Voldemort, and the life of Ravenclaw. The life of a monster, and a life of regret from an extraordinary woman. And with that, her doubts vanished. Ravenclaw had been uncertain about her daughter as well, and it had estranged them. She could also see her daughter's memories. Her daughter was the Grey Lady, ghost of Ravenclaw House! She had failed whatever test the diadem had given her, but she had taken it anyway. How that had ended wasn't part of the memories she'd been given, but given that the daughter was now a ghost, she suspected it had ended badly.

"Wow," said Hermione.

"Never do that to me again!" said Harry, who was practically crying, "that was beyond dangerous!"

"Yeah," said Hermione, "it was. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it. But I survived, and I have the knowledge of Lord Voldemort and Rowena Ravenclaw."

She pulled Harry's head down to her mouth and gave him a passionate kiss. "Thank you for saving me dear," she said.

Harry grinned. "Anytime. Just, you know, try not to do this again. Please?"

"I won't," said Hermione, "I promise."

XXXXX

**March 15th, 1996**

The next day, Hermione invited Ginny into the room she shared with Harry.

"I heard you had an adventure yesterday," said Ginny, "It was very foolish, Hermione. I'm surprised that you would be so reckless."

"Yes, well, someone was putting a lot of pressure on me to decide," retorted Hermione, "And I have."

"Oh?" replied Ginny.

"She's being very mysterious," said Harry, "though most of that I think is that she needed to get her head straight after absorbing all that new information."

"I can't imagine," said Ginny, "Just taking on the knowledge of one person was disorienting, two would be very frustrating."

"It isn't so bad actually," replied Hermione, "With two people's memories in my head, I haven't had any problems keeping myself separate from them. It's like Rowena is distracting me just enough from Voldemort that I don't ever get immersed in his thoughts."

"In any case, you said you decided?" asked Harry.

"Yes," said Hermione, before taking a deep breath, "I agree with Ginny. I wouldn't have before the escape from Azkaban, but as the Ministry is incapable of keeping anyone we capture from being broken out by Voldemort, we have no real choice. Even if Fudge were to remove the dementors from Azkaban, they could always come right back and get whoever they wanted out."

"Ok, I understand," said Harry, not really trying to hide his disappointment, "I will say one thing to try to change your mind, and if it doesn't, well, I agreed to support the decisions we come to, so I will."

Harry turned to Ginny and Hermione. "Neither of you has ever killed anyone. I know Voldemort did, but you didn't. It is not the same. Despite the fact that you see Voldemort's murders from his perspective, it is not the same, because you know you didn't do it. You don't really feel the guilt of it."

"I have killed someone," said Harry deliberately, "And I feel the guilt of it, even though I know what I did was right. Even though I hated the person I killed. Voldemort never felt guilt for killing anyone, so you've never felt the regret that comes when good people are forced to take a life. I am telling you, you will regret this. We will all regret this. I am willing to do it, because I honestly believe that the Death Eaters represent an existential threat to us, but we _will_ regret this."

"So what is the alternative?" asked Ginny.

"I wish I knew," said Harry, "Listen this isn't the same as killing someone in self-defense, we will literally be luring these people to their deaths."

"And if there was any other way to deal with them, we would Harry. Believe me, I am not looking forward to this," said Hermione, "But I feel it is necessary."

"All right then," said Harry, "Then we need to figure out how to get our people ready for it."

XXXXX

Later that same day, Harry was walking to Charms, when he heard yelling.

"I didn't, I didn't!" cried a young girl, who Harry knew was a muggleborn first year from Ravenclaw. She was facing a group from the Inquisitorial Squad, with Draco at the front of the group.

"You tripped me!" shouted Draco angrily.

"No, you just tripped over your own robes!" insisted the girl.

"I did not! That's a detention with Umbridge!" shouted Draco. Harry saw Nott in the back of the group. He saw Harry and averted his eyes. He knew that this was wrong.

"What's this about?" asked Harry.

"This mu… girl, just cast a tripping jinx on me Potter." said Draco, his face suddenly smug with confidence.

"No, I didn't!" said the girl, "That was a lie!"

"You want to accuse me of lying?" demanded Draco, "That's another detention."

"You can't give her detention for that Draco," said Harry calmly, "That's an abuse of your power, and I'll be reporting it. Now, if you're quite done, would you please leave this poor girl alone? I remind you, I still have the authority to take points from you. And recommend you for a detention."

"Fine, I just wanted to walk by anyway," said Malfoy. He and the rest of the squad began to move on.

"Are you all right…?" asked Harry as he knelt down by the girl, trying to remember her name.

"Olivia," said the girl.

"Are you all right Olivia?" said Harry.

The girl nodded.

"I'm going to bring you to Professor Flitwick," said Harry.

"You don't believe that I tripped him, do you?" asked Olivia.

"Of course not," said Harry, "But Flitwick needs to know what happened, doesn't he?"

Olivia nodded.

After taking Flitwick aside, the deputy headmaster was sympathetic. "I want you to know Olivia, that I do believe you," said Flitwick, "unfortunately, Mr. Potter here did not witness what happened, so Draco has the right to give you a detention, but I will make sure that it is served with myself instead of Umbridge. Now head to your next class Olivia," said Flitwick.

"I'll escort her there," said Harry immediately.

"Potter," said Flitwick, "Thank you."

Harry managed to keep calm for the next several hours, but the moment he had a chance he took Hermione aside and told her what had happened.

"Umbridge needs to go," said Harry after he'd finished telling his story.

Hermione nodded. "You know, I think I might have just the plan to do it too," she said with a smile.

**Author's Note:** And this is the chapter where I finally decided to make Narcissa the primary window into the Death Eater camp. I knew I needed someone for that role, but it being Narcissa came to me a bit late. I knew Narcissa was going to have a small but important role in year 7, but after I wrote this chapter I completely reworked her character.

Hermione was always going to get Voldemort's memories; it was necessary so certain inequalities didn't pop up in her relationship with Harry. Her getting Rowena's memories was just a thing I did here on a whimsy. But it really ended up helping me out on several occasions in later chapters, including at the battle of Hogwarts.

Also I finally got around to giving Ginny and Justin a moment! I honestly do think I could have done more with Justin, but the truth is that the story is probably overcrowded as it is. Though to be fair, Rowling never developed Ginny very much in canon, so maybe I don't have to be all that sorry that I'm not developing characters I am primarily using as romantic interests.

Next Time: Fifth year reaches it's climax!


	40. The War Begins

**Chapter 40: The War Begins**

**May 11th, 1996**

Ginny swerved past one of the Hufflepuff chasers, trying to get open. Astoria had the quaffle, and while she usually played very well, she was having a rough time today. All the Slytherin players were having a rough time today. They'd been playing for nearly an hour and a half, and the score was 50 to 20 Slytherin. The Hufflepuff defense was just stifling this year. They'd been beaten by Ravenclaw, but only because Cho managed to get the snitch.

Finally, Astoria managed to pass to Tracey. That was good. Every one of their scores today had come off of an assist by Tracey. She absolutely knew how to ready the defense and knew where to put the Quaffle.

Ginny saw Tracey's eyes move across the goal subtly. It was a small signal they had worked out together. Ginny understood exactly what this was about. She leaned forward and shot across the entire Hufflepuff front. And for one moment, two of the defenders shifted to cover her. A fatal mistake.

Tracey lunged forward, barely skimming by one of the Hufflepuff beaters and driving straight towards their Keeper. With a very subtle shift, Tracey faked her out and threw the quaffle two whole seconds later than she had telegraphed. The quaffle went through the ring on the left.

Ginny turned to head towards the other end, but suddenly the voice of Lee Jordan rang out. "And Cedric has caught the snitch! Hufflepuff wins!"

Ginny flew over to Harry, alongside Tracey.

"What happened?" asked Tracey.

"Cedric was playing like a maniac today," said Harry, "He said he was determined to beat me at least once. I nearly crashed ten times just trying to keep up! I had to stop responding to his every move, and that's when he actually saw the snitch."

"That's the sort of spirit _we_ need!" insisted Tracey a bit angrily.

"Oh please," said Harry, "he could have just as easily broken his spine, flying like that."

Ginny headed back to the locker room. Slytherin still had a pretty good lead, Gryffindor would have to really run up the score against Ravenclaw to keep up. They had also only barely edged the Hufflepuffs. Slytherin would probably win the cup this year, but it wasn't as clean as Tracey would have liked.

_Speaking of clean, _thought Ginny. She took a quick shower and changed back into some casual clothes. As she left the locker room, she saw Nott.

"Have you thought about what I said anymore?" he asked.

Ginny nodded. "I have. I don't want to do anything to help the Dark Lord, but I don't want to cross the Ministry. Which Harry looks like he's going to do."

"What?" asked Nott.

"Apparently, on the night of the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw match, Harry and his group are going to abduct Professor Umbridge," said Ginny, "I don't know what they plan to do to her, but they intend for her to not return to Hogwarts."

"They'd be that bold?" asked Nott.

"Boldness is definitely one of Harry's best traits," said Ginny, "I'm surprised you're not angrier with me, what with me dating Justin and all."

Nott shrugged. "I know he has a life debt with you. I'm not gonna be jealous because you're dating him now. You're only a fourth-year after all. Plenty of time for you to change your mind, or for him to repay the debt."

Ginny's anger flared. Did he really think she was just with Justin to help him repay his life debt? She barely managed to keep that out of her eyes.

"Ginny," said the voice of Justin from a few feet away, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," said Ginny.

Justin walked up to Nott, and looked him right in the eye, "Is he bothering you?"

"Nah," said Ginny, "Let's get out of here."

Justin nodded and they made their way back towards the school. Once they were out of earshot, Justin put his arm around her waist and leaned in to speak quietly.

"How did it go?" he asked.

Ginny smiled. "He bought it," she said.

XXXXX

**May 13th, 1996**

The next meeting was the big one. The Triumvirs were finally going to reveal their plan to the whole Army. They'd been training and preparing everyone, but this would be the first time they revealed the whole plan. It was bound to be contentious, but Ginny was sure everyone would eventually get on board. And to help things she had brought in Blaise and Seamus again. She was pretty sure they'd want to help, and she was pretty sure she knew which way they'd go on the issue of killing Death Eaters.

"So what have you decided?" asked Cedric.

"We're going to lure Umbridge into another trap," said Harry.

"But there's more," added Hermione, "We will also simultaneously strike back at the Death Eaters. We are going to set another trap for them."

"What do you mean?" asked Ron.

"Umbridge and the Inquisitorial squad will be led into a classroom, where we will disable all of them using a series of linked runes," said Harry, "We will then modify Umbridge's memory and leave her in a compromising position, while at the same time implicating the entire Inquisitorial Squad in certain activities."

"They're all going to be taken in for having a drunken party," said Ginny, a bit smugly.

"Oh, we're going to have to be on that," said Fred.

Harry nodded. Indeed, it had always been his plan to put Fred and George on this duty. They weren't going to like what the other team was doing one bit. "We'll need someone who can manipulate runic clusters as well as use obliviation," he stated expectantly.

"I can do both," said Luna.

That was a relief. It meant that Luna wouldn't have to get involved in the other task. She was just not temperamentally suited to what they intended to do at all. Not that Harry was, but he felt he couldn't ask anyone else to do what he wasn't willing to.

"We already gave Nott false information that will lead the Inquisitorial Squad into our hands," said Hermione, "But tomorrow we will give Malfoy information that will lead him to believe that Harry will be retrieving a prophecy from the Hall of Prophecy in the Department of Mysteries."

"That's what Dad was guarding!" said Ron, suddenly understanding what they were doing.

Harry nodded. "The prophecy has already been removed, it won't be in any danger. But no one knows that yet. So when Draco hears I'm headed there, he will tell his father, his father will tell Voldemort, and Voldemort will send his men after us. Except we will be waiting there ready for them."

"And then we capture them!" said Angelina excitedly.

"We can't capture the Death Eaters," said Blaise, annoyed, "They'd just break out of Azkaban again."

"Just because you have no problem killing people…" started Ron.

"Stop," said Ginny harshly, "Blaise is right. By subverting the dementors, Voldemort has made it so that there is no place we could safely keep any Death Eater prisoners. Instead we'll send him a lesson. We have to kill them."

The reply was stunned silence.

"I…" started Daphne, who was the first to recover, "I didn't expect you to be so… calculating."

"You need to put this to a vote, Harry," said Ron, "We can't do this."

"We already voted on this," said Hermione firmly, "This is our plan."

"Was it unanimous?" demanded George.

"It doesn't matter," insisted Harry, "We voted, and we've all agreed to support the decisions of the majority. This is the plan we've chosen. I know it's difficult. If anyone feels unable to do this, no one will think less of you if you don't want to join in. But we'll need at least ten people to have any chance of it working."

"Lucky that I already volunteered for the other mission," said Luna, "I don't think I'd care to do that Harry."

"I don't care to do it, none of us do, but we can't go about asking others to do it if we won't," said Harry.

"I'm in," said Blaise.

"Me too," joined Seamus.

Tracey nodded at Daphne. "Both of us are in," said Daphne.

Hannah shook her head. "No way," she said. Neville nodded at her in agreement.

Justin, Ernie and Susan all looked at each other. "We're in," said Justin.

Ron sighed, "I hate this, but… I trust Harry, Hermione, and my sister. So I will help you."

In the end, only Astoria, Colin, Cho and Padma were added to the number of those who were going on the mission. Still, Harry thought that fifteen of them would be more than enough.

"Thank you, everyone that volunteered," he said sincerely, "I know this is difficult. I only say that it will strike a blow against the Death Eaters. Now, we have to prepare…"

XXXXX

**May 17th, 1996**

"Potter means to move against Umbridge the night of the last Quidditch match," said Nott Sr. at the meeting of Death Eaters.

Lucius smiled. For once, Nott Jr. was proving less reliable than Draco. "Draco has more detailed information on that."

"Ginny Weasley herself is the source," said Nott smugly.

"Then your son has been lied to," insisted Snape, "It is obvious that he has a crush on the girl."

"Are you insulting my son?" demanded Nott.

"How is that an insult, to say that he is interested in a pureblood witch?" asked Snape.

"Draco agrees with Severus. He says that the move against Umbridge is a ploy to draw her attention while Harry sneaks away from Hogwarts for the night," interrupted Lucius, "Draco had to stake out two dead drops and decrypt a message to get this information, but apparently Potter has taken a sudden interest in the Department of Mysteries."

"The prophecy?" demanded the Dark Lord suddenly.

"The message did not say, but I cannot fathom what else it might be," said Lucius.

"This is not information that Potter would have chosen to leak my Lord," argued Bellatrix, "We have him, and the prophecy!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Snape, "We need to be certain. Put together a team that will be absolutely ready to capture the boy and take the prophecy. No mistakes can be allowed."

"I will be willing to lead it personally," said Lucius.

"I will join him," said Bellatrix eagerly.

"No," said the Dark Lord, "Bellatrix, you already have a task."

"Hunting down the Granger girl's parents? Hardly a task worthy of me," said Bellatrix.

"Harry Potter cares about Granger more than any other person," said the Dark Lord, "Hurt her, hurt him. If we get Potter, I'll call you off. But until I have him in my power, we must act as if he is still free and opposing us. Continue your hunt."

"Severus?" asked Lucius.

"If there is to be a crisis at Hogwarts, I cannot be seen to be away," said Snape.

"Very well," said the Dark Lord, "If we are lucky, we will be able to begin our campaign very, very soon."

Lucius felt a chill go down his spine. If he didn't know better, he'd have thought someone was walking over his grave.

XXXXX

**May 24th, 1996**

"Where did you get these runes?" asked Luna as Hermione set up several runestones around the room.

"Rowena Ravenclaw came up with this set up," admitted Hermione, "I just adapted it for our current needs."

"I've never heard of this," said Luna.

"And you probably won't either," said Hermione, "Not from anyone but me. I got it directly from Ravenclaw's diadem."

"Wait," stopped Sue Li, "you found Ravenclaw's diadem?"

"Voldemort turned it into one of his Horcruxes," said Hermione, "It isn't a horcrux anymore, but I can't exactly tell the general public that I found it, now can I? Not until Voldemort is dealt with anyway."

"You know, I might be able to make use of this arrangement for my Runes O.W.L," said Sue.

"By all means," agreed Hermione.

XXXXX

**June 1st, 1996**

The final Quidditch match was coming up, and from there Harry and his yearmates would have to go straight into O.W.L.s. So plotting their big attack for that night had Harry worried. Harry wasn't worried about the tests, after all, he had the mind of Tom Riddle in his head. But he was worried that he was putting too much pressure on everyone else who did have to worry about the tests. Cedric had set his mind at ease on this.

"I might not approve of what you are doing, but everyone who is going with you volunteered," said Cedric, "They can handle their own O.W.L.s, it isn't your job to do that."

Harry's one disappointment with this plan was that he wasn't going to see Umbridge's face as she realized her entire plan had just fallen apart.

Still as Harry sat waiting for the Ravenclaw/Gryffindor match to begin, he did wonder one thing. He wondered if Colin was finally going to be able to fly against Cho Chang without getting distracted.

The answer was no. Despite the Gryffindor teams best efforts, Cho managed to go talk to Colin before the match. She whispered something in his ear, then suddenly kissed him full on the mouth.

"Oh, the Gryffindors are in trouble now," said Tracey.

Harry nodded, but he had to wonder, Cho hadn't seemed quite so calculating about things this time. She and Colin seemed to get along pretty well in their AoT meetings. Was she developing some genuine feelings for Colin?

And the truth was, Colin didn't fly badly. He might have been a little distracted, but he was mostly focused on the match. The Gryffindors were pounding the Ravenclaw team into paste, and Colin managed to keep Cho away from the snitch for a long time. In fact, he seemed all too willing to be rather physical in preventing her from getting the snitch.

"Colin isn't looking for the snitch!" said Harry suddenly, "He's just trying to find reasons to bump into Cho!"

"Shit, you're right!" said Blaise, who proceeded to start laughing so hard he was about to cry.

"Oh, Colin, no," said Tracey, "Can't he see she's using him?"

"I'm not so sure she is using him this time," said Harry, "I think she was genuinely trying to encourage him. I think Cho likes Colin."

"Come on Harry," said Daphne, "She's made a fool of him every time they've played against each other."

"I bet you that next year, Colin will be able to beat Cho," said Harry.

"You're on," said Ginny.

"I'm not taking that bet," said Hermione with a shake of her head.

"Well, I'm in!" said Blaise, with nods from Tracey.

In the end, Cho did catch the snitch. And Colin didn't even look upset, though his teammates sure did.

Most people in the school were a little upset with that. Once again, Slytherin had won the cup.

XXXXX

"Everyone ready?" asked Harry.

The entire Army of the Triumvirate was gathered in the Room of Requirement. Umbridge would be moving on the classroom Ginny had pointed out in an hour, maybe a bit less. Everything was set. Everyone nodded to Harry's question.

"All right, let's go!" said Harry. He led Hermione, Ginny, Blaise, Daphne, Tracey, Ron, Seamus, Justin, Ernie, Susan, Cho, Padma, Astoria and Colin to the entrance of the Room. He'd set it to open directly in front of the secret passage to Hogsmeade. Once in Hogsmeade, they would take a portkey directly to the Ministry.

It was time to deal the first blow of the war.

XXXXX

Nott was worried. He hadn't seen Ginny that evening, though he supposed it made sense that she was keeping a low profile. Still, he had to admit, something felt off. If this didn't pan out, it would be his neck on the line. Luckily, Umbridge hadn't told anyone else that it was him who uncovered the plot. He didn't want or need credit for this. In fact, it would be bad for him. He just wanted to get Ginny safely away from Potter.

Honestly, he didn't even care she was dating the mudblood, Justin. Justin was a good bloke, as far as that went. If Voldemort hadn't come back, he could even see that he might support her for doing so, as the way he had established the life debt to her had shown an impressive respect for magical tradition. As it was, Nott just hoped she knew when to jump ship.

"The time has come," said Umbridge, "We will all move together. We must rush the room together, as all of Potter's allies will be in the same place."

Everyone nodded, except for Draco. Draco had been distracted all day.

"Everything all right Malfoy?" asked Nott.

Draco nodded. "There's just something else on my mind," admitted Draco, "Just, well, you'll hear about it soon enough. Let's just say we aren't the only one's making a big move tonight."

"Your father may be telling you too much," said Nott.

Draco shook his head. "I had a hand in it to begin with," he said, "My father didn't need to tell me specifics. This, what we're doing, right here? It's just a sideshow. But an important one."

Nott nodded. He didn't quite understand, but it made sense that the Order of the Phoenix would move on the same night as Harry Potter.

The group moved quietly through the halls. They finally came to the classroom they had been given information on. They heard voices from within, and light coming from under the door.

"Now!" shouted Umbridge, and the entire group piled through the door.

Despite the light that had come from under the door, it was dark in this room. There were no voices. They couldn't see anything.

_It's a trap,_ thought Nott regretfully, _Ginny set me up!_

Still, as the runes rendered Nott and the rest of the Inquisitorial Squad unconscious, he had to admit that he was a little relieved. He had never really liked the idea of Ginny betraying her friends.

XXXXX

Harry and his group moved silently through the Ministry. None of them had the Trace on them, so they liberally used silencing spells and disillusioned themselves to avoid detection. They also wore hooded cloaks, as an additional precaution. Entry into the Department of Mysteries was easy, and they made it to the Hall of Prophecies without anyone seeing them.

The Death Eaters had yet to arrive. That was good. Harry silently put down several runes. They'd have to put the last runes down once the Death Eaters were here, to ensure they were all caught in the net. These runes weren't set to stupefy their victims though. Even Blaise wasn't quite willing to kill unconscious people without looking them in the eye.

Harry also set up a second rune. This one would be a little trick, hopefully luring the Death Eaters into position. Harry looked at his watch. The Death Eaters would be here soon.

XXXXX

"_Rennervate_," said Luna, as she pointed her wand at Umbridge. Luna felt that she needed to explain herself. Not that Umbridge would remember this, but she did want to see her face when she understood what was happening.

Umbridges's eyes opened, "What? Where am I? Lovegood?" she demanded, struggling against her magically conjured bonds.

"You're in a safe location," said Luna, "Currently, the rest of our group is bringing in large barrels of Firewhiskey and splashing it all over the place in the classroom where we left your Inquisitorial Squad."

"When I tell them that you set this up…" started Umbridge.

"You won't," said Luna, "Because I'll be wiping your memory. And their memories. But the owner of the store where we bought the firewhiskey will certainly remember you coming in and buying it."

"Did you mess with his memory as well?" demanded Umbridge.

"No, we used Polyjuice Potion," said Luna.

"Memories can be restored if not properly removed," said Umbridge cleverly.

"Yes, they can," said Luna, "That is why I am going to overwrite these sections of _your_ memories multiple times. It'll be such a mess no one will ever be able to make sense of it. Do try to be polite to the centaurs. They can be a little testy with people who insult them."

"Centaurs?" asked Umbridge, "What do you mean…"

"_Obliviate,_" said Luna calmly.

Umbridge's eyes glazed over. Normally, Luna would have found this job distasteful. But then she remembered that little girl Umbridge's goons had harassed. No, they were all getting off easy. And Daddy would be so proud of her when she told him how well she could Obliviate people now!

XXXXX

Harry, Hermione and Daphne walked down the aisle towards the prophecy, or rather where the prophecy had been. There was a blank sphere in the place where it had been, but no one knew that it was blank except for Harry and his friends. Harry reached out to take the sphere.

"That's right, Potter," said Lucius Malfoy, "Take the sphere and give it to me."

Harry stopped in mid grab.

"Lucius," he said, surprise evident on his face, "How did you know?"

"Please," said Lucius, "You can't even figure that out?"

"Draco," said Harry angrily.

Multiple Death Eaters appeared. In addition to Malfoy there were nine others, including both Lestrange brothers, Crabbe, Goyle, Mulciber, Dolohov, Jugson, Macnair, and Avery.

"Give us the prophecy," said Lucius.

Harry picked up the empty sphere. "Oh no, a trap, whatever shall we do," he said.

"We didn't anticipate this at all," deadpanned Hermione.

"Give me the sphere!" said Lucius forcefully.

"Catch!" said Harry. He threw the sphere at Lucius. Lucius lunged to catch it. But as he touched it, he realized it had no substance. It was an illusion.

And then he heard a sound, like a rune made when it tripped, and suddenly his wand was wrenched from his grasp. In fact every Death Eater's wand had been wrenched from their grasp. Every Death Eater had been disarmed.

And then figures appeared from all around Lucius as Harry, Hermione and Daphne disappeared. It had all been an illusion! Instead there were hooded figures surrounding the Death Eaters, all with wands drawn.

The real Harry stepped forward. "Thank you for walking into our little trap. The real prophecy is long gone, so don't think you can take it from one of us. Draco was very obliging in catching onto the little trail we planted for him. He gave us ten Death Eaters."

"Fine," said Lucius, "Send us to Azkaban. We'll be out in just a few months."

"Yes," said Ginny, "You would be."

"Miss Weasley," said Lucius, "It appears that Mr. Nott was very wrong about you."

"He probably has already figured that out," said Ginny, "I'm only too glad to be here though. You do remember when you tried to murder me? Or when your master murdered my father? Well, you know what they say about turnabout?"

"You wouldn't dare!" said Lucius.

"Do it," said Harry grimly.

But none of them moved, not right away. They couldn't quite just kill them like this, just standing there. But then Lucius began to lunge for Harry's wand. And the other Death Eaters followed suit.

But there wasn't a chance. The moment they began to lunge for them, the students let loose with their spells. Harry noticed that Astoria didn't cast a spell. Ginny on the other hand didn't take her eyes off of Lucius as she cast her spell. Within seconds, the Death Eaters were all dead.

A stunned silence came over the group.

"Oh hell," swore Ginny, "Bloody fucking hell. Harry was right. We shouldn't have done this."

"I'm so sorry, Harry," said Hermione sadly, "You were right all along. I wasn't ready for this."

"None of us were," said Ron.

"Speak for yourself," said Blaise.

"None of us other than Blaise and Seamus, apparently," said Colin, trying to inject some levity into things. It didn't work, and Colin shook his head sadly.

"I thought it would be different," said Daphne.

Justin looked at Ginny sadly. "I'm so sorry I asked you to do this," apologised Ginny.

Justin shook his head, "I know you were doing what you thought was right," said Justin, "Just, you know, we can't do this again."

"No, we can't," said Harry, "But we have to do what we came here to do. What's done is done, now all we can do is our best. We need to prep these bodies."

Everyone nodded. This would have to count for something. And they had to get back to school before they were missed.

XXXXX

**June 2nd, 1996**

Narcissa always worried when Lucius went out on a mission for the Dark Lord. It was just a part of her nature. But something was wrong this time. It was well after 2am, and there was no word. Bellatrix had returned, and she said she was close to finding the Grangers. She'd stayed up with Narcissa. Bellatrix knew she was anxious, hell, her husband had gone as well. But Bellatrix merely wished she'd gone along.

Narcissa knew that Bellatrix barely tolerated her husband. It hadn't been a love match. Their father, Cygnus, had promised Bellatrix and Andromeda to the Lestrange brothers from a very young age. Rodolphus had always been more interested in Andromeda, who had been repulsed by him. When Andromeda had run away that had been the end to that, and Rodolphus had ended up marrying Bellatrix, when Cygnus offered her to him in apology.

Rodolphus hated his marriage to Bellatrix. He wanted to dominate his wife, but no one dominated Bellatrix except the Dark Lord. Narcissa secretly believed that Rodolphus had believed he could have dominated Andromeda. He was wrong of course. Andromeda would no sooner be controlled than Bellatrix. Narcissa didn't want to admit it, but she was glad her sister had married someone she cared about.

Not that Narcissa had much to complain about. True, she wouldn't say she loved Lucius, but he was a conscientious husband who made sure all her needs and her son's needs were met. She had at least become fond of him. So what of the first time they had made love she had wanted to vomit? Lucius did seem to care about her a bit, though it was obvious that Draco would always come first for him. As he should. As it was for Narcissa.

"What is taking so long?" said the Dark Lord as he entered the sitting room, Rookwood following behind him.

"Do you wish for me to investigate?" asked Bellatrix.

"I can't very well send you into the Ministry alone," said the Dark Lord, "Perhaps you _should_ have gone with them. You have always been more dependable than Lucius."

"My Lord," said Rookwood, who had also been working with Bellatrix that night, "I still have a friend or two in the department, I could call them. It would risk alerting the Ministry if they didn't already know something was up though. They might be willing to give me information, but they would also certainly alert the Aurors if there had not yet been an alarm."

"No," said the Dark Lord, "We wait."

XXXXX

Harry and his group returned to the school, and met with the rest of the Army in the Room of Requirement.

"So it's done," said Cedric.

"It is," said Harry sadly.

"We've decided we won't be doing this again," said Hermione, "The cost to us is just too high, even if they deserved it."

"They did," stated Harry, "It was never a question of deserving. It was about who _we_ want to be."

"Good," said Fred, "You don't need to be murderers to stop the Dark Dorkus."

"I agree," said Harry quietly. "Still, I have to consider the night a success. We struck a blow against Voldemort tonight. Now everyone, get back to your dorms before anyone misses us!"

XXXXX

Fudge ran down the stairs to the Department of Mysteries, Amelia right behind him. He didn't stop to greet any of the grim-eyed aurors who were hanging around outside. He quickly made for the Hall of Prophecies. Once there, he was given a grim sight.

The corpses of ten men were strung up from the shelves that carried the prophecies. They had all been stripped naked, and they all had Dark Marks. Whoever had done this had taken excruciating pains to make certain that every Dark Mark was labeled, with arrows pointing to them placed on each body. Fudge recognized these men. Lucius Malfoy, the Lestranges, Macnair…

It would have been a disaster if Potter hadn't had him preparing for this in secret.

"The time has come to come out and admit that You-Know-Who has returned," said Fudge.

"Who did this?" asked Amelia, stunned.

"It wasn't Dumbledore," said Fudge, "That's for sure. But whoever they are, they seem to be targeting Death Eaters."

"That doesn't excuse… this!" insisted Amelia.

"They only did this because we couldn't hold them in Azkaban," said Fudge, "Remove the dementors from control of that place immediately."

Amelia nodded. "You're right," she said, "and it's about time that order was given."

"Lord, lord, well, You-Know-Who has returned," said Fudge so everyone could hear him, "The Ministry is now at war!"

Looking at his feet, Fude saw a note. He picked it up.

_We have pictures,_ it said. _You can't keep this quiet. The Army of the Triumvirate has come to cleanse the Death Eaters from the magical world._

Fudge inhaled sharply. There was indeed a new player on the field.

XXXXX

Harry groaned slightly as he began to wake up. Hermione had opted to sleep next to him that night, and he was quite happy to hold her. It had been a rough night for her.

Suddenly the door to their room burst open. It was Snape. When he saw them his eyes narrowed.

"We weren't doing anything," said Harry quietly, patting Hermione's arm, "We were just…"

"Potter, I honestly don't give a damn what you and your girlfriend are doing in here," said Snape, "But the Headmistress wants to see you. Apparently the entire Inquisitorial Squad was caught drunk in one of the classrooms last night and Professor Umbridge is nowhere to be found."

"Sounds like a shocking lack of supervision on her part," remarked Harry, "Or maybe she had something to do with it?"

"Ha ha," said Snape, "Get up. You too, Granger."

Both Harry and Hermione stood up. Both were wearing pajamas.

Snape exhaled slightly, "I suppose you weren't lying to me then," he said, "No need to get dressed then. Put on shoes and follow me!"

Within minutes, Harry and Hermione were in front of both McGonagall and Flitwick.

"All of the Inquisitorial Squad say they have no memory of having a party," said McGonagall, "And while it looks as if there was a party there, I will admit that all of them aren't quite as hungover as they should be."

"That is odd," agreed Harry.

"Did you set this up to frame them?" asked McGonagall.

"Frame who?" asked Harry, "I honestly don't care what happens to any one person on the Inquisitorial Squad. Why would I try to get them in trouble?"

"To get the whole thing shut down, Potter," said Flitwick.

"I agree the Inquisitorial Squad should be shut down,' said Hermione, "How many of them did you catch?"

"All of them!" said McGonagall, seeming to alternate between anger and amusement..

"Professor," said Hagrid, who was running into the room, "I went into town and asked over at the Hogs Head if they sold some casks of Firewhiskey. Aberforth said he did sell some. He sold them to Dolores Umbridge!"

McGonagall looked very surprised then shook her head. "I don't believe for a moment that Dolores Umbridge bought Firewhiskey for the Inquisitorial Squad," she said, "But it appears that all the evidence leads in that direction. Therefore, I am disbanding the Inquisitorial Squad, and suspending Professor Umbridge until we can get her side of things. Do you know where she is?"

"I do not," said Harry, "though I doubt she's in any danger. She probably just got drunk and wandered off somewhere."

"I won't be punishing the students on the squad any further however," said McGonagall shrewdly.

"That is, of course, your prerogative," agreed Harry, "Listen, I know you suspect it was me, but if they were set up, I wasn't the one who did it. They had a lot of enemies at this school. It could be almost anyone."

McGonagall looked at Harry for a moment, then gave him a disbelieving smile. "Well, whoever did this, they did the school a service," McGonagall said smugly, "I suppose the two of you can go get dressed."

As Hermione and Harry headed back to the Slytherin common room, they both broke out into laughter. They'd gotten away with it!

XXXXX

"Well?" asked Dark Lord as Rookwood returned, "Did you find out? Does the Ministry have them?"

Rookwood shuddered. He had just been given permission to contact his man in the Department of Mysteries. Narcissa was almost beside herself. Had Lucius been caught? If so it might be months before they managed to break him out again.

"The Ministry does have our entire team in their possession," said Rookwood, his tone very nervous.

"It was a trap," said the Dark Lord angrily, before turning to Narcissa, "Lucius will have to pay for this, you understand."

"He already has," said Rookwood, "It wasn't the Ministry who caught them. It was some unknown group. And this group killed them."

"What?!" demanded the Dark Lord, his voice incredulous. Narcissa's own heart seemed to stop.

"Whoever did this killed every member of our strike team," said Rookwood, "They didn't come back because they are dead."

Narcissa heard Bellatrix start to growl. As for herself, she could barely breathe. It wasn't that she had loved Lucius. She hadn't. Not really. But all of a sudden, Narcissa was cognizant of the fact that she was very alone now, and at the heart of the operations of the Death Eaters.

"Whoever did this, they set us up deliberately," said the Dark Lord, "And they got Potter to bait the trap."

"Could it have been Potter?" asked Bellatrix.

"Probably not," said Rookwood, "If he successfully dealt with Umbridge last night…"

"This is someone new," said the Dark Lord, his voice cold, "We need to find out who, immediately."

**Author's Note**: And that is the climax of fifth year! From here on out this story is essentially it's own thing, with a couple of exceptions in sixth year. Though both of those exceptions only really serve to show how this story has come to a very different place. The next chapter is sort of a transition from 5th year to the summer.

There is a lot I want to talk about, but I feel that it is still a bit early to get into this sort of stuff. The next two chapters don't really let up, and the situation is going to change even more before Harry is done.

Next Time: I keep trying to come up with a clever way to say this, but it's just impossible. The next two chapters are one of my favorite parts of the story.


	41. Out in the Open

**Chapter 41: Out in the Open**

**June 2nd, 1996**

Albus Dumbledore floated into the kitchen at 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius and Remus were already there.

"I assume you have heard?" asked Sirius. Dumbledore had been a regular guest ever since he had been let go from the school. Sirius didn't know where he was staying otherwise.

"I have," said the former Headmaster, "Though only the vaguest rumours. Ten dead Death Eaters in the middle of the Ministry isn't something that is easy to keep quiet."

Snape stepped through the fireplace into Grimmauld Place. "Sorry I'm late," said Snape, "Potter moved against Umbridge last night and the whole place is in an uproar. Umbridge is missing, and every member of the Inquisitorial Squad has been kicked off for having a drunken party, apparently on Umbridge's dime."

"I don't believe that Dolores would do such a thing," said Dumbledore lightly.

"Neither does Minerva, so she isn't punishing anyone, but she did suspend Umbridge and disband the Inquisitorial Squad," said Snape.

"So Harry was definitely at Hogwarts last night?" asked Dumbledore.

"You don't think Harry did this?" asked Sirius aghast.

"No, not really, but it was possible that he was mixed up in it somehow," assured Dumbledore, "Voldemort would be very eager to lure Harry into the Department of Mysteries."

"It is possible that he had some involvement, on the edges," said Snape, "He definitely provided the information whoever did this needed to lure the Death Eaters into such an effective trap. Though even I doubt he would have done so if he had known they would be so brutal. I would guess that he either didn't know he was giving information, or he didn't know what it would be used for."

"Did Harry know about the prophecy?" asked Dumbledore.

"Probably," admitted Sirius, "And from what I can gather, he may have dealt with it some time ago. Harry hasn't said so, but I believe he is capable of Apparating."

"That may have been why they moved now," said Snape, "If the prophecy was gone, it would only be a matter of time before someone noticed once Harry is out of school. The Dark Lord would definitely check up on it at that point."

"Who could this be?" wondered Remus.

"Possibly one of Mr. Zabini's Irish friends?" asked Snape, "They are very anti-Death Eater."

"I haven't seen any sign of them fighting outside of Wales and Ireland," observed Dumbledore, "Though I am by no means an expert on the magical underworld."

"Greengrass might try something like this," said Sirius, "He has been putting up a pureblood faction to oppose You-Know-Who."

"That could be inconvenient," said Dumbledore, "Though if they are willing to help fight Voldemort, I will gladly accept their aid. Though, I am concerned by the fact that they killed _everyone_."

"It makes sense though," said Remus, "Now that Azkaban is no longer safe, turning them in means they're back on the street in a few months."

"You think this group would have spared their prisoners if they could have?" asked Snape, derisively.

"I don't know," admitted Remus, "But it is a possibility."

"We cannot claim to know anything about this yet," said Dumbledore, "So we must keep our eyes open. Sirius, see if you can find out what Harry knows about this."

"I will, though I'm not going to betray his trust if he asks me to keep it a secret from you," said Sirius.

"Sirius…" started Dumbledore.

"Albus, he really doesn't trust you right now," said Sirius, "I'm trying to mend fences between the two of you, I really am, but it seems to me that you need to come clean with him about what is going on. He needs my guidance right now, but he won't accept it if I go telling you all his secrets."

"You just said he can Apparate," pointed out Snape.

"Do you think Harry cares that you know that?," asked Sirius, "If anything, it should put you at ease."

"Severus, I need a word with you in private before I head off," said Dumbledore.

Sirius couldn't hear what the two of them discussed, but he could see Snape's reaction. He was not happy. He was very, very _not_ happy.

XXXXX

**June 14th, 1996**

Harry's O.W.L.s were a breeze.

"The only one that I have any concerns about is the Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L. to be honest," said Harry to Hermione on their last day at Hogwarts for the year, "Tom Riddle really only paid attention in that class when it involved snakes. He wasn't good at Herbology either, but thanks to you and Justin, I've got that one nailed down."

They were sitting in the common room, but no one else was there except for Daphne and Tracey.

"Oh, I don't know, I wish I'd had more time to prepare," said Hermione.

"Hermione," said Harry firmly, "I did fine. If I did fine, I'm sure you did."

"But…" started Hermione.

"No buts," said Harry, "You did fine."

Hermione let out a nervous laugh, "I know, I know, I've always been like this about tests."

"I do feel sorry for all the students who needed help in Defense, not having a professor to help them," said Daphne.

Umbridge had been found a couple of days after Fred, George and Luna had left her in the Forbidden Forest. Apparently the first words she'd said to the centaurs who picked her up were "Get away from me, you filthy half-breed!" As a result, the centaurs had driven her away with rocks and she had wandered lost until Hagrid had found her tending to some secret business he had in the forest. She'd called Hagrid a half-breed as well, but Hagrid had been a lot more even tempered about the whole thing.

She returned to Hogwarts to find that all her positions at the school had been stripped from her. This included her Inquisitor position, which the Wizengamot had stripped from her just hours before. According to Percy, she still had her position as Senior Undersecretary, but Fudge had ordered her to take at least six months vacation, probably more, like a year. Percy also said that she was well aware that her memory had been tampered with, but whoever had done it had really done a number on her.

McGonagall had not been amused by the use of memory charms. However, when she had confronted Harry about it, he had simply denied that he had anything to do with putting memory charms on Umbridge.

"Listen, Headmistress, I'm flattered that you think I'm behind this," Harry had said, 'It indicates that you think only I could have pulled something like this off. But I wasn't there. I didn't do it. I don't know how Umbridge got to the forest from the castle. The truth is, almost every student in the castle had a motive to hurt her. And some group of them did."

That had satisfied her. It had been a lie, but only by omission. Harry certainly had been behind it, even if he didn't execute the mission. Harry didn't feel guilty about it though. Umbridge was completely vile. Luna had been absolutely devastated when she'd come out of Umbridge's mind. She wasn't a particularly skilled Legilimens, but what she had seen from the small amount of contact she had, in addition to her auras, had been horrifying.

"Dolores Umbridge is exactly the sort of person who would march people off to death camps," Luna had said.

And so now, here they were, at the end of term. It seemed weird. They would all be going their separate ways again soon. And Harry wasn't sure how to feel about anything.

"Hey, Harry," said Blaise, who walked in, fresh from a visit with Seamus no doubt, "Have a minute?"

"Yeah," said Harry. He got up and followed Blaise to Blaise's room.

"Listen Harry, you're a good friend, and I want to help you in any way I can," said Blaise, "but I think it's clear that we're headed in different directions here. So if you need my help against the Death Eaters, I'll do what I can. But I'll do it as part of the underworld. Seamus and I will be joining this summer. And we're going to do what we need to do to take down the Dark Tosser, but I don't think you're going to approve of how I do it."

"Probably not," said Harry, "Still, I wish you luck."

"Thanks," said Blaise, "But remember, if you do need the magical underworld for anything, I'm your guy. We're still on the same side, just playing by different rules."

"You will be back for school next year?" asked Harry.

"Probably," said Blaise, "Seventh Year is iffy though."

"C'mon man, who's gonna be the Seventh Year prefect once I get Head Boy?" asked Harry.

"You that confident?" asked Blaise.

"The way I see it, it's fifty/fifty," said Harry, "My only competition is Anthony. Ernie's a nice guy but he's just a bit too narrow minded to get it. And Ron, well, Ron's gonna be Quidditch Captain. He wouldn't accept Head Boy over that. C'mon man, we don't want Nott being a prefect."

"Maybe they could choose a second girl," said Blaise, "Millie would be okay."

"If only," said Harry.

"I'll see, it will depend on how much I'm needed," said Blaise, "Soon enough we'll be taking the war to my mother. That will take everything we've got."

Harry nodded sadly. Blaise had been one of his best friends for five years now. The idea that Blaise was now set for a life of crime was a bit unsettling, but he couldn't blame him. He had to do what was right for him right now. And right now, fighting Voldemort however he could was definitely right.

XXXXX

**June 15th, 1996**

"We need to hire help," said Harry as he met with Hermione and Ginny as the Triumvirate for the last time in a while.

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"Mercenaries," said Harry, "We need someone who can do what we need them to while we are in school."

"That's… probably true," said Ginny.

"Do you have the money for that Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, but I need to bring Sirius in fully," said Harry, "I also heard that Bill and Fleur are moving back to Britain."

"I think that they arrived yesterday," said Ginny, "They are trying to surprise me I think, which is why I don't have more information."

"I'll recruit them as well," said Harry, "I also wanted to recruit Remus, and maybe Tonks, though I'd have to ask Sirius about her."

"If we do have some mercenaries, I have some ideas about how we could use them," said Hermione.

"I thought you might," said Harry with a grin.

XXXXX

Ginny was boarding the Hogwarts Express when she heard a rather unwelcome voice calling her name.

"Ginny!" said Nott, "Wait a second!"

"What is it Nott?" she asked, turning to talk to him.

"I.. just wanted to tell you, there's no hard feelings about how everything went down this year," said Nott, "I badly underestimated you and your resolve, it's true…"

"Yes you did," said Ginny angrily, "What is this about?"

"I just feel bad," said Nott, "That's all. I wanted to apologize. I'm sorry."

"Okay," said Ginny, "Do you think this means anything?" Ginny still didn't trust him, and she had no idea what this was about.

Nott smiled. "I know I screwed up, I just… needed to make that right," he said as he leapt up onto the train, "See you next year."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Boys will never make sense," she muttered to herself. Whatever this was, Ginny wasn't at all sure it wasn't a disaster waiting to happen.

XXXXX

The return trip was rather uneventful. Ginny and Justin said goodbye on the train, they weren't quite ready for his parents to discover that he was dating Ginny yet, and Ginny wasn't quite ready for her mother to find out she was dating Justin yet. Harry wasn't sure why she was bothering, but apparently Ginny still wanted to keep the fact that they knew about the marriage contract a secret.

Sirius was there to greet Harry. "Ready to head over to your favourite place in the whole world?" he asked.

"One last time, yeah," said Harry, "Good thing I won't be staying very long."

"Dumbledore is going to be beside himself," said Hermione.

"Well he has that coming," said Sirius.

Hermione's parents were there as well. Harry waved at them. Helen waved at him, though she seemed a bit distracted. Something was clearly wrong there, but Harry didn't have time to get the whole story.

"I'm not spending the summer with the Dursleys," Harry explained to Hermione's parents, "I'll just be seeing them one last time, to get a bit of closure and to try and get them to go into hiding."

"Probably a good idea," said Robert, his voice subdued.

"Things are crazy right now," said Sirius, "Someone killed ten Death Eaters, and no one seems to know who did it. You-Know-Who's forces are in disarray, but that just makes them more dangerous and unpredictable."

"Hermione, please stay safe," said Harry. He gave her a quick hug and a kiss.

"I will, as long as you do as well," she said warmly.

"I'll see you soon," said Harry.

Sirius and Harry walked over to an out of the way area. "Dobby," said Harry.

The house elf appeared.

"Please take my things to Grimmauld Place," he said, "I have a few places I need to be today, and don't feel like lugging it about."

"Right, Ma… I'se mean Harry," said Dobby.

Dobby had been delighted when Harry had offered to hire him at the end of term. However he was having difficulty not calling him Master, but Harry had insisted. No one would call Harry Master. Dobby was getting paid as well, although Harry was having a hard time to get him to accept an actual working wage.

As Dobby apparated, Sirius grinned, "I think that's our cue to leave," he said.

Harry grinned, and hooked arms with his godfather. Moments later, they were both apparating away. Suddenly they were in Harry's bedroom at Privet Drive.

"Harry," said Sirius with mock disapproval, "Did you just side-along apparate us?"

"Maybe," said Harry, mischievously.

"Well done Harry," congratulated Sirius with a wide grin, "that's very good for fifteen!"

"You realize that I have the memories of a man who apparated hundreds if not thousands of times, right?" asked Harry.

"Details," dismissed Sirius.

Harry opened the door and walked downstairs. And nearly ran right into Vernon.

"What are you doing upstairs boy, coming in here without so much as a by your leave," said Vernon.

"We teleported in there, since it wouldn't attract attention," said Harry, "I need to talk to you and Aunt Petunia. It won't take long. If Dudley is about…"

Vernon nodded. "So you aren't staying?"

Harry nodded. "But there are some things you need to know before I leave. For your own safety."

Vernon looked like he was going to say no for a second, then he seemed to think better of it.

"I'll get them," he said.

Moments later, Harry was in front of his Aunt, Uncle and cousin in the living room. The very room where he had met McGonagall. The day his life had changed.

"I'm not staying," said Harry, "But this means that the protections around this house will fall, and sooner rather than later. Which means you need to go into hiding, or at least move."

"What?" demanded Vernon.

"You cannot be serious!" said Petunia angrily.

"Please, if you stay, at some point my enemies will come looking for you," said Harry, "And they will kill you, just to get at me. Now I don't like any of you. But I don't wish you dead. Please, move out of this house. Once the protections wear off, it will practically be a target painted on your backs. They will attack here, on my seventeenth birthday at the latest. They know the protections won't last past then in any case."

"No, this is our home," said Vernon.

"Mum, Dad, I think we should leave," said Dudley, "Harry saved my life last year, I think we should trust him."

"Listen to your son," said Sirius, "This place is not safe anymore."

"Maybe we should leave," said Petunia.

"No," said Vernon stubbornly.

Harry had half expected this. He pulled a ring out of his pocket and handed it to his cousin. "Take this then, it is a portkey," he said, "If Aunt Petunia touches it, she will teleport to safety. If you are touching it or her at the same time, Dudley, it will take you to safety as well."

"Will it take me?" asked Vernon.

Harry shook his head, "Sorry, but I had to make it capable of working even under the influence of spells designed to stop portkeys from working. That means it can only take people who are keyed to it. I keyed it using my own blood, which means Dudley and Petunia can use it, because they share my mother's blood, but no one else can."

Vernon opened his mouth, but Dudley shook his head, "I understand, Harry," he said, his voice sadder than Harry had thought it would be, "Hopefully we won't have to use it."

"I agree," said Harry, "Please, leave. And goodbye."

Harry hooked arms with Sirius again. He had plenty more things to take care of today.

XXXXX

Hermione was surprised when her parents did not take her home, but instead went to a hotel in London.

"We've decided to take some preemptive steps to protect ourselves this year," said Robert, "We'll talk more after you get settled in."

Hermione was given her own room, which was welcome, but probably not necessary. Something was up. Her parents had been acting strange ever since they'd left Kings' Cross. They'd barely reacted when she told them how they'd framed Umbridge.

Putting her things on the floor near the bed, she looked around her room. It was rather nice, as far as hotel rooms went. She pulled several things out of her pockets, including her wand, which she put on the nightstand.

She walked into the bathroom. She quickly washed her face in the water there, and used the toilet. When she left the room, she saw both her parents had entered, and were sitting on her bed.

"Hermione," said Helen, "We need to talk."

That sounded bad. Very bad.

"About?" asked Hermione.

"We know that you and Harry were sharing a bedroom," said Helen.

Hermione's heart sank. Why couldn't this have happened just a few months later? She was still sixteen!

"Who told you that?" asked Hermione.

"You aren't going to deny it?" asked Robert.

"Before I admit or deny anything, I want to know what you were told and by whom," said Hermione, "I want to know to what degree they are lying to you."

"It was Dumbledore, and Snape," answered Helen, "they came together…"

"Of course they did," interrupted Hermione, "If one of them had come on their own I might have finally figured out who is messing with Harry and Ginny. Was it Snape who said we roomed together?"

"Dumbledore brought it up," said Robert, "but Snape was the one who said he witnessed it. He said you had been rooming together all year, and that he only didn't report it because he didn't want to make things worse between Harry and Dumbledore."

"Ha!" said Hermione disdainfully, "There's the lie. Damn, but of course he has no choice, does he? He can't admit the truth."

"He says he walked in on the two of you in bed together," said Robert.

"That is true," said Hermione, "But we weren't doing anything. Yes, we did room together. But it wasn't since the beginning of this year."

Hermione paused and then sighed, "It was since the beginning of _First _Year."

"What?!" shouted both of her parents.

"Remember when I said that Draco was breaking into my room and we found a way to get Harry's status as a half-blood to protect me in my room?" asked Hermione. Hermione could almost swear that her father looked away guiltily when she said that.

"But why didn't you tell…" started Helen, but then she shook her head, "No wait, that's a stupid question. Of course we'd have a fit if you told us."

"We haven't taken advantage of the situation," said Hermione, "Okay, we may have used the room to have a few snogging sessions in, but we certainly haven't, you know, been intimate there."

"What about at No. 12?" asked Helen, "Were you never intimate there?"

Hermione hesitated, and immediately knew that lying wasn't going to do her any good. If she had said no immediately, she might have gotten away with it. But a moment's hesitation had cost her that.

"Once," she said sadly, "Just once."

Robert looked troubled. He'd been angry when the conversation started, but now he looked troubled. Helen just shook her head.

"You should have told us," said Helen.

"Maybe," said Hermione, "But that ship has sailed."

"Indeed it has," said Helen.

Hermione suddenly realized why everything felt off. Usually it was her mother who was the voice of reason and her father was causing a scene. This time it seemed like they had both been pressing her, but her mother was the one pushing the hardest. Something was very, very wrong. Her mother was acting as if…

As if someone was messing with her mind. Snape or Dumbledore had put some kind of spell on her. On her father too as well, but her father seemed to be resisting it… because he'd had practice resisting mental control from being around Fleur!

"Okay, I see where this is headed," said Hermione, "What incredibly bad idea are you about to try?"

"We're going into hiding," said Helen, "We're moving to Australia."

"Good luck, have fun," said Hermione.

"You're coming with us," said Helen. Robert looked troubled.

"Are you going to enroll me in the magic school in Australia?" asked Hermione.

"No," said Helen, "We're done with that."

Hermione shook her head, "McGonagall will never let you take me and…"

"She already said yes," said Robert, his voice distant, his eyes guilty.

"She thinks we are enrolling in you in school over there, but once we are out of the country she won't be able to do anything," said Helen.

"Sorry, but I don't intend to…" started Hermione as she reached into her pocket for her wand. And that is when she realized that she left her wand on the end table.

"Looking for this?" asked Helen, holding up her wand.

Hermione could have just summoned her wand out of her mother's hand. She could have. But somehow she knew that if she did that her parents would be leaving her life forever. And she didn't want that. She loved them, and knew that they were being mind controlled. Not the Imperius Curse, but something else. Some form of suggestion perhaps, maybe even something that only worked on muggles. If they went off without her, she knew the Death Eaters would track them down and kill them.

"You are going to regret this," said Hermione sadly, "That isn't a threat, just a statement of what will happen."

"Maybe, but our things are already being moved," said Helen. The look on Robert's face showed that he already regretted this.

"I guess I don't have a choice," said Hermione. She really didn't. She just had to hope that Harry would find her before the Death Eaters did. Because Harry would find her. That she was certain of.

XXXXX

"You want to hire mercenaries?" asked Sirius as the two of them left Gringotts.

"Yes," said Harry, "And now I know we have the money we need to do it."

"I mean it technically is my money," said Sirius.

"I can give it back to you," said Harry.

Sirius shook his head. "No, I don't want to risk Narcissa or Bellatrix getting their hands on it if something were to happen to me," said Sirius.

"I need someone who can do things for me while I'm in school next year," said Harry, "I have some plans that are developing."

"We are running a little behind," said Sirius, "Remus and Tonks, are waiting for us at Grimmauld place. Apparently Ginny is coming with Bill and Fleur as well."

"Good," said Harry, "I'm looking forward to this."

XXXXX

Percy was organizing his desk when Fudge asked to see him. He walked into Fudge's office quickly, this was a bit peculiar.

"Percy!" shouted Fudge exuberantly, "I have been following you for some time. You've done some excellent work for me recently."

"Thank you Minister," said Percy respectfully.

"I also noticed some of the, shall we say, extracurricular activity you've been doing," said Fudge. Percy's gut wrenched, but he kept a straight face.

"You and your sister have been playing all sides, trying to see who is going to come out ahead, am I right?" asked Fudge.

"Well, we… " started Percy, but Fudge held up his hand.

"Now, now, there's nothing wrong with wanting to keep your options open," said Fudge with a wink, "I was starting to get concerned about Umbridge. She was allying herself with the children of the Death Eaters right as we were about to announce that You-Know-Who had returned. That could have been very embarrassing. But you kept your cool, and when you realized what was going on, you gave your sister information that would allow her and her friends to take down Umbridge, and do it in a way that only implicated her and her moral character, not me and my policies."

Suddenly, Percy realized that Fudge didn't know he'd been spying on him for Harry. He just knew that he had been involved in taking down Umbridge.

"Well, I figured someone needed to shut her up before she made you look bad," said Percy.

"And you did that well," said Fudge, "But I must admit, it is an action that is above your pay grade."

"I didn't mean to…" started Percy but Fudge just smiled and laughed.

"I'm not angry," said Fudge, "Quite the opposite. I'm promoting you to Junior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic. You'll be doing mostly the same things you do now, but now you'll have some actual teeth to get things done. Plus, I may ask you to do some slightly more sensitive work for me in the future."

"I don't know what to say," said Percy, "This is an incredible honour."

"Well, with Dolores gone, I'm going to be saddling a lot of the paperwork she used to do onto your shoulders," said Fudge, "so it won't be a picnic. But ever since you gave me that advice about Potter I've had my eye on you. I think you're ready for this, despite your inexperience."

There was a knock on the door. Percy opened it to see Amelia Bones standing there.

"Amelia Bones for you sir," said Percy.

"Ah, Amelia," said Fudge, "Excellent timing. I just promoted Percy here to Junior Undersecretary."

"Congratulations," said Amelia perfunctorily, "I just received a letter from the leader of the people who killed the Death Eaters."

She handed Fudge the letter. Fudge motioned for Percy to come over as he laid it down on his desk. Percy walked over and read it upside down, a skill he'd acquired from all those long days of study back at Hogwarts..

_To Amelia Bones,_

_We are the Triumvirs, leaders of the Army of the Triumvirate. We killed the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. Those men needed to die. But we want to be clear, we will not kill any more Death Eaters, except in self-defense. We are not your enemies._

_Indeed, we do not wish any conflict with the Ministry of Magic. Our only goal is the destruction of the Death Eater menace. We will continue to act in support of this goal, but do not wish to conflict with the actions of the Ministry. We will provide you with intelligence that we believe that you can use. If you do not trust this letter, know that we circled their Dark Marks. Only you and your Aurors know this, aside from the Minister and us. We are on the same side. When you show this to Fudge, tell him that if he wants to take credit for this, he can. We don't care in the least._

_The Triumvirs_

"Well," said Fudge, "that is interesting. What do you think Amelia?"

"Death Eaters are by law traitors in rebellion against the Ministry," considered Amelia, "While that doesn't justify murder exactly, I'd be willing to call it self-defense if it doesn't happen again. I'm not going to shed any tears over the only victory we've had in this war."

"I agree," said Fudge, "I'll have to think about taking credit though."

"It could be used against you, if this Triumvirate had proof you didn't have any part in it," agreed Percy.

"Good lad," said Fudge, "I knew I made a good choice in promoting you. Amelia, keep this under wraps for now."

"Understood," replied Amelia.

XXXXX

It was late by the time Harry and Sirius finally made it back to Grimmauld Place. Everyone was already there. Remus, Tonks, Fleur and Bill were all waiting with various degrees of patience, while Ginny was pacing angrily.

"Sorry, herding this reprobate is more effort than you might think," said Harry, indicating Sirius.

"Don't I know it," said Remus with a faint smile.

"Hey, I didn't stop and hoot at any pretty girls once today," said Sirius.

"You actually used to do that?" asked Ginny, her eyes narrowing.

"Not in a long time, I swear!" protested Sirius, noticing her mood, "It's been at least four days!"

"I want to thank all of you for coming," said Harry, "So I've been putting together a group to help deal with the Death Eaters at school, but I've come to the end of what we can do at the moment. We need help outside school, which is why I'm reaching out to all of you."

"Why us?" asked Tonks.

"You are all skilled, and we will need those skills. Times are getting rough out there," admitted Ginny.

"I'm not so sure that this is a good idea," said Remus, "It's getting kind of crowded in the Anti-You-Know-Who department. This Army of the Triumvirate made a big show of force recently, and the rest of us are members of the Order of the Phoenix."

"It's not that crowded," said Harry, "We ARE the Army of the Triumvirate."

You could have heard a pin drop in the room at that point.

"WHAT?" shouted Sirius.

"You killed all those people?" asked Tonks, her face shocked.

"Yes," said Harry shortly.

"How could you do that?!" demanded Sirius.

"Do NOT yell at Harry," said Ginny angrily, "He voted against doing it. But he is only one member of the Triumvirate, so he was outvoted."

Sirius managed to calm himself down. "Okay, so you weren't in favour of it. But you still did it."

"Yes," said Harry, "And while I think it was a mistake, it did put the Death Eaters on the back foot. Listen, have any of you ever led a group like this?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"In order for an organization like this to work, you have to have rules, and then follow them. This was literally the first decision we had to make. If I had pulled out then, we'd have been done. I hated doing it, we all did. And we aren't going to do anything like it again. It was not… I was the only person there who really understood the gravity of what we were doing, given what happened with Peter."

"You 'ad no choice with Peter," said Fleur, " 'E would 'ave killed me or worse."

"I know," said Harry, "But that doesn't mean I felt comfortable calculating the fact that I had to kill him."

"Ron was against it from the start," said Ginny, "He only went ahead and did it because I was in favour."

"And incidents like this are why we need your advice," said Harry, "because I could definitely have used some backup on this, but no one else had the experience to help me."

None of the adults seemed to like it, but they all seemed to accept Harry's explanation.

"So what do you have planned now?" asked Tonks after a moment.

"We have a general plan that we're working on," said Harry, "We want to target the wealth and resources of the wealthy purebloods that support Voldemort."

"_That_ sounds like a good idea," said Tonks.

"I agree," said Bill, "It seems you have more of a plan than Dumbledore does at the minute."

"I'm not sure about that," said Harry, "But I don't think Dumbledore is ready to share his plan. I think he's worried that details might slip out."

"I promised your parents I'd do whatever I could to help you," said Remus, "I'd be repaying them poorly if I didn't help you now."

"I am, of course, in," said Fleur, "I owe 'Arry so much, it will be good to pay a bit more of it back."

"You've already paid back a lot," said Harry, suddenly blushing as he remembered exactly how she had helped him and Hermione.

Fleur grinned, "It would have been better if 'Ermione's parents had not arrived immediately after the two of you finished."

"What's this?" asked Tonks.

"Not your business," said Harry, blushing even more furiously.

"Are you planning to run the Triumvirate yourselves?" asked Remus.

"Well, and you can't tell anyone this, not even Dumbledore…" started Harry, as he began to explain the horcruxes, as well as the memories they'd taken from them.

"Wow," said Remus, "Well, I guess maybe you do need to be in charge. Who else has these memories?"

"I do, and so does Hermione," said Ginny, "That's why we make up the Triumvirate."

Tonks frowned. "But Hermione is leaving the country," she said.

"Where did you hear that?" asked Harry dismissively.

"Dumbledore and Snape said they convinced her parents to leave. I don't know where to," said Tonks.

"She didn't say anything," noted Ginny.

Harry inhaled sharply, "They didn't tell her!"

And Harry pulled out his wand.

"Harry, NO! Wait!" shouted Sirius.

Harry ignored him as he apparated to Hermione's house.

The house was dark. There was no way they hadn't made it home yet. Harry quickly ran up to the door, and unlocked the door with a quick _Alohomora_. Entering the house, Harry saw that everything was gone. All their things. It had all been moved out.

"Dammit," said Harry, "They really did it!"

"Surprised, Potter?" asked a voice Harry had never heard before, but was somehow familiar. Harry spun around. There was a woman there. She looked like Andromeda Tonks. But the way she held herself was utterly unlike Andromeda Tonks. And then that face came to him through one of Voldemort's memories.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," said Harry, "Why are you here? Do you know what happened to Hermione?"

Bellatrix grinned, "Seems you're a bit behind, Potter. For once, I'm ahead of you. Still I'd be remiss if I didn't bring you to the Dark Lord. As a gift, you understand."

"I'd like to see you try!" said Harry angrily, as he let out a series of stunning and disarming spells. Bellatrix dodged, and the fight was on.

Harry was trying to incapacitate Bellatrix. He had to find out what she knew. As a result, she was just barely able to keep from being utterly defeated. But just barely. If Harry had gone all out on her, he probably could have killed her. That wasn't the goal though.

Initially Bellatrix had seemed to enjoy the fight, and had tried to toy with Harry. But after several rounds of spells her face grew more and more serious.

Finally, she leapt away from Harry. "You're better than I expected Potter. I underestimated you. Very well, I need to report this to the Dark Lord anyway."

And with that, she apparated away.

Harry immediately apparated to Grimmauld Place. Bill, Fleur and Ginny had already left.

"Hermione's gone," said Harry, "Though that might be for the best at the moment. I ran into Bellatrix Lestrange."

"What!?" shouted Sirius, "I told you not to go there."

"Unfortunately, she got away," said Harry, "I nearly captured her."

Remus and Tonks stared at Harry unbelievingly.

"You nearly defeated Bellatrix Lestrange?" asked Tonks.

"I escaped from Voldemort how many times?" asked Harry, "Bellatrix I probably could have killed if I had wanted to, but I was trying to capture her."

"Harry, I know you feel that you need to do something..." said Sirius.

"I do need to do something," said Harry, "But it's too late now. In the morning I will talk to McGonagall. She is Hermione's magical guardian. If anyone knows what is going on, she will."

"That's a good plan," said Sirius.

"Do you have a sleeping potion around," said Harry, "I won't get to sleep without one."

"I think I might have something," said Sirius, "Don't worry kiddo, Hermione will be fine."

Harry shook his head. "I think Bellatrix already knew what was going on. I think she just checked Hermione's house to see if she had left yet. That means the Death Eaters are ahead of me."

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself. "I know you mean well, but don't tell me Hermione will be fine, not until she is next to me again."

**Author's Note:** So, yeah. Hermione's parents finally found out. And are doing the stupidest possible thing! And Bellatrix is still hunting them! From the earliest outlines I used to plan out this story, I knew that this moment would come. The next chapter is gonna be _nuts_.

On the matter of killing the Death Eaters, this has been something I have considered a lot. The level of premeditation in their plan puts this awfully close to murder. I do think that the fact that the Death Eaters intended to kill them mitigates this a bit, but they still very much did something that is not really morally supportable. This is a completely separate matter from the ethics of self-defense, a topic on which the character's feelings will be made clear in the next chapter.

The other issue isn't whether it was right or wrong to kill the Death Eaters (they certainly deserved it, even if Harry and Company were wrong to actually kill them) but what that violence did to Harry and his friends. Killing changes them as well, especially since it was: 1. Premeditated 2. Against unarmed people and 3. Performed by children.

The real failure here is the magical world in general, both in not preventing the Death Eaters from being able to get so strong, and also in not taking a harder line against them earlier. And there is also the fact that this group of children is left in a situation where they feel killing is their only way through this and no adults are available to rebut this. But it is going to take Harry a long time to see this. Right now he sees this primarily as a personal failure, rather than as a systemic one.

I want to note, Harry as a character is still morally very much the same as he is in canon. He prefers to save people over killing them. He's just a little more cognizant of the fact that it isn't always possible.

Next Time: Harry goes to Australia!


	42. A Summer in Britain, A Winter Down Under

**Chapter 42: A Summer in Britain, A Winter Down Under**

**June 16th, 1996**

Narcissa swept into the room where the other Death Eaters were meeting the moment she heard Bella was back. She couldn't help it. She had been obsessed with her sister's safety ever since Lucius had died. That still wasn't real to her. She had tried to mourn him, but it just wouldn't come. Not yet. But one thing she wasn't able to ignore was that her sister might very well be in the same danger.

"Just as you suspected Severus, Granger's parents didn't even wait to go home. They were moved out already," said Bellatrix, "I suspect they have already left the country, or will do so tomorrow."

"Just as you were closing in on them," said Rookwood, his voice clearly disappointed.

"We know she is going to Australia," dismissed Snape, "We can hunt her down at our leisure. It will take some time for Potter to find out that she is gone. At least a couple of weeks."

"No," said Bellatrix, "Potter knows she is gone now. He arrived at the Granger's house minutes after I did. He clearly didn't know what was going on, but someone tipped him off apparently and he knows they are gone. I need to hunt down Granger immediately, or Potter will bury them so deep that we never find them."

"You didn't bring me a gift, Bellatrix?" asked the Dark Lord, but he had a smile on his face as he said it, "You've always said you could capture Potter for me."

"I admit, I didn't know what I was talking about," said Bellatrix, "I was barely able to keep him from defeating me, and he was trying to capture me, not kill me. He's good, far better than your descriptions indicated, my Lord. I suspect he has improved since the last time he fought you."

"You think he can defeat me?" asked the Dark Lord, a dangerous edge to his voice.

"No one can truly defeat you," assured Bellatrix, "But he is dangerous to your operations nonetheless. I believe he is a match for any other Death Eater, myself included. You should be as wary of him as you are of Dumbledore."

The Dark Lord nodded. "I believe you may be right. Very well, take five Death Eaters with you, kill Granger in Australia. We need to hurt Potter, and this is the best way to do it. Snape, any progress on who killed Lucius and his group?"

"Our information is very sketchy," admitted Snape, "I can guess that maybe it was Bryant Greengrass or the Irish magical underground, but those are guesses. I can't even be absolutely certain it isn't Potter. I don't think he did it, it would have required him to almost be in two places at once, but on the other hand, he might be devious enough to do something like that."

"Perhaps we should hire mercenaries," said Narcissa, surprised as much as anyone that she had spoken up, "We have the funding to do so. More than enough. Our numbers are getting thin."

The Dark Lord nodded. "Not a bad idea, but I'd like Bellatrix's input on any hires. We'll wait until she gets back from Australia."

Suddenly the Dark Lord smiled at Narcissa. "I am glad that you have managed to recover from your grief so quickly. With your husband gone, we will need your insights more than ever."

_Lucius got himself killed,_ thought Narcissa, _He isn't getting Draco and me killed as well._

"There will be time to mourn later," said Narcissa, "Right now, we need to take control of the situation we find ourselves in or we risk everything spiraling out of our control."

"I'm starting to think you were the brains of the Malfoy family," said the Dark Lord. Bellatrix smiled at that.

"We have larger problems," said Rookwood, "I just received word that Fenrir Greyback has decided to back out of supporting us with his werewolves. He doesn't believe that we can win, having lost so many of our people. That is a bitter blow. Even worse, that will almost certainly cost us the giants. One of the main reasons they were supporting us was because the werewolves were also supporting us…"

The meeting went on for another 15 minutes. Afterwards, Bella walked over to her sister, in what might as well have been a full on run.

"I'm so glad you have chosen this path sister," said Bellatrix excitedly, "I look forward to working side by side with you. As soon as I return from Australia, of course."

"Stay safe, Bella," said Narcissa, "I couldn't bear to lose you too."

"I will, Cissy," said Bellatrix, "You don't have to worry about me."

XXXXX

Harry got up the next day, only to have Kreacher and Dobby both accost him before he could leave. He finally consented to have breakfast, especially given that he didn't know when he would eat again.

"Harry," said Sirius as Harry wolfed down his sausages, "I'm glad I caught you."

"Whatever happens, keep trying to recruit those mercenaries," said Harry.

"Harry…" said Sirius.

"You can't come with me, you'd be missed," said Harry, "Neither can Remus, or Tonks, or Bill or even Fleur, and I'd kill to have any of them with me. But I promise you, I won't go alone. If necessary, I'll go to Ireland and get Blaise." Harry shook his head angrily.

"I'll give you one thing, any doubts that going behind Dumbledore's back was a bad idea are now out the window," said Sirius, "Remus and Tonks are both very angry with him right now."

"Are they finally an item?" asked Harry as he finished his meal, "I know they've been on the verge of it for a while."

"They should be," said Sirius sourly, "I think that maybe they are, secretly. Remus probably wants to keep it quiet though, as he's a bit scared of what people will think."

"Well, I hope they figure it out," said Harry, "Anyway, I'm off to Hogwarts."

"Harry, you probably shouldn't Apparate…" started Sirius, right as Harry apparated away.

He emerged on the road to Hogwarts, where Fleur had Apparated them after escaping from Voldemort in the graveyard. Harry walked up to the gates. They were closed, of course, but Harry summoned a Patronus and sent it to Hagrid. He was a bit surprised that he could summon a Patronus in his current state of mind, but he had been thinking about finding Hermione, safe.

Hagrid was at the gate in a moment. "Harry! What are you doin' here? School ended yesterday."

"I need to speak to Headmistress McGonagall," said Harry, "A matter of utmost urgency has come up. I'm not here as a student, I'm here as someone concerned about a person for whom she is acting as guardian."

"Right!" said Hagrid in agreement, "I'll let you in then."

Hagrid quickly let Harry in and escorted him to the Headmistresses office. McGonagall's eyes widened when she saw him.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" she asked.

"Did you give Hermione's parents permission to move her out of the country?" asked Harry.

"I did, yes," answered McGonagall cautiously, "I assume you came here to make sure she wasn't being kidnapped? Well, I suppose that would be urgent, if it was the case."

"Did you talk to Hermione about it?" asked Harry.

"I… no I didn't," said McGonagall, her face perplexed, "That's odd. Normally I would."

"How did you know that her parents wanted her to move?" asked Harry.

"Harry, I know you are upset..." started McGonagall.

"Hermione DID NOT TELL ME that she was moving," said Harry firmly, "And she had made several promises and had many commitments that she was responsible for. Does it sound like Hermione, skipping out on a commitment like that?"

"No, it doesn't," said McGonagall, her voice now disturbed.

"So who told you that Hermione's parents wanted her to move?" asked Harry.

"I vaguely remember Snape," said McGonagall, "Was Dumbledore there? I can't remember."

Harry had a sharp intake of breath. This was very bad. "Can I use legilimency on you Professor? I think your memory has been tampered with."

"I suppose," said McGonagall begrudgingly.

Harry delved into her mind, and sure enough, he saw the telltale signs of minor obliviations. And her memory of that conversation was hazy. Too hazy for Harry to determine anything from.

"Someone has messed with your mind Professor, probably so you wouldn't question why you signed off on letting Hermione go without talking to her. I am certain that she didn't know that her parents intended her to move," Harry began pacing.

"Bloody hell!" swore McGonagall, "They used me! Whoever did this…"

"Will be dealt with, but right now I need to know where she is. She is in great danger," said Harry.

"If Professor Snape and Dumbledore are hiding her, I'm sure she is fine," insisted McGonagall, "I am not happy that they tricked me, but they are capable of keeping her safe."

Harry shook his head. McGonagall was still being affected by something. This was going to require some more work.

"Last night, I went to Hermione's house, and I ran into Bellatrix Lestrange," said Harry, "She knew Hermione had left the country! The Death Eaters are trying to find her, and the mere fact that she left the country will not stop them. Just like the fact that Dumbledore put my parents under a Fidelius didn't stop them. I have to find Hermione before they do. I have to!"

"I cannot give out that information to a student!" said McGonagall.

"You are her magical guardian!" snapped Harry, "You can tell me whatever you damn well need to!"

McGonagall hung her head. "You are right, of course. Why am I fighting this?"

"Someone messed with your head," said Harry, "They have some spell causing you to resist this."

"Australia," said McGonagall, "Hermione and her parents went to Australia. And Potter, I am sorry about this."

"Not your fault," said Harry, "Either Dumbledore or Snape has twisted your mind like a pretzel. Now I have to go. Can I use the floo?"

"Certainly," said McGonagall, "Where will you be going?"

"The Burrow," replied Harry.

XXXXX

Harry came crashing into the Burrow from the fireplace. He hadn't ever done that before. He must really be on edge if he was screwing up something so basic.

"Sorry," said Harry, "I'm not all here today."

"That's understandable," said Molly, her face sympathetic, "I can understand that you'd be upset about this."

"I'm more than upset," said Harry, "Someone was messing with McGonagall's mind. She never told Hermione about this. I don't think Helen and Robert meant to do it, but they have effectively kidnapped their own daughter."

"Oh no!" said Molly, her face now covered in shock, "That is terrible! But why are you here?"

"I wanted to ask Ron and Ginny for some advice," said Harry.

"Oh, well I'm sure they will help you," said Molly.

"Of course we will," said Ginny as she grabbed Harry by the arm and pulled him upstairs into her room. Ron was already there.

Harry quickly went over what had happened with McGonagall.

"Bloody hell," swore Ron, "That's a huge problem."

"I have to go to Australia," said Harry, "But I don't really want to go alone."

"You shouldn't," agreed Ginny, "But I doubt I could trick Mum into letting us go to London, much less Australia."

"I know you can't go," said Harry, "I'm trying to figure out who could."

"Blaise would do it," mused Ginny, "And his bosses would probably let him, given the circumstances."

"I agree he would do it, but he has other responsibilities that I might not approve of, but nonetheless are important to him," said Harry.

"You won't be able to get Daphne to go," said Ron, "She's said that she is going to have trouble getting over here even."

It sounded to Harry like Daphne was avoiding Ron for some reason, but he didn't bring that up.

"Tracey would go, but she would get in sooo much trouble for it," considered Ginny, "But Luna might be able to go. She and her father aren't going on vacation for another month this year."

"Really?" asked Harry, "Would he let her go with me?"

"Luna can probably convince him of just about anything," said Ginny, "Xenophilius Lovegood just dotes on her."

"All right," said Harry, "Could you contact Dobby and have him bring my things to Diagon Alley?"

"Sure thing, Harry," agreed Ginny

"All right, thanks for the help guys," said Harry, 'I really appreciate it."

"You don't even have to ask Harry," said Ron.

Harry left Ginny's room and ran downstairs.

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley, I'm heading out now!" he yelled.

"Aren't you going to take the floo?" asked Molly.

"I'm heading over to Luna's and I need time to think anyway, so I'll just walk," said Harry.

"Well be careful," said Molly, "Remember that the Death Eaters are after you."

"I'll be fine," said Harry with a rakish grin, "I already drove off Bellatrix Lestrange yesterday. Unless Voldemort comes himself, I think I can handle myself."

And Harry walked briskly out the door as a very baffled Molly Weasley stared at him.

XXXXX

Luna's house was decidedly odd. It looked like a rook from chess. Harry wasn't really surprised though.

"Hello," said a very odd looking man who was wearing an odd triangular necklace, with a circle and a line inside it. Harry was shocked to recognize it as Grindelwald's symbol. The man seemed to be looking at something through a magnifying glass, but Harry couldn't see anything he was looking at.

"Xenophilius Lovegood?" said Harry, "I'm Harry Potter, I came over to speak to Luna for a moment."

"Ah! Luna has said so much about you," said Xenophilius excitedly, "She's…"

"I'm right here," finished Luna, who came out from behind the house, "Is something wrong Harry?"

Harry nodded grimly.

Luna took Harry by the hand and invited him inside her house. It was a very strange house, even by magical standards. Harry quickly went over what had happened over the course of the last day.

"And you want me to go with you?" asked Luna.

"I'd prefer not to do this alone," said Harry, "And I'd prefer to go with someone I trust. You're definitely on that list."

"I'll go," said Luna.

"And your father?" asked Harry, "Will we need to concoct some lie for him?"

"No," said Luna. She pulled Harry by the hand out to where her father was still examining nothing.

"Father, Harry and I are going to Australia to rescue our friend Hermione," said Luna.

"Oh, well, that sounds fun," said Xenophilius, "Just be home in time for dinner."

"I definitely won't be," said Luna, "I need to get some things, if you'll wait here Harry."

"Of course," said Harry, amazed that that had gone so well.

Xenophilius went back to what he had been doing for a moment, but after a moment he turned to Harry suddenly. "What are you really doing?" he asked.

"Luna just told you, we're going to Australia," said Harry.

"Oh, of course," said Xenophilius, "how silly of me." Xenophilius went back to what he was doing as if nothing was going on.

Luna came out with a case that Harry assumed had clothes and other assorted items she'd need for the trip.

"Where to first?" asked Luna.

"Diagon Alley first. I need to get some money, and I arranged to have my things brought there. Then the airport," said Harry.

"Sounds fun," said Luna as they entered the house. Xenophilius probably didn't even notice the crack when Harry apparated them instead of using the Floo.

XXXXX

**June 17th, 1996**

Hermione sat on a chair in her new room, facing the backyard of her parent's new house. They had managed to get this place fast, which indicated to Hermione that magic had been involved in getting it done. Which was very bad, all things considered. It would have been better if there was no trace of this in the magical world at all. Her parents hadn't changed names either. Another mistake. All things considered, Hermione should have been thinking that they were being offered up to the Death Eaters for slaughter. Hermione wasn't quite ready to think Dumbledore was willing to do that. Not quite.

She'd recovered her wand the first night of course. There was no way for her parents to keep that from her, and Hermione knew she would need it. Sooner or later, someone would come for her. She'd erected some basic wards on her own, but she was not convinced that they would do much if the house was attacked. The geomancy in Australia was very different from the geomancy in Britain.

Her father knocked on the door. She knew it was her father because her mother had stopped knocking all together. "Come in," answered Hermione.

Her father walked in, and he came and sat down on her bed. "Listen Hermione, I know you are angry with us…"

"I am not angry with you," said Hermione calmly, "You are being manipulated, it isn't your fault."

"What do you mean?" asked Robert.

"Even now, you're starting to realize that this wasn't what you wanted," said Hermione, "you came here to try to rationalize what you've done, but it's harder than you expected, because truly, you don't understand why you came here yourself. Whatever spell they used on you is wearing off."

"I…" started Robert, but he shook his head, "I'll be damned, you're right. Your mother is still convinced that this was the right move though."

"Of course she is," said Hermione, "They must have used a lot more power on her after all. You always wanted to protect me, so bringing me here almost fits with your personality. Almost. But you have had experience with mind affecting magic."

"So why are you so calm about all this?" asked Robert.

"Maybe the Death Eaters hunt us down first, which is a possibility, and then we'll either die or I'll beat them, but it will break whatever spell mum's under either way. Honestly? I'm only worried if they send Bellatrix with the team. Or maybe Harry finds us first, in which case his skill with legilimency will allow us to remove the spell. Either way, I can't control what is happening. Or rather I could, but then I wouldn't be able to use this to my advantage. As things are, we can use this opportunity to actually get you to safety, now that we aren't under Dumbledore's watchful eye. I actually already had a plan to get you to safety, but it works just as well from Australiaas from Britain. Well, Percy had a plan."

"So Harry will come for you, you think?" asked Robert.

"He will," said Hermione.

"I think so as well," admitted Robert.

"You don't seem as upset about it as I'd think you would have," said Hermione.

"He's your boyfriend," said Robert with a shrug, "I knew that eventually you'd get curious about certain things, it's only natural. I think you're both still a bit young, but that isn't as important as you both being ready. And I know he'd never hurt you, he has too much respect for you to pressure you into something before you were ready. And I'm pretty sure it was you who pressed the matter."

"Yeah," said Hermione, "It was."

"Well, don't ever think that I don't approve of Harry." said Robert, "I do. I can get you your wand back…"

Hermione dropped her wand out of her sleeve into her hand. "I already did that," she said, "Even without a wand, I could have summoned it the moment you took it from me. I don't need it to do magic, it just makes it easier. And it isn't illegal for me to ise magic in Australia. "

"But you didn't use it to escape, or capture us," said Robert.

"I didn't want to have to threaten you," said Hermione, "And if I had… I wouldn't be here to protect you."

Suddenly Robert leaned forward and hugged his daughter. "Thank you," he said, "And I'm sorry."

He paused. "I knew Harry had spent the night with you in First Year, but I didn't know he'd stayed as your roommate," he admitted.

"No way," said Hermione as she pulled out of the hug.

"It was pretty obvious how he could use his magic to let you stay in that room," pointed out Robert, "I was fine with it. And if I'd known that he was still there… well I think at one point I'd have been worried. I'm not now though. I know Harry well enough, he's a good boy, and he'd never hurt you."

"You say that now," laughed Hermione.

"I'm the one who discovered that Harry had slept with you over Christmas," said Robert, "I overheard Harry admitting it to Sirius. I… heard what you two went through. I'm sorry. I didn't tell your mum until after Snape and Dumbledore visited us. I thought it might calm her, if she knew you hadn't used your room for intimacy."

Hermione looked at her father sceptically.

"What?" he said defensively, "I am nowhere near as dense as your mother thinks I am sometimes."

"Did Dumbledore and Snape give you any idea of who was behind this?" asked Hermione.

"Dumbledore did most of the talking, Snape only spoke when he Dumbledore talked to him," said Robert, "Dumbeldore wasn't his usual unflappable self though. He seemed agitated."

Hermione wasn't sure what to make of that. What she was sure of was that she had seriously underestimated her father.

XXXXX

Harry took a look around the hotel room he was sharing with Luna. It was comfortable, and it had two beds. Luna seemed to think it was the height of luxury, but Luna was easily impressed by muggle technology. Harry wanted to start searching for Hermione right away, but he knew he needed some rest first. He laid down on his bed while Luna took a shower. Harry figured that there was some magical trail for Bellatrix to follow to Hermione, but the muggle trail might be quicker.

He heard the sound of air being blown around from the bathroom. A few minutes later Luna walked out wearing a towel. Her hair was going in all directions.

"I'm not sure why this style of hair is in vogue with muggles," said Luna.

"It isn't," said Harry, "That device is just supposed to dry your hair quickly."

"Oh," said Luna, unhappily, "I thought I'd discovered the source of muggle fashion."

"Muggle fashion is just as ridiculous as wizarding fashion," admitted Harry, "Just in different ways."

"I suppose so," said Luna. She walked over to her bed and pulled out a set of pajamas. Harry turned his head as she dropped her towel, though not before he had a glimpse of her backside. After a moment, he felt her sit next to him. She was dressed now, but had a rather serious look on her face.

"Bellatrix Lestrange is leading the Death Eaters looking for Hermione?" asked Luna.

"I think so," said Harry.

Luna shook her head. "I know what she did to Neville's parents. She's a horrible person."

"Yeah," said Harry, "You like Neville?"

Luna nodded. "I do, but he only has eyes for Hannah. I don't think I'm going to win that one. Not by any deficiency of mine, so much as Neville's clear adoration of her."

"Sometimes that's how it goes," said Harry, "but maybe you're a little young to be so certain that all is lost."

"Bellatrix is one of those people that likes hurting people, isn't she?" asked Luna, seeming to change the subject.

Harry nodded. "She really does."

Luna sighed. "I don't want to hate anyone. But I think I hate Bellatrix Lestrange. Is that all right?"

Harry put an arm around Luna and pulled her close. "Yeah, it's all right."

"Barty Crouch was the same," said Luna, "He helped torture Neville's parents too. And I hate him too. Not just because of that, but because of his capacity to hurt others. When I failed to stop him…"

"If she hurts Hermione, we're going to kill her, right?" asked Luna suddenly.

Harry gave Luna an odd look. "I thought you didn't want to kill people," said Harry.

Luna laughed. "Of course I don't. But we can't let Bellatrix hurt _all_ the people we care about, can we? She won't stop at Hermione, that's for sure."

"Bellatrix Lestrange wasn't always this way," said Harry, his thoughts now distant. He looked at her through Voldemort's eyes now. His distant memories of her.

"She used to care about other people, before she joined the Death Eaters. She hates everything now. Somewhere, somehow, she lost an essential piece of her humanity," Harry shook his head, "She's a wild dog, one that needs to be put down before she bites again. But hate her? I can't hate her. Not after what she was put through. They forced her to marry, forced her into a Death Eater family, forced her into the Dark Lord's service, forced her to kill. And now killing and torturing is all she's good at."

"So she's a victim?" asked Luna.

"Even Voldemort is a victim," said Harry, "Tom Riddle was treated like a pariah his whole life. Riddle was, and still is, a victim of his mother's pride and hubris, and her failure to understand the difference between love and lust. I pity him."

Luna laid her head on Harry's shoulder. "I'm afraid I'll be useless to you here."

Harry kissed the top of her head. "You are never useless. Your very presence brightens my day."

Luna smiled slightly. "That is very nice of you to say."

They both stopped speaking. They were both further from home than they had ever been before, hoping against hope that they could save the life of one of their friends. Before long both of them were asleep.

XXXXX

**June 18th, 1996**

Finding Hermione seemed to be easier than Harry had thought it would be. Luna had a talent for mind affecting spells. It had allowed them to travel to Australia without a passport. The man checking the passports had seen the blank booklets they had held up as valid passports, thanks to a bit of spellwork by Luna. Similarly, they walked into the immigration office in Sydney and waved around some blank badges that everyone saw as some form of legitimate inspection authority. Luna had disguised them so they looked like adults as well.

Finding these records would have been difficult for anyone but a wizard, but Harry simply used a summoning charm and everything he needed came to him. Luckily, no one saw this, so he didn't even have to Obliviate anyone. The documents showed that the Grangers had bought a house in Melbourne.

"Clever trick, flying into Sydney then moving to Melbourne," said Harry quietly, "But not good enough. Whoever filed this left out a lot of details, which means it was probably filed by magical means."

"Which means that there _is_ a trail in the magical world to follow," said Luna.

"We need to get to Melbourne as soon as possible," said Harry.

"Does Australia have a Floo Network?" asked Luna.

"I don't want to go on the magical grid," said Harry, "I brought brooms. We can fly, if you are comfortable disillusioning yourself."

"I am," said Luna, "Though I'm not the most confident flier."

"You're fine," said Harry, "And I'll be with you the whole way. We can even hold hands if you want."

"Or share a broom?" asked Luna.

"We can, I guess," said Harry, "Though that'll be a bit uncomfortable."

"I don't mind," said Luna, "We don't need to be losing each other in a foreign country."

XXXXX

**June 19th, 1996**

Harry swore as he stood at the address from the file from the immigration office. Of course whoever had filed that report had filed the wrong address. This address was an office building! Still, Luna thought that Hermione was probably in Melbourne, and Harry wasn't sure he disagreed.

Luna was the one who thought that the Grangers might set up a new dental practice in Australia. It was a dumb idea, as it would make them simple to track, but Harry was fairly certain that Dumbledore hadn't set up full covers for the Grangers, so they might not have anything else to fall back on. Sure enough, making some inquiries with a local dentists association revealed that the Grangers were in Melbourne, and had been in contact in regards to setting up their own practice. Some minor magic and persistence produced their real address.

An hour later, Harry and Luna were several blocks from the house Hermione was supposedly in.

"We need to scout this out," said Harry, "We don't know whether they did this on their own volition or were manipulated like McGonagall was."

"Maybe I should handle that," said Luna, "I can go ahead and scout things out, and I can send you a Patronus when you should come in, or if I need you to get something. "

"Good idea, Luna," agreed Harry, "But won't you be recognized?"

Luna waved her wand once and her hair turned dark brown and her face seemed just a bit bigger.

"This won't fool anyone who touches me," said Luna, "But until someone does, I'll look very different."

Harry laughed. "You have a whole lot of surprises."

"I have tried to find something I was good at," said Luna, "Ever since I screwed up in third year and got caught by Crouch, I've been working to get better at my strengths. And illusions are definitely my strength."

"Well, you've done very well," said Harry, "Your vivid imagination is suited for them."

XXXXX

Luna walked up to the Granger residence, a box of sea shells in hand. She'd brought the shells on a hunch, and they would indeed prove useful. Luna had shaped them into jewelry, and that would be her entry into their home.

As Luna crossed the property line, she felt a vague sense of... something. Someone had put up a ward on this property. A weak one, but that was to be expected. Hermione had access to her wand at the very least. That boded well.

Luna knocked on the door. It was Helen Granger who opened the door. She had the telltale signs of wrackspurts around her head, but she also seemed to be locked down. Someone had messed with her head for sure. Luna relaxed a little bit. That meant she wouldn't be innately hostile to Luna.

"Hello," said Luna, "My name is Laura Forrester. I'm selling jewelry made out of shells. Would you like to look?"

"I'm not sure that I'm interested right now," said Helen dubiously.

"Oh, you don't have to buy anything," said Luna, "I saw you were new to the neighborhood, so I just felt like coming over here and showing you my collection. Sort of my way of welcoming you to the neighborhood."

"You're British, aren't you?" asked Helen.

"Yes," said Luna, "And I heard through the rumour mill that you are as well. Again, another reason for us to get to know one another."

"How old are you?" asked Helen.

"Fifteen," said Luna.

"Almost Hermione's age," said Helen, "Well maybe this will help her get out of her funk."

"Is she upset because of the move?" asked Luna.

"Less than I thought she'd be," said Helen as she ushered Luna in.

Luna set down the box and opened it on the Granger's living room table. She pulled out several shells that she had decorated beautifully. Helen had gone into the other room to talk to her husband.

"I'm not sure this is a good idea," she heard the voice of Robert Granger say.

"Nonsense, she needs to make some friends her age," said Helen. A few minutes later Robert, Helen and Hermione all walked into the room. Hermione started when she saw Luna. Luna guessed that her disguise hadn't fooled her. She also noted that Hermione's father had wrackspurts even worse than her mother. However he wasn't closed off as much as she was. It was like the spell on him had mostly broken down. More good news.

"Hello!" said Luna, "I'm Laura Forrester. I wanted to welcome you all to the neighborhood, and to show off my shells."

"Hello Laura," said Hermione, an amused smile on her face, "Good to meet you."

"How are you adjusting to life in Australia?" asked Luna, "Is everything all right?"

"It's been an adjustment, but I think things are stable now," replied Hermione, "I'm starting to feel that I'm in control of my life again."

Luna nodded, while Helen looked at Hermione oddly.

"Well, these shells are very nice," said Luna, as she pulled out a shell necklace she'd covered in glitter and beads, "Why don't you wear this one?"

Luna handed the necklace to Hermione, and when Helen and Robert turned to look at Hermione, she quickly cast two spells, designed to open up their minds. At first it didn't seem to work, so Luna followed up with a very weak cleansing spell. The closed off sense faded. That wasn't a normal spell effect. Luna wondered if it was some sort of potions effect. That spell wasn't really designed to cleanse potion effects, but it could work, if the potion had almost entirely worn out. Some potions left lingering effects even after they had worn off that the cleansing spell could cleanse. This might be one.

Helen staggered for a second, then her face went ashen. "What have we done?" she said suddenly, "Why did I bring you here?"

"You were under a spell, Mrs. Granger," said Luna, "Someone manipulated you in order to force you to bring Hermione here."

"Laura? You're a witch?" asked Robert.

Luna smiled, and with a wave of her wand she was herself again.

"Luna Lovegood," said Helen, recognizing the girl, "Does this mean Harry is nearby?"

Luna nodded. "No way you wouldn't have recognized Harry immediately, no matter what disguise we used. I can bring him here shortly. We need to get you out of here."

"What do you mean?" asked Helen.

"We tracked you here," explained Luna, "Which means Death Eaters can track you here. And they are looking for you."

There was a sudden series of cracks from down the block.

"And apparently they're here," said Luna, a sense of dread settling into her stomach.

XXXXX

Hermione immediately pulled out her wand and knelt down, jamming it into the ground. She sent as much power into the wards as she dared, but knew that would buy her a minute at most. She casually looked out the window. She winced when she saw what was coming.

"Bellatrix Lestrange and five other Death Eaters," said Hermione as she waved her wand at the window. The spell would collect any broken glass if the Death Eaters tried to blast through it. They probably would. It would be a catastrophic mistake, but they didn't know that.

"Oh no!" cried out Helen, her face terrified, "This is my fault. Hermione, you have to run away. Save yourself and Luna. This is all our fault."

"I'm not abandoning you," said Hermione firmly, "We just have to hold out. Luna go get Harry."

"I can't apparate," said Luna, "I'll send him a Patronus though."

"Okay, summon it, then hide," ordered Hermione, "Do not get involved. Any one of those Death Eaters could kill you with ease. Mum, go and hide in the laundry room. It's an interior room, so they won't be able to see you from it. Dad…"

Hermione swept her wand about and transfigured the shells in Luna's box into shotgun shells. Casting at a lamp, she transfigured it into a double barreled shotgun.

"You know how to use a shotgun, right dad?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," said Robert, his face serious.

"Unload both barrels," said Hermione, "They'll probably shield some of it, but some of the buckshot will get through. If you can take one of them out for me, I think I can do this. If you can take two of them we'll be in very good shape."

Robert grabbed the shotgun and loaded it with two shells. "Got it."

"Harry," Luna was saying to her hare Patronus, "We are under attack by Death Eaters. We need immediate help. Get Aurors, then get over here." The hare flew away at an incredible speed. Hopefully the Death Eaters didn't see it.

Hermione held her wand out in a ready stance. It would happen soon.

The house lurched as the Death Eaters attacked the wards. They seemed to have held the first assault, but that wouldn't last. Luna disillusioned herself and fell back into the house somewhere. The house shuddered again. The wards still held, but Hermione could feel them straining under the force of the attack. A few moments later and the house shuddered worse than ever. The wards had shattered.

"_Protego Maxima!_" said Hermione as she conjured a shield in front of her father. There was a crash as someone shattered the window. A reductor. Big mistake.

The glass all fell into the spell Hermione had placed at the window. With a wave of Hermione's wand, all the glass fused together into a single solid spike of glass. And Hermione hurled it out of the window at one of the Death Eaters. There was a thud, and she heard a gurgling come afterwards. She'd hit the Death Eater in the throat.

"Oh very, very good Granger! This mudblood has teeth!" shouted Bellatrix, "Don't worry though, I'll take that out of your parent's hides!"

Hermione began casting, drawing power from the Earth and concentrating it in her front yard. With this power flowing through her, she could feel where the Death Eaters on the lawn were standing. Hermione nearly swore when she realized that Bellatrix was still standing on the street. This wouldn't work on her there. She targeted another Death Eater.

Collecting all this power, Hermione brought her wand up as well as her other hand, holding both apart. Two walls of earth surged out of the ground, one on each side of the Death Eater, whom Hermione (well Voldemort) recognized as Yaxley. As soon as the walls went higher than Yaxley's head, Hermione brought her hands together.

There was a sickening crunch as Yaxley was crushed between both walls of Earth. Hermione saw that Bellatrix had come forward a bit. She was now on the lawn! Hermione pulled the two walls apart, letting the smashed remains of Yaxley's corpse fall to the ground. And Hermione moved the walls to either side of Bellatrix.

Bellatrix hopped back and sent two powerful curses at the earthen walls. They exploded into chunks.

One of the other three Death Eaters charged through the window. Her father pulled the trigger on his shotgun twice. The Death Eater went down, his face full of buckshot. Another Death Eater outside sent a spell inside. The shotgun suddenly flew out of her father's hands.

"Fall back, Dad!" shouted Hermione. Her father fled into the kitchen. Hermione felt the house rock as a huge spell hit somewhere else, but she didn't have time to see where it was. She stood in the doorway of the kitchen as the two remaining Death Eaters leapt into the living room. Hermione sent a "_Confringo!_" at one. He was still getting his feet when it hit, causing him to explode into chunks, the other Death Eater was propelled forward by the blast. He cast a killing curse at Hermione, but she ducked it and heard an explosion behind her as it hit an inanimate object. As she ducked, she cast a quick "_Diffindo!_" at the last Death Eater.

It hit the Death Eater across the head, shearing the top of his skull and brain right off.

Hermione relaxed for only a moment, but she knew Bellatrix was still around. She raced to the front door. The front door had been blasted in. She was in the house. Which meant…

She spun around to see Bellatrix in the living room, holding her mother by the back of the neck and holding her wand right under Helen's chin.

"Mum!" shouted Hermione.

"Drop your wand or she dies!" screamed Bellatrix, her eyes filled with madness.

"I'm so sorry Hermione," said Helen, tears streaming from her eyes, "This is all my fault. Do not drop your wand!"

Behind Bellatrix, Hermione saw Luna appear. She moved silently, her footfalls silenced.

Hermione slowly put down her wand, then stood up straight.

"Hermione, NO!" screamed Helen.

"You only want me," said Hermione.

Bellatrix jabbed her wand toward Hermione, "That I do! _Cruc_…"

"_Diffindo_," said Luna. And suddenly Bellatrix's entire forearm was on the ground, wand still clutched in it.

"_Accio_ Mum!" shouted Hermione, throwing her arms wide. Her mother pulled away from Bellatrix and into Hermione's waiting arms.

Bellatrix spun around to meet Luna. "Who are you?" Bellatrix demanded.

"I'm a friend of Neville Longbottom," said Luna, "And you aren't going to hurt anyone ever again." And suddenly, Luna sliced the air with another cutting curse. A thin line of red formed on Bellatrix's neck. She fell to the floor, gasping for air, but only finding blood. Within moments she was dead.

"It's over," breathed Hermione as she hugged her mother close, "It's over."

Robert walked into the room and ran over to Helen, pulling both her and Hermione into a huge hug. His eyes were red with tears. Hermione pulled away after a few moments. She had to see to Luna.

Luna was staring at Bellatrix though. "Luna, are you okay?" asked Hermione.

"She deserved it," said Luna blankly, "She really did. So why do I feel sad?"

Hermione ran over and hugged Luna. "Because you are a good person," assured Hermione, "Never feel ashamed of this. That sadness means that you are a very good person."

"Are you okay Hermione?" asked Robert.

"I'm fine," she said.

"HERMIONE!" came a voice from outside that Hermione had been waiting to hear.

Harry burst in the front door. His eyes went wide when he saw the carnage. "Hermione! Are you all right?" he asked, his eyes almost desperate.

"I'll be fine now," she said as she continued to hold one arm around Luna, "Luna killed Bellatrix."

Harry ran in and put his arms around both of them. "I was so afraid when I got that message," said Harry, "I thought I was about to lose you both. I am so, so happy to see you both. And I am so proud of you both "

And then he kissed Hermione, and for a moment, she forgot everything that was wrong.

**Author's Note:** So I have to say, I'm a little offended by the idea that I had Hermione abducted just to make Harry look like a badass. There are two points everyone is forgetting. First, Hermione is a minor still. It is illegal for her to use magic in Britain. The second point is that Hermione's parents decided to move her legally. If they want to move her to Australia, with the support of her magical guardian, they can! If Hermione runs away she's the one breaking the law.

Hermione had three options. She could run away and become a fugitive, she could stun her parents and keep them imprisoned until she could break their mind control, and she could play along, go to Australia and wait until Harry arrived to try and deal with this from there. This option actually gave her the most control over the situation. And as you can see, she wasn't exactly scared or angry, just determined to keep this from spiraling out of control. Harry only plays into this situation at all because she needs help, not to escape, but to handle her parents without needing to use force on them.

From here on out the story is now firmly in non canon mode. There are a couple of plot points that make appearances from Year Six, but they are completely recontextualized. Harry has a new plan for how to break Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

Next Time: Harry and Hermione return to Britain. And Harry gets mad enough that he finally starts thinking clearly about a certain former headmaster.


	43. Coming Home

**Chapter 43: Coming Home**

**June 19th, 1996**

The head of the Australian DMLE was clearly flabbergasted.

"Okay, I understand everything but _that_," he said, pointing at the remnants of the giant pillars of earth Hermione had summoned, "How did you do that?"

"I did a project on Earth shaping for my transfiguration O.W.L.," lied Hermione, "The principle is the same." Harry didn't blame her for lying though. How would she explain that she got that spell directly from the mind of one of the four founders of Hogwarts?

"It must have been difficult and time consuming though," the man insisted.

"Yes, but they didn't expect it," said Hermione.

"I bet they didn't," said the official, "Well, it is clear that these people are Death Eaters, Mr. Potter, so I think we don't have to bother you any further about this. I know you are going to want to get out of the country soon, and I see no reason to detain you. Next time you try to hide someone, do a better job of it."

"I didn't hide the Grangers," said Harry, "If I had, this wouldn't have happened. I would suggest that you have a conversation with the British Ministry before going public with all this though. Bellatrix's escape was a huge PR disaster for Fudge, he'll want to have some say in how this gets presented to the British magical public. Although your Minister will obviously have the final say on that."

"I'll suggest that to her," said the head of the DMLE, "And do try to not cause any more trouble while you are in Australia." Harry thought that was a joke, but he had to admit he wasn't sure.

Emergency crews had largely repaired the damage to the Granger's Australian home, and were now working on trying to fix the lawn. Hermione had offered to help with that, but so far the crews had refused her. Luckily, Obliviators had arrived right away, and so they had managed to contain any people who had seen the battle.

"Harry," said Helen, who had been standing behind Harry and Hermione the whole time, "I want to apologize to you. I know you must have been scared out of your mind when Hermione disappeared. There is no excuse for that. I am sorry."

"Don't worry," said Harry, "I know you were being controlled. It wasn't your fault."

"I wasn't mind controlled," said Helen, "Or at least I could have fought it. Robert did. I just chose not to because it fit my unease about you and Hermione. I… suspected what you two did over the holidays, even before Robert told me. I wasn't comfortable with it. and I let that cloud my better judgement. Robert overcame his control. I'm ashamed that I didn't overcome mine."

"I understand," said Harry.

Harry and Hermione went to sit down in Hermione's room. Luna was already there, reading one of Hermione's books.

"Thanks for coming with Harry, Luna," said Hermione, "Without you, either myself or my mother probably would have died."

"You're welcome," said Luna, looking up from her book with a smile.

"I have a question for you Luna," said Harry, "I was thinking about your father. He was wearing the sign of Grindelwald when I met him. Why?"

"That is actually a sign Grindelwald stole, the sign of the Deathly Hallows," said Luna, "According to legend, there were three artifacts, which if possessed at the same time, would make the possessor Master of Death. The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Invisibility Cloak."

"Invisibility cloaks aren't artifacts, they're rather common," said Hermione.

"This one is supposedly different, it hides the user perfectly and undetectably. It also supposedly doesn't wear out," said Luna.

"Oooooh," said Hermione, "I think this might be more than a legend Harry."

"Why?" Harry asked obliviously.

"Because it sounds like your Invisibility Cloak!" said Hermione, "Luna, you'd better tell me everything about these Deathly Hallows."

"Certainly!" said Luna delighted that Hermione was taking one of her stories seriously.

At that moment, Robert poked his head in the room. "Hey Harry, mind if I talk to you?"

"Not at all," said Harry, "I'll be right back Hermione."

He followed Robert to the kitchen. Both of them sat down.

"So, what are we doing now?" asked Robert.

"We're going to take you someplace safe," said Harry, "Then Hermione and Luna and I will return to Britain."

"You know, I kind of feel a little silly now, asking you to take care of Hermione, and keep her out of trouble," said Robert, "She was amazing today. I had no idea how powerful she had become."

"She is the most powerful witch I've ever met," said Harry. "The fact that I love her is just a bonus."

"You're going to be fighting this war, aren't you?" asked Robert.

"Yes," said Harry.

"And Hermione will be with you?"

Harry smiled. "Of course she will. I couldn't convince her otherwise if I wanted to."

"How powerful are your enemies, if you can do all these things?" wondered Robert.

"Most of them are less powerful than us," admitted Harry, "Riddle though, he's a trick. He's about as powerful as us, but there is only one of him. But he's immortal. A powerful advantage."

"I don't need to tell you to watch after Hermione," said Robert, "I know you will. Just know that I trust you. I trust you to love her and keep her safe. Not that she needs your protection, mind you."

"We all need someone to watch our backs," said Harry.

"Exactly," said Robert, "Watch her back, and she'll watch yours. And maybe, just maybe, one day I'll be able to call you son."

Harry smiled. He'd finally broken through to him. Now they just had to survive this war.

XXXXX

**June 20th, 1996**

Blaise and Seamus walked swiftly down the street in Belfast. Danny had been late to his meeting. Danny was never late. Ever. Which meant that something had gone wrong at the pub. Blaise had sent a Patronus to call for help, but help wouldn't arrive until it was too late, if it wasn't already.

The pub was a small place, with only a small door opening to the street. It wasn't specifically a magical establishment, though it was run by a Squib, who had cleverly named it The Squib's Kick. When Blaise and Seamus got there, they saw a pool of blood coming from under the door. Neither of them hesitated. Blaise kicked open the door and they charged in. Danny was still alive, barricaded in the back of the pub. The bartender was dead, as were two of Danny's guards. There were three men still standing, plus three more on the ground. Danny had done well for himself.

The three would be assassins spun around. Neither Blaise or Seamus hesitated. "_Confringo!_" they both yelled. All three assassins went down, two of them clearly dead, the other one merely injured.

"Danny, are you all right?" asked Seamus.

"As right as I can be, given the circumstances," said Danny.

"We need to get you out of here," said Blaise as he wordlessly stunned the third assassin, who had been trying to get up.

"My men…" said Danny.

"Gave their lives to keep you alive," said Blaise, "But if there are more assassins around, that will all be in vain."

Danny nodded, though he was clearly not happy about it. He knew his duty, but he'd managed to convince himself that he was some sort of damned hero. Blaise wasn't foolish enough to think that, but he did need Danny alive.

"We'll keep you safe," said Seamus.

"Wands away, boys," said Danny, "We're going outside."

XXXXX

A few hours later, Danny was acting a lot less restrained.

"I knew coming here was going to be a disaster," he said angrily, "Now we have to reply. And how do we do that without Clarise responding with force?"

"We can't," said Pascale, "we need to keep a low profile."

"I disagree," said Blaise, "We need my mum to make a strong move, it's the only way we beat her."

"Blaise, this isn't the time for…" started his father.

"For what? For the person who knows my mum best to give their advice?" said Blaise, "It's pretty obvious from the fact that you were surprised when she joined up with the Death Eaters that you never knew her."

"Blaise," warned Pascale.

"The boy is right," said Danny, "You were blinded by your affection for her, and now you are blinded by hate. Maybe Blaise is blinded by hate too."

"I… don't know exactly how I feel about my mother," said Blaise, "I am very angry with her. But I know her. She rules Northern Ireland's magical underworld through fear. She has kept it in line through the use of one of her lieutenants, Magnus Svenson. He's a nasty Swede, but everyone knows that if things here in Northern Ireland start to go south he gets sent in to keep people in line. It's fear of him that keeps this place in line."

"Because he is very dangerous," said Pascale.

"He's just a man," said Blaise, "Hit a big target, any big target, and he'll come. And I know exactly where he will come. And I'll be waiting for him."

"Blaise, no!" said Pascale.

"I'm not getting out of this war with my hands clean, father," said Blaise, "They're already dirty. But he _will not_ kill his boss's son. He'll try to talk to me, might even think I'm coming back over to their side. I'll only need one spell."

"Blaise, it's too dangerous," said Seamus.

Danny looked at Blaise for a long moment. "I saw how you handled yourself back there. I know you can do this. The question is, should you? Killing in cold blood is very different from defending another person, even a person as evil as myself."

"I know," said Blaise, "I've done it."

Danny shook his head sadly. "In that case, we'll do as you suggest. And may God have mercy on my soul for what I'm asking you to do."

XXXXX

The day after the attack on the Granger's house in Australia, Harry, Luna and the Grangers flew to the US. It was a long flight but when they landed in Los Angeles a huge weight was lifted off of all of them.

"There should be someone meeting us here," said Harry.

"How did you arrange this?" asked Helen.

"I made the arrangements with Percy," said Harry, "as a Junior Undersecretary, he has enough clout to ask for some small favours like this."

There was indeed a man meeting them there. He had dark skin and wore a black muggle suit.

"Ned Hakes," said the man, "I work for MACUSA. Hiding no-majes isn't usually our thing, but as you aren't asking for us to show them any magical sites, just to keep them hidden, we can accomodate you. We'll have them put into witness protection with the FBI. No mess, no fuss, and they'll be with no-majes. Easy for all of us. I'll be their contact with MACUSA."

"Thanks for doing this," said Harry.

"It's not a problem," said Ned, "Dark Wizards are a problem for us all. Anything we can do to help, we will. Within reason, of course."

"Goodbye, Mum, Dad," said Hermione, hugging her parents in turn, "It might be a few years before I see you again." She then handed over the cat carrier she had carried Crookshanks in. Everyone had mutually decided that Crookshanks would be better off with Hermione's parents. Harry idly wondered how they'd gotten her into Australia, what with the quarantine laws and all. Probably magic.

"Goodbye, Hermione," said Robert, "We'll take care of Crookshanks for you."

"We love you," said Helen.

"I'll take good care of them," said Ned, "you have my guarantee."

Luna rested a hand on Hermione's back as her parent's walked away.

"You will see them again," said Luna.

"I know," said Hermione, hugging Luna back, "I know."

XXXXX

**June 22nd, 1996**

Arriving back in Britain was a strange feeling for Harry. He knew that the threat of war was now upon them again, but he seemed to feel more ready for it now. Of course he was now a bit of a fugitive, but Harry didn't mind that so much.

They stopped at Luna's house first. Xenophilius had been surprised when Luna returned. Apparently he'd thought she had been lying to him for some reason, and he seemed rather embarrassed when he refused to say what he had thought that Luna and Harry had been doing. Harry had an idea, but decided to keep it to himself.

Hermione had asked him several questions about the Deathly Hallows. Harry was bored, until Xenophilius described the Resurrection Stone. His description made Harry's ears perk up. It sounded a lot like the stone on the Gaunt family ring.

After leaving Luna's, Harry and Hermione headed to Diagon Alley. Harry had one last piece of business with the goblins.

"I can arrange to show you Potter Hall at any time," said Brokgut, "Dobby has already taken up residence, and has begun to set things up for you. Just be warned, James Potter had some very specific ideas about what he wanted Potter Hall to be."

"Oh?" asked Hermione.

"He was hoping to turn it into a base for the Order of the Phoenix," admitted Brokgut, "But as the war heated up he decided that this would be inadvisable. So he put the project on hold."

Harry, Hermione and Brokgut flooed over to Potter Hall. The hearth fire they emerged in was a very cozy living room.

"Master Harry!" shouted Dobby as he ran into the living room.

"Just Harry please, Dobby," said Harry.

"I am showing Mr. Potter the house," said Brokgut.

The house was actually about the same size as the Greengrass home, perhaps a bit smaller. Harry was surprised that this had all been as expensive as it was.

"The real work was out on the grounds," said Brokgut. He led them outside.

From outside, the house looked like a nice country home, but hardly a full manor. It looked like an oversized cottage really. And that was when Harry realized that his father hadn't wanted the tradition of an old style magical home, but he had wanted his family's old land.

The grounds had a lot of open space, surrounded by tall trees. But there was a small house on the edge of the tree line.

"This was originally the servants' quarters," said Brokgut, "Your father apparently decided to make it a safehouse."

Inside the house, there were stairs that led down. And below, they found a large series of caves. Harry hadn't known there were caves under the Potter land! Some tunnels had been cut to create halls with rooms for sleeping, other larger spaces could clearly be used for other purposes.

"This would make a fantastic base," said Harry, "How many people could we fit down here?"

"A few hundred," said Brokgut, "Apparently your father had a grander idea of what the Order was going to be than was ultimately justified."

"The Order, maybe," said Harry, "But I can definitely use all this space."

They returned to the surface, and Brokgut made ready to leave.

"I hope you are very satisfied with your new home Mr. Potter," said the goblin.

"I am," said Harry, "Thank you for taking care of it so well."

"We are most happy to have been able to help you," said Brokgut, "And might I say, you have been one of the best customers we have ever had. We look forward to doing business with you again."

"I still bank with you, Brokgut," said Harry, "I'll see you when we are next in Diagon."

"As you say," said Brokgut who bowed and then made his way to the floo.

After the goblin had left, Harry sat down at the kitchen table. "You see a room you want to claim?" he asked.

"Well," said Hermione a bit coyly, "I was hoping I could share with you."

"I only have one bed in my room," said Harry.

"That doesn't seem like a problem," said Hermione.

Harry smiled. "Why don't you pick a room to have as your own for now, and if you want to 'visit', we take that on a case by case basis. At least until my sixteenth birthday."

"I was looking forward to playing house with you," said Hermione with a smile.

"And we still can," said Harry, "Let's just take things slowly, okay?"

"I can do that," said Hermione, "But just to be clear, tonight I'm sleeping over, right?"

"Oh, of course," said Harry, "That goes without saying.

Harry sighed as he reluctantly changed the subject, "We should probably talk to Ginny tomorrow, then check in with Sirius."

"If we go to the Burrow…" said Hermione.

"I need to talk to Dumbledore anyway," said Harry. That was a conversation he was not looking forward to.

XXXXX

**June 24th, 1996**

Ginny was anxious. Luna had stopped by yesterday. She hadn't given anything away, but the very fact that she was back meant that Harry was back as well. Molly hadn't noticed that she was gone, which wasn't surprising given that Luna was usually gone the whole summer. But Ginny knew that Harry and Hermione would almost certainly stop by today. Which meant the Burrow was about to see a major confrontation. Ginny made sure she had her wand on her, just in case.

Unfortunately, Molly was right by the fire when Harry called.

"Harry!" said a very excited Molly, "Where have you been?"

"I will explain in person," said Harry, "I need to come through and speak to you and Ginny."

"Of course!" said Molly, her happiness that Harry was still alive obvious.

Harry stepped out of the fire confidently, and moments later Hermione followed him.

"Hermione!" said Molly, her voice surprised, "What are you doing here?"

"I'd prefer to explain this just once, so if you could call Dumbledore, that would be great. No need to do it behind my back," said Harry.

Molly flushed a bit at Harry's inference that she would go behind his back, but she knew he was correct. She made a quick floo call, and soon Dumbledore had apparated in.

"Harry!" said the Headmaster, "Where have you been?"

"I went to Australia," he said, indicating Hermione.

"Hey," said Hermione, her eyes hard.

"Harry, what have you done?" asked Dumbledore.

"Given that someone messed with McGonagall's mind in order to force her to give permission for Hermione to move to Australia, I'd say I rescued her," said Harry, "Not that she needed my help with that. She did need help when Bellatrix Lestrange attacked her and her parents, along with five other Death Eaters."

"What!?" cried Molly, her voice sounding horrified.

"Don't worry, Bellatrix and her goons are dead," said Hermione, "Help arrived just in time. Still I had to kill everyone except Bellatrix before it did, so it was very touch and go."

"You killed five Death Eaters?" asked a stunned Dumbledore.

"Four, my dad shot the fifth actually," said Hermione, "The Australian Ministry should have informed the British Ministry by now."

"And you killed Bellatrix?" Dumbledore asked Harry.

"She was pretty dead the last time I looked," said Harry. Ginny noticed the deflection. Which meant… had Luna killed Bellatrix? Ginny was oddly certain that that was what had happened.

Ron had arrived downstairs. Ginny saw that he also had his hand on his wand. Dumbledore had better not start something, or this would turn into a shooting gallery.

"Voldemort isn't going to recover from this easily," said Ginny.

"Harry, you can't put yourself at risk like this," said Dumbledore.

"Because of the prophecy?" asked Harry.

"So you do know what it says," said Dumbledore, to which Harry nodded, "I didn't tell you…"

"If you had told me, Arthur would still be alive you colossal twit!" snapped Harry, "You need to trust me! Instead you did the one thing I can't forgive. You placed Hermione in danger! Your attempts to keep her safe failed. Well, her parents are safe now, and will remain in hiding until I see fit to bring them out. And now, I have to ask, why should I ever trust you again? You need to come clean. NOW."

"Harry, I need you to come back to Grimmauld Place," said Dumbledore, "Once you are safe…"

"No," said Harry, "I will not be going there. Sirius will understand. You have too much control there, and can surround me with members of the Order. I'm done being contained."

"Harry, you need to come with me, you know why you are important. We cannot let Lord Voldemort have access to you," said Dumbledore.

"I won't," said Harry, "and you can't make me go anywhere."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Is that so?"

Harry smiled.

And suddenly, both Harry and Hermione summoned their wands into their hands. Dumbledore wasn't quite ready for this, but he managed to get wand in hand before they could get off a spell. Molly pulled out her wand and pointed it at Harry, but before she could cast Ron disarmed her. Ginny quietly simply pulled out her wand, and the moment Dumbledore shielded against Harry and Hermione's disarming charms she cast her own. Dumbledore's wand ripped out of his hands and sailed into Ginny's.

"Ron, Ginny?" asked Molly, her voice incredulous.

"Sorry Mum," said Ron, "But Harry and Hermione are our friends." He handed his mother her wand back.

"Please don't do anything stupid with that," said Ginny, "I really don't want to fight you Mum."

Dumbledore's wand felt… strange in her hand. Like it was more powerful than any other wand she'd ever held.

"What the hell is up with your wand?" asked Ginny.

Dumbledore sighed, "It seems that you have won it from me," he said regretfully, "I trust you can feel that it has some rather unique properties."

"What sort of wood is that?" asked Hermione, "I've never actually been able to identify it."

"Wait… you don't think…" started Harry, his eyes going wide.

"It is Elder wood," said Dumbledore.

"Merlin, it's the Elder Wand," said Hermione.

XXXXX

"What?" asked Ginny, "The Elder Wand?"

Harry had forgotten that Ginny hadn't been around for that conversation.

"The first of the Deathly Hallows," said Harry, "My invisibility cloak is probably the third."

"You know about the Deathly Hallows?" asked Dumbledore.

"The Lovegoods told us about them," said Harry.

"I suppose you will take the wand from Ginny then?" asked Dumbledore.

"I will not," said Harry, "Ginny won it fair and square. It's hers. I trust her with my life."

Dumbledore seemed to relax at that. "I am sorry Harry, I should not have been so glib with you. I was… well for a moment I was scared for you, and I considered… well I see now that my fear was misplaced. Ginny, you should indeed keep the Elder Wand, it may be of use to you. I suppose I shall have to use my old wand from now on. It will take a bit of getting used to. And I will have to re-evaluate some of my plans like the Gaunt… well, I can consider that later. I will see you at Hogwarts."

"Have you been reinstated as Headmaster?" asked Harry incredulously.

"No," said Dumbledore, "But with the Board of Governor's blessing, I will return as Transfiguration Professor, for the coming year at least. Minerva will be very difficult to replace."

Harry nodded, his eyes suspicious. Ginny was also looking quite sceptical. Dumbledore was probably just trying to continue keeping an eye on Harry.

"Headmistress McGonagall agreed to that?" asked Harry.

"I did _not_ mess with Minerva's mind, Harry. I managed to convince her of this," said Dumbledore, "It must have been Bellatrix. We believe that she interrogated Minerva at some point."

Harry refused to believe that. If Bellatrix had interrogated anyone, they'd still have the marks. Bellatrix hadn't been subtle. But Harry also knew that if this had been mentioned as a possibility to McGonagall she would accept it. She really wanted to be able to trust Dumbledore.

Yet Harry was uneasy. Something about the tone in Dumbledore's voice was wrong. And finally Harry understood what it was. Dumbledore didn't know what was wrong either. He was trying to hide it, but he couldn't. Dumbledore had no idea why he was behaving the way he was. And suddenly Harry thought back to Luna telling him the magic that had taken control of Hermione's parents had been a potion effect.

_Merlin! Is it possible that Dumbledore is being controlled by someone?_ thought Harry, _But if this is a potion, is this Snape? It would almost have to be! But why?_

And looking back on it Harry understood the truth. All of their major disagreements had resulted from Dumbledore behaving in ways that seemed tailor made to making Harry distrust the former headmaster. Harry had been dancing to a tune. And suddenly Harry wondered, had Dumbledore and Molly been _forced _to sign that marriage contract?

"I believe that you are correct though, Harry," said Dumbledore, "I do need to tell you some things. If you wish, this year I will begin to try to explain what Voldemort has done to himself, and how we can defeat him."

Harry's face softened. "I'd like that Professor. It's all I've asked for these last couple of years." Suddenly, Harry was all too willing to cooperate with Dumbledore. Even if he was wrong about Dumbledore, he remembered the old adage "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Either way, suddenly Harry knew he needed to keep an eye on Dumbledore.

"Do you know who is going to be teaching defense?" asked Ron.

"Professor Snape, I believe," said Dumbledore, "I've been trying to help Minerva find Professor Slughorn, the previous Potions instructor, but he has disappeared."

"He's probably gone to ground," said Hermione.

"He hasn't been answering my letters since Voldemort's return." said Harry, "I think it's a good bet that he won't be easy to find."

"You know Slughorn?" asked Molly.

"I contacted him during the whole incident with the Chamber of Secrets," said Harry, "He was instrumental in helping me locate the chamber. I corresponded with him for a while. I passed on a lot of his advice to Percy as well. I think he's a good man, if a bit overly concerned with his reputation."

"A good assessment of the man," said Dumbledore, "Well, I shall leave you to it then."

And with that, Dumbledore made his way to the Floo and left.

"Mum, why don't you apply for the Potions job?" asked Ginny, "You had an O in your NEWT, with a special commendation. Hell, the NEWT project you did on the polysoul potion is probably good enough for a mastery."

Harry whistled. The polysoul potion was a potion based on the polyjuice potion that let you imitate another soul. It was definitely a potion best left to Potion Masters.

"Language, Ginny," said Molly, but her heart wasn't in it, "I couldn't. I have to…" and suddenly she stopped. She really didn't have anything to do. All of her children were gone, and Arthur was dead. She would just be alone in this house.

"You know, maybe I should apply," said Molly, "Merlin knows, I need something to keep me occupied."

"I think you'll be fantastic," said Harry. Ginny looked at Harry strangely, but Harry shook it off. Harry was suddenly _very _interested in what happened once the Hogwarts potion supplies were no longer in the hands of Severus Snape.

Molly shook her head, "We're going to have to deal with that later. Right now, the ministry is probably getting notices drawn up on all of you but Harry for using underage magic."

Ginny grinned. "Oh, don't worry about that. We removed the Trace from ourselves ages ago."

"Ginny!" said Molly angrily.

"And I'm not sorry in the slightest," said Ginny, "We need to be able to defend ourselves."

Molly took in a deep breath, then nodded. "I do want to apologize for jumping into that fight," she said contritely, "I just helped Albus out of habit."

"We know, Mum," said Ginny, "That's not necessarily a bad thing. Harry and Dumbledore tend to push each other's buttons for some reason though, and it's best to stay out of it if you can."

Ginny managed to get a quick word alone with Harry and Hermione in her room before they left.

"Anything interesting happen while we were gone?" asked Harry.

"I don't know," said Ginny honestly, "Everyone's been reporting everything to Daphne, and she hasn't been calling here because it would be suspicious."

"How so?" asked Hermione.

"Oh damn, you weren't here for that. Ron and Daphne broke up. Well, she broke up with him at least."

"Ah,' said Harry diplomatically, "Well, we'll have to visit Daphne then."

Ginny raised her hand to stop them from leaving. "I wanted to say something. I've been talking with Ron."

Ginny went over to her window, and then turned back to her friends. "I fucked up this last year, I let my rage over my Dad's death get the better of me. As a result… well we did something I'm not proud of. It took a lot of help from Ron to see it, but I do see it now."

"Hey, I knew doing it was wrong, and I went and absorbed a horcrux to give me a reason to do it anyway," admitted Hermione, "I wasn't indecisive. I was against it. And I deliberately tried to get an excuse to ignore that because I thought I needed to be strong. We both screwed up."

"Yes, you did," said Harry, "But you can't keep beating yourself up about it. We have to move forward. Do better."

"But aren't we just murderers?" demanded Ginny.

Harry considered that. "No, not quite," he finally said, "They intended to kill us, after all. But… that sort of premeditation in killing is never good. I think… well I hope that we can come back from that."

Harry tried to sound sure. But he had to admit, he was anything but.

XXXXX

**June 23rd, 1996**

Blaise sat outside the Broken Hourglass. It was Belfast's version of the Leaky Cauldron, though it had far less traffic. But it was the main entrypoint from London to Northern Ireland for magicals. Apparition into and out of Northern Ireland was banned by the Ministry for security reasons. So most people used the Floo Network. Any use of the Floo Network could be traced, so there was no way that Svenson would floo directly to any site controlled by Blaise's mother. No, he'd have to come right through here.

And he did. He probably thought that no one would be able to follow him until he'd revealed his presence. Big mistake. Blaise waited until Svenson had gone into a nearby alley then he followed.

"Magnus," said Blaise as he entered the alleyway.

"Blaise?" asked Svenson as he turned around.

"Old Danny is onto you," said Blaise, "This is a trap."

"Thanks for the warning," said Svenson, "But I thought you were on…" Whatever he thought went unsaid as Blaise pulled out his wand.

"_Reducto,_" whispered Blaise. At point-blank range, the spell practically disintegrated Svenson's midsection. Svenson's eyes seemed betrayed for a moment, then glazed over.

Blaise simply pocketed his wand and continued on. And for the first time, Blaise felt queasy. Was this really what he wanted to do with the rest of his life?

XXXXX

Harry walked out of the floo into the Greengrass home as if he was moving between rooms. He sidestepped, and moments later, Hermione came out beside him.

"Harry! Hermione!" shouted Daphne, who gave both of them hugs. Astoria was behind her and she gave both of them a wave.

"How are you, Astoria?" asked Harry.

"I'm okay," said Astoria, "I've been a bit unwell since I got back from school. Which is usual. I'm almost over it."

"I wish I could help," said Harry, "But long term curses are hard to beat."

"Harry!" said Bryant Greengrass as he swept into the room, "you've been sending Dumbledore into fits. I almost approve, though running off without telling anyone is very dangerous."

"Sorry, but I had to get to Hermione before Bellatrix did," said Harry, "Well, it turns out I didn't have to, but I was trying to. We sort of found Hermione at the same time."

"What?!" said Daphne, her face distraught.

"Bellatrix is dead," said Hermione, "Luna killed her, though try not to tell anyone that. If anyone asks, we're saying Harry killed her. I killed the other Death Eaters with her, well, all but the one my Dad shot."

"I don't believe it," said Bryant, "I mean I really don't believe it. You may be the smartest witch in your year, but you aren't even in sixth year yet. How could you take on Bellatrix and live?"

"Let's just say that Harry and I aren't ordinary sixth years, and leave it at that," said Hermione, "But the Australian authorities…"

"Yes, I just received a letter from the Ministry," said Bryant, "I know that it did happen, yet the how eludes me."

Harry decided that the time had come to rein in Bryant Greengrass. He needed to understand that Harry was calling the shots, at least as far as the war against Voldemort went. If Greengrass hadn't been aligned with the purebloods, maybe Harry could have asked him for more, but as it was, Harry needed Bryant in a short leash.

"You don't need to know that," said Harry, 'what you do need to know is that I have put together a faction to fight Voldemort, and if you want to help, I'm offering you the chance to do so. As an ally of course, not as a member of our group."

"Your own version of the Order?" asked Greengrass slyly, "There are a lot of those popping up."

"Harry, Ginny and myself are the Triumvirate, Bryant," said Hermione, "We are behind the deaths of the ten Death Eaters in the Ministry. That is the faction that we've put together."

Bryant stepped back, stunned. "Wh… what? I… why shouldn't I just report you to the DMLE?"

"Father, you can't," said Daphne.

"Daphne, I know they are your friends, but this is murder!" said Bryant.

"It wasn't murder, it was war," said Daphne, "Though I do regret it."

"As do I," said Astoria.

It took Bryant a moment to realize what Daphne and Astoria were saying.

"Oh," said Bryant, suddenly understanding, "I _can't_ report this, can I?"

"No," said Daphne, "We're committed. Completely."

Bryant made a sound that sounded like a growl. "Damn you Potter."

"Harry gave me a choice," said Daphne, "I chose to go with him. It was my decision."

"So if I don't help you, are you going to kill me?" demanded Bryant.

"Don't be absurd," said Harry, "I don't want to kill anyone. Not even the Death Eaters."

"Harry was outvoted, but after we killed Lucius and his group, we decided not to kill Death Eaters in cold blood anymore," said Hermione.

"Until Bellatrix…" started Bryant.

"I defended myself," said Hermione, "so did Luna."

Bryant sighed and shook his head. "Sorry, I overreacted. I just wasn't ready… I wasn't ready to hear my little girls have grown up faster than I had thought they would."

"Astoria didn't actually kill anyone, if it makes you feel any better," said Daphne.

"I thought you didn't see that!" said Astoria angrily.

"Actually, it does make me feel better," said Bryant.

He turned and looked at Daphne. "If this is what you feel you have to do…"

"It is," said Daphne.

Bryant shook his head. "I guess I'm going to have to run cover for you then," he said.

Harry smiled, though he felt a bit sick. When Greengrass started running interference in the Wizengamot, everyone was going to think he was behind the Triumvirate. Except for Voldemort, he wasn't likely to be fooled for long.

"Daphne," said Hermione, "are you doing all right?"

"I'm fine," said Daphne, "Breaking things off was my idea."

"If you need to talk…" said Harry.

Daphne smiled briefly, "Thanks guys, that's really nice of you. It probably won't be necessary."

XXXXX

Narcissa was going over the numbers one last time. The Death Eaters had a substantial income, and it would be more than enough to do most of what they would need. The Dark Lord's new plan was coming into place, now if only Bellatrix would get back. Then they could get started.

"Narcissa!" said a voice from the door to her office. It was Snape. "Rookwood has news."

Narcissa got up and followed Snape to the dining hall, where the Dark Lord was seated. Rookwood was kneeling before him and relating his news. Draco was nearby. He'd been attending to the Dark Lord ever since he'd left school.

"...and his information is impeccable. He says that Bellatrix went to Australia, but Potter and Granger were waiting for her," finished Rookwood.

"Is that true?" asked the Dark Lord.

"I do not know how things went down, but the result is undeniable. The Australian Ministry has confirmed that the entire group we sent was killed, including Bellatrix."

Narcissa felt as if she had been struck with a hammer. Bella was dead. Her sister was dead. Nothing else mattered, her sister was dead.

"How could Potter kill six Death Eaters including Bellatrix?" asked Draco, "I've seen him in defense class. He's good, but even with Granger, that should be beyond him."

"A good question," said the Dark Lord, "He has clearly been hiding his true talent. So has Granger. Damn it, what do you say about him not being behind the massacre at the Ministry now Severus?"

"It is of course possible that he was behind it, but if he did, then he is far more dangerous than we thought he was. It means he pulled off two complex operations simultaneously," said Snape.

"It could be that Potter went to the Ministry and Granger took down Umbridge," said Rookwood, "If she has skills anywhere comparable to his, they might have been able to split forces, but that would require them to have a huge…"

Everyone went silent as they all realized the truth. Potter clearly did have a huge following. He controlled Hogwarts.

"We need reinforcements," said the Dark Lord, "Narcissa, I need to find out how much money I have to spend on hiring mercenaries."

Narcissa blinked, then nodded, though she was visibly shaken. The Dark Lord seemed angry for a moment, but then his eyes, well they didn't exactly soften, but they seemed less angry.

"I know, your heart is burning for revenge Narcissa, and I know that this must be overwhelming for you. I need you to stay focused. Can you do that Narcissa, or do I need to find someone to replace you?"

"I can do it," said Narcissa, "It was just the shock of it all. Bella…"

"Will be avenged," said the Dark Lord, "I promise you."

Narcissa nodded. "I was trying to work out these numbers right before I was summoned actually. Give me a few minutes and I will be able to give you a good estimate. Luckily, it seems as if the mercenary market is pretty favourable right now."

XXXXX

**July 1st, 1996**

"I can tell you this," said the mercenary leader, Gustav Benoit, "If you hire us, it will send the price of all the other mercenaries sky high. That's just how the market works."

Gustav was there, in the Leaky Cauldron, with about six other mercenaries. Viktor Krum was also there. Apparently Krum only wanted to fight Voldemort, but Gustav wanted to convince him to come on with his group full time. Sirius didn't like his chances.

"Sounds good to me," said Sirius.

"I would like to meet your boss though," said Gustav.

"I can take you to meet two of our leaders right now," said Sirius, "The third isn't available, but we can probably arrange a meeting at some point."

"Good, good," said Gustav.

"But until you are hired, I'd prefer to keep the number of people who know where our base is to a minimum," said Sirius.

"I'm not following you alone," said Gustav, "Not until your first check clears anyway."

"You don't have to," said Sirius, "I notice you have Viktor Krum with you."

Krum stepped up, "I came because I vish to fight Voldemort. I am not usually a mercenary for hire."

"I don't care why you are here, but Harry has vouched for you, so I think I can trust you as well not to give us away," said Sirius.

Sirius took Gustav and Krum to one of the back rooms of the Leaky Cauldron and handed them a Portkey. When they arrived at Potter Hall, Harry and Hermione were waiting.

"Harry! Hermione!" shouted Krum.

"Good to see you, Viktor," said Hermione.

"Where is your leader?" said Gustav.

"I'm right here," said Harry.

Gustav scoffed. "Is this a joke?"

"No, it isn't," said Harry, "Hermione and myself, as well as Ginevra Weasley, the third member of the Triumvirate, are all school children. But we are school children with one advantage. We have the memories of Lord Voldemort in our heads. And we are going to use those memories, as well as the connections of our well connected friends, to destroy the economic base of the Death Eaters. Want in?"

Gustav suddenly grinned. "Now _that_ is what I call a pitch."

XXXXX

**July 14th, 1996**

"It's all over," said Danny, "The last of the holdouts surrendered today. Clarise Zabini is no longer in control of Northern Ireland."

A round of applause and hoots followed that as everyone in Danny's headquarters cheered. With the death of Svenson, all those loyal to Clarise Zabini had begun surrendering to Danny en masse. All of them.

Blaise sat in the corner, a grim smile on his face.

"You look grim," said Seamus, "What's wrong?"

"We can't stop here," said Blaise, "Otherwise she'll be back."

"Damn straight she'll be back," said Danny, who had snuck up on them somehow. "We need to take the fight to her now."

"Keep her in Wales?" asked Seamus.

"And Scotland, if we can swing it," said Danny.

"As I said, we can't stop here," said Blaise, "This isn't the end of anything."

**Author's Note:** Harry's realization that Dumbledore is probably being played worse than he is being played is a game changer. Harry doesn't have a lot of details yet, and this won't be fully over for a while, but at least he can begin trying to work with Dumbledore while Snape isn't Potions Master.

As for his suspicions of Snape, well he has no idea why Snape would do this. And it is genuinely confusing because sometimes Snape seems to hate him and sometimes he seems to want to help him. Snape's motivations are actually really complicated, and I don't think anyone has actually guessed what is really going on yet.

Next time: Back to Hogwarts, and Harry and Hermione make a sacrifice for a new student. Or do they?


	44. Back in the War

**Chapter 44: Back in the War**

**July 31st, 1996**

Harry's sixteenth birthday was not a huge event. Harry and Hermione had lunch with Sirius, and Ginny, Daphne and Tracey came over for dinner, but that was it. No big party, no big fuss. Part of it was the war, part of it was that Daphne and Ron didn't really want to speak to each other right now. Ron had sent a present and a letter with Ginny. Luna was now on holiday with her father, but she had also sent a present. Blaise had sent a letter as well.

All in all though, Harry didn't mind that it wasn't a big deal. He preferred this. The truth was, that now that he was more or less independent, Harry didn't want the limelight. What he wanted was a semblance of normalcy. And for the first time, he was starting to have it.

_Playing house is right,_ thought Harry that night, _This is just me trying to get back the thing I thought I might never have. It's every bit as artificial as the normalcy the Dursley's lived. I still have a war to fight._

"So, can I move in with you?" asked Hermione.

"You already live in my house," said Harry.

Hermione stamped her foot. "That is not what I mean, and you know it," she said crossly.

"It's a big step," said Harry, not at all certain how he felt about this.

"Okay, I get that, but here's how I feel," said Hermione, "I think that there is a good chance that one or both of us isn't surviving this war. I think we very nearly lost each other this summer. I think that if there wasn't a war on right now I'd be trying to marry you. So I want to spend my nights with you, even if sleeping is all that we are doing. Because I don't want to miss out on a single day or night with you - because this may be all we have."

"We are going to survive this war," said Harry, "last I checked, we were winning."

"That can change in a heartbeat," warned Hermione.

Harry sat quietly for a moment. He couldn't deny that what Hermione said was true.

"Okay," said Harry, "If we're going to do this together, let's do this together."

Hermione smiled and hugged Harry. "There's the man I love talking."

XXXXX

**August 2nd, 1996**

Narcissa wasn't happy. The numbers the various mercenary groups had quoted them were much higher than she had anticipated. The Death Eaters would be able to afford it, but there would be no room for error. But perhaps Clarise could help there.

Things had been nightmarish for Narcissa since Bella's death. She was the only member of Lord Voldemort's inner circle who wasn't a marked Death Eater. Indeed, she was surprised that the Dark Lord hadn't insisted that she be marked, but he hadn't. Even Draco was marked these days. Narcissa should have been proud, but instead it felt like she was losing her son. This war was likely to claim him. Hell, his rivalry with Harry Potter was likely to get him killed at this point. Potter was _dangerous_.

All of the other Death Eaters still treated her like garbage, and it wasn't solely because she wasn't marked, though that didn't help. Rookwood thought she was soft, Nott thought she was naive and the Carrows… well the Carrows hated the rich Death Eaters on principle. The only person in the inner circle who was sympathetic to Narcissa was Severus. She would have gone insane without him. But when school started, he'd be gone along with Draco. For the first time, she'd be alone. Merlin, Narcissa hoped Clarise was a regular fixture here by then.

Even worse, Narcissa was beginning to feel doubts about the righteousness of the Dark Lord's cause. Narcissa was an excellent Occlumens, so she'd kept things well under wraps, but Voldemort's obsession with killing these children was disheartening. Worse, in following that obsession he'd created some of his worst enemies. Rookwood and Snape were by no means convinced that the Triumvirate was Potter yet, but Harry was clearly aligned with them.

But, hopefully things would start turning around today.

Narcissa made her way to the dining room, where the Dark Lord was holding court. Clarise should be arriving shortly, and hopefully she would have good news.

Clarise Zabini arrived exactly on time. She walked into the dining room confidently, but Narcissa saw a hint of doubt in her face. Something was up, but the Dark Lord would find out what it was.

"Clarise, it is good to see you again," said the Dark Lord.

"I am grateful to have been given the chance to serve you, My Lord," said Clarise, "I hear that things have been difficult recently. I hope to alleviate any difficulties with my resources."

"That is my hope as well," said the Dark Lord, "We are growing short on manpower, and we want to hire mercenaries, but the price has gone up."

"There, I can definitely help you," said Clarise, "First, I can donate some extra money to your cause. However, if I do so, I will need sanctuary. My finances are being watched. So once I do this, I will need to go into hiding until we can take over the country."

"Will you still have access to your resources on the run?" asked Rookwood.

"My legitimate resources are largely a front," said Clarise, "I can easily roll them into my criminal enterprises, and those are not easily tracked by the Ministry. But one of the conditions for my release was that I am not allowed to hide my finances. Still, if given protection I am willing to oblige."

"Fantastic," said the Dark Lord.

"The second thing I can do to help your manpower shortage, is have some of my own people help you," said Clarise, "Most of them are just thugs or crooks, but they are bodies able to fill in for some lower priority work."

"Now that is useful," said Narcissa, "that will mean that we can hire a smaller group of skilled mercenaries rather than have to constantly hire low level mercenaries. We'll probably save at least a million galleons all told."

"Yet I sense an issue," said the Dark Lord, "You seem troubled Clarise."

Clarise shook her head. "It is a small matter, my lord. I have had some business setbacks. I have lost my foothold in Northern Ireland. The truth is, I am currently involved in a large turf war with my Irish counterpart, Danny O'Keefe. But that is not entirely unrelated. Our relationship broke down in the first place because of my support for you and your ideals. If I was not here, he would be causing trouble for you anyways, so really, we are fighting the same war."

"Is it possible that this O'Keefe is behind the Triumvirate?" asked Snape.

"Maybe," said Clarise, "My son Blaise has been working with him, so he has a direct line to Potter if he needs it."

"As to your son..." said the Dark Lord.

"My son will either submit or die," said Clarise, "There are no other options." Narcissa could hear the agony in Clarise's voice. It was clear that she had not seen things proceeding as they had.

"I'm glad that you understand that," said the Dark Lord.

Clarise tried to put on a brave face, but to Narcissa it was all a sham. This was a woman who was cornered. She hoped she was able to save her son. Merlin knew Narcissa had failed there as well.

XXXXX

**August 10th, 1996**

"Cedric!" said Harry as he welcomed Cedric into his home, "Good to see you again!"

"Well, I'm ready to help however I can," said Cedric as he walked inside the house.

"Good," said Harry, "I'll introduce you to the people you will be working with. I think you will see some familiar faces."

Harry led Cedric into the sitting room. Fred, George and Angelina were already there, as were Bill and Fleur. Ginny was sitting next to Hermione in the center of it all.

"Fleur!" said Cedric, perhaps a bit too excitedly.

"Cedric," said Fleur who ran over and gave Cedric an enthusiastic hug. "You remember Bill Weasley, I am sure? He is my fiance."

"Well congratulations!" said Cedric happily.

A few moments later, Sirius entered with Krum in tow.

"Viktor Krum," said Cedric nervously.

"Good to see you Cedric," said Krum slowly, "It is good that you have joined us."

"No hard feelings about me stunning you?" asked Cedric.

"You vere Imperiused," said Krum simply.

"All right, we're all here except Remus and Tonks," said Harry, "whom most of you know anyway. They are acting as our spies in the Order, along with Sirius, but Dumbledore has been sidelining Sirius recently."

"We've called this meeting to get everyone on the same page," said Ginny, "We've decided that each of you will be part of the Army of the Triumvirate proper, if you weren't already, as you all can be trusted."

Krum nodded. After some soul searching, he'd decided to join the AoT instead of working with Gustav's mercenaries. As such, his role was simple.

"Krum here will be our go between with the mercenaries we've hired," said Hermione.

"Fred and George will keep an eye on Diagon Alley, as will Angelina when she is available," said Harry.

"Cedric has an internship in the DMLE, he will be our man in Amelia Bones' office," said Hermione.

"And Bill and Fleur will start off liaising with Gringotts." said Ginny.

"What? That wasn't what we thought was going on," said Bill.

"But is it what Mr. Potter requires of you," said a voice from the other room. Brokgut walked in, completely self-assuredly. "There is an issue that needs to be dealt with."

"When Bellatrix Lestrange died, she didn't leave a will," said Harry, "This means that her entire fortune, including her Gringotts vault, reverted to the Black family estate. Which, if you aren't aware, I happen to control."

"Oh," said Bill.

"She has left a vault, but one that is trapped by many fiendish traps. Her death has caused many more traps to activate on the vault. Opening it will be an incredible challenge for any curse breaker," said Brokgut.

"Ah, so my first job…" said Bill.

"You and Fleur will untrap the Lestrange vault, and shall do so under the authority of Gringotts," said Brokgut, "Harry Potter is the rightful owner of that vault, and you will get him into it."

"It contains a horcrux, Bill," said Harry, "I know I don't have to tell you to be careful with one of those."

"We are trying to avoid tipping off Voldemort before we are ready to face him," said Ginny, "So we must destroy this horcrux before Voldemort realizes it is in danger. Once it is gone, we will be able to move on and destroy his most exposed Horcrux, and after that we will have to figure out how to destroy his snake Nagini. But we are getting close."

"You think Voldemort 'as a way through the defense of the Lestrange vault?" asked Fleur.

"I do," said Hermione, "Most likely a password of some sort to disable them. Bellatrix was supposed to tell him what it was, but she never did."

"At least she never did before his first fall," corrected Harry, "She almost certainly told him when she was rescued."

"Cedric, just so you are aware, Percy Weasley is our man in the Minister's office," said Harry, "He might be able to help you, if you aren't certain about your course of action."

"Thanks," said Cedric.

"Sirius has given me this," said Harry, holding up a mirror, "This allows me to contact Sirius at will, without using the floo. So if you need to contact the Triumvirate, Sirius can put you in contact with us."

Everybody nodded.

"The time to take the battle to the Death Eaters is coming," said Harry, "Once we get things moving at school, we'll make our final plans to find the locations we need to strike."

"And once we do, we'll bring the Death Eaters to their knees," said Hermione.

"If we keep the Death Eaters weak, we can hold off Voldemort until we can finally make him mortal and kill him," said Ginny.

"So let's get to work!" said Harry.

XXXXX

Everyone had left except Ginny and Fleur. Bill had to go to work, but Fleur was off today. Ginny was rather cagey, but she seemed to think there was something that needed to be discussed.

"Molly has been trying," said Fleur, "She does not like me. She 'as been intimating that I might cheat on Bill with other men. Bill 'as been resistant to setting a date for our wedding as a result. I was 'oping next summer, but it will not be happening I think."

"That's rather petty," said Hermione.

"It is worse," said Fleur, "I think that Molly has been trying to imply that I am in love with 'Arry. And that I am using my allure to seduce him."

"Well, I'm very flattered Fleur…" joked Harry only to be shut up by a volley of slaps from both Hermione and Ginny.

"Stop, I was only joking, for Merlin's sake," said Harry.

"Harry is completely immune to my allure, so the whole thing is ludicrous, but I think that there is something odd about this," said Fleur.

"You think someone is playing with Molly's head?" asked Harry.

"It makes sense," said Ginny, "now that we know that someone did the same thing to McGonagall and Hermione's parents. I haven't said anything before, but I bet this was how they got Mum to sign the marriage contract. And it would make sense that they would try to spread a rumour to break you and Hermione up, Harry."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Because if you were actually still bound by the contract and the two of you did have sex, well, you'd know pretty quick something was up. I think someone is trying to keep you from finding out about the contract," said Ginny.

"Are you suggesting it's Dumbledore?" asked Harry, "I have to wonder, is he in on it or being controlled himself?"

"He does seem to have the most clear motive," said Hermione.

"I think it's Snape who's pulling the strings," said Ginny, "He's always been weird around me."

"Luna did think it might be a potion effect," admitted Hermione.

"Ugh, every time something like this happens it's the same conversation," said an exasperated Harry. "For once I'd like the two of them to try to manipulate me separately, so I can figure out who is doing what."

"That's what I said," replied Hermione cryptically.

**September 1st, 1996**

September 1st finally came, but for once Harry didn't have to get up early to catch the train. He and Hermione would be able to apparate to King's Cross, so he was able to sleep in a bit.

The previous day they had gone to Diagon Alley to pick up their school supplies. Harry had even checked in on Fred and George, whose joke shop was doing quite well. Harry hadn't even told Hermione that he had given the twins the money to start the shop, but she seemed to have known anyway. He supposed he had mentioned that he might do it one time. Harry couldn't remember.

"Mmmm," said Hermione as she began to wake up. Harry wasn't sure what was going to happen at school in regards to their living arrangements. But whatever happened, he knew that things between Hermione and himself would not be the same. He'd considered asking her to marry him, but he'd decided that it might be a bit premature. Better to wait until the war was over. What they were doing now was more than enough.

"It's nice to not have to rush," said Hermione.

"I agree," said Harry kissing her cheek, "It is very nice. I'm going to miss this."

"You act like things will be different at school," said Hermione, "Let me tell you, we are going to make the most of this year."

Harry grinned. That was exactly what he wanted to hear.

XXXXX

As the prefects meeting got out, a very annoyed Ginny came up to Harry and Hermione.

"Our Head Boy and Girl do not inspire confidence this year," said Ginny.

"Oh don't you start with that," said Hermione, "It isn't their fault that it was a thoroughly uninspired year for prefects."

"Actually, it kind of is," noted Harry, "since they were the prefects."

"And I still don't get to see Justin," said Ginny.

"Oh, boo hoo," said Harry, "you have the first patrol."

"You could have said no to being a prefect," noted Hermione.

"I guess I'm feeling all responsible since Harry saddled me with helping head up the you-know-what," said Ginny.

"Just try not to tell any first years to go fuck themselves," said Harry.

"No promises," said Ginny.

"Also, stay away from Malfoy," said Hermione quietly, "The last thing we need is for him to figure out that you killed his father."

"I will," said Ginny, drawing an imaginary X over her chest, "Cross my heart and hope to die."

"Not funny," said Hermione.

"Oh, like I wouldn't crush Malfoy like a bug," said Ginny.

"I'm not afraid of what he'd do to you!" said Hermione, "But he's dangerous enough to hurt one of our friends, like Luna or Daphne, or some random muggleborn."

"Okay, okay, I'll be careful," said Ginny.

Hermione turned to Harry and shook her head as Ginny went to join her fellow Slytherin prefect. "She's still too damn reckless," said Hermione as soon as Ginny was out of earshot.

"She's feeling confined," said Harry, "I understand it. I felt the same way until I broke free this year. It's worse with Ginny, because she can't leave. She loves her mother too much. She can't run away with Justin either. His parents would not take her in."

"So is she trying to get in trouble then?" asked Hermione.

"We'll see," said Harry, "I don't think she's hit critical mass yet."

As they made their way to their compartment, they were suddenly stopped by Malfoy. Goyle was behind him, but Crabbe wasn't. Harry had heard a rumour that Crabbe had transferred to Durmstrang after the death of his father, which was apparently true. Still Malfoy looked angrier than ever. There was something about him, a dangerousness.

"Did you kill my father, Potter?" demanded Malfoy.

Harry looked him directly in the eyes. "No." Technically, it was true. Ginny had killed him.

Malfoy stepped back, then shook his head. "Doesn't matter. You set him up to die." It was clear that Malfoy didn't believe him.

"Yeah funny how that works," said Harry, "I mean it wasn't like he intended to kill me, now was it? Oh, wait, he _was_ planning that wasn't he? I'm sorry you lost your dad Malfoy, but he's the one who started this."

Malfoy snarled and pulled out his wand.

And before he knew what was happening he was frozen in place.

"Don't," said Hermione, her wand now pointed at Draco "We're completely out of your league. Seriously, we're done playing with you Malfoy."

"If we find you've taken the Dark Mark, the kid gloves are coming off," said Harry.

Both of them continued on their way.

XXXXX

The big ruckus came at the sorting when a muggleborn girl, "Case, Amy," was sorted into Slytherin.

The entire Great Hall was whispering about it, of course. But Hermione kept her cool and motioned for the girl to sit between her and Harry.

"What is going on?" asked the girl.

"Did the hat say anything to you about why he sorted you into Slytherin?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, he said that I wanted to go far, and that Slytherin would be the best place to do that. He said something about it being safe now too, but I don't know what he meant," said Amy.

Harry nodded. "Well, if you have big ambitions, then Slytherin is absolutely the place for you. There are some people who will say differently, but there are a lot less of them than there used to be."

"Some people in the magical world think that people who don't have magical parents aren't as good as other witches or wizards," said Hermione, "But they're wrong."

"You don't think like that?" asked Amy.

"I'm a muggleborn myself," said Hermione, "The first one in Slytherin house in years. You may face some troubles, but if you do, come and get help from Harry and myself or our friend Ginny over there. We're all prefects, so we'll be able to deal with the situation."

"We will make sure no one mistreats you," said Ginny.

"And I will personally make sure… well, that you are taken care of," said Hermione.

Harry hung his head. He knew the sacrifice that they were about to make. And he was proud to make it. Still, he felt as if he was going to miss his roommate. But it wasn't worth this girl's discomfort.

XXXXX

"Headmistress McGonagall," said Harry, "We need to talk about Amy." They had come up to the head table as everyone else was leaving.

"Are you going to try and argue that she was sorted into the wrong house as well?" asked Snape.

"No," said Hermione, "She's in the right house. But the house has a problem that needs to be addressed now. As long as I was the only muggleborn in Slytherin, Harry and I had things under control. But the moment another muggleborn got sorted into the house, we had to take action. You know we did."

"You know what this means for the two of you, correct?" said Snape.

"Yes," said Harry, "We don't care. Honestly, we should have done this ages ago, but we were comfortable enough with things the way they were."

"What is this about?" asked McGonagall.

"Slytherin doesn't have combined dorm rooms," said Harry, "Not like the other houses. They have rooms for two people. It's because Slytherin House is in the dungeons. But part of Slytherin's magic is that there are protections on those rooms that prevent theft and unauthorized entry to people who have not been allowed into those rooms."

It had actually taken Harry a bit of effort to say that. Which made sense, Draco hadn't been able to say it at all according to Daphne. But Harry's will was made of stronger stuff.

"That all sounds perfectly within the rules," said McGonagall, "In fact, I was aware of all of it."

Harry should have guessed that it wasn't as big a secret as he'd been told. The idea that no one outside Slytherin knew about the Slytherin dormitories was another lie designed to keep the Slytherins paranoid about the other Houses.

"Those protections do not activate if there is a lone muggleborn in the room," said Hermione, "The very first night I was here, Draco Malfoy broke into my room and terrorized me."

"WHAT?!" demanded McGonagall.

"Draco was punished," said Snape defensively.

"With two weeks detention!" fumed McGonagall angrily, "Three if you count the week you gave him for backtalk. That is not sufficient for such a serious offense!"

Harry and Hermione both nodded in agreement.

"How have you managed to deal with this Miss Granger?" asked McGonagall.

Harry and Hermione both let out a sigh. "We were hoping you weren't going to ask us that question Headmistress," admitted Harry.

"It is immaterial," said Snape, but Harry cut him off.

"Oh no! You don't get to escape from this one Professor," said Harry, "We protected Hermione by having a half-blood move in with her. Specifically, me."

"Wait, you have been rooming with Miss Granger since your first year?" demanded McGonagall.

Harry nodded.

"Severus, did you know?" McGonagall asked, her eyes boring into his skull.

Snape sneered. "Of course I knew. Everyone in Slytherin knows."

McGonagall turned to Harry and Hermione, "The school rules…"

"Say that boys can't enter the girl's dormitories," said Harry, "Slytherin doesn't have separate dormitories for girls and boys."

McGonagall suddenly laughed. "Of course. Of course you did this within the rules. How would I expect anything less of you? The two of you have behaved yourselves, haven't you?"

"More or less," said Hermione.

"Well, I guess I should expect that answer," said McGonagall, "All right, we are going to fix this problem with the Slytherin House wards Severus. Tonight."

"Of course, Headmistress," said Snape.

"And we will be closing that hole in the rules for Slytherin House," said McGonagall.

Harry sighed internally. He'd known this would happen.

"However," said McGonagall, "This year's rules are already in effect, so we will change them for next year. You two need to behave yourselves. Do you understand me?"

"Wait, what?" asked Hermione, not believing what she was hearing.

"The two of you are both sixteen," said the Headmistress, "if you want to do certain things, it is not my place to stop you. But you are also prefects, so you will set a good example for the rest of the school. Am I clear?"

"Of course," said Harry, flabbergasted, "We wouldn't even think of doing anything public."

"Good," said Minerva, "I'd hate to have to punish my front runners for Head Boy and Girl. You are dismissed. Now Severus, we need to talk about Slytherin House for a bit…"

Harry and Hermione both beat a hasty retreat. Neither of them had expected THAT.

XXXXX

In fact, everyone was completely surprised by what had happened.

"The level of trust McGonagall has just put in you is massive," said Daphne, "That's crazy."

"I'm thinking that McGonagall didn't want to punish us for doing the right thing," mused Hermione, "She probably isn't all that comfortable with our situation, but at this point she doesn't have a lot of choices. And Harry and I are old enough to get married in Scotland, if we wanted to."

"She was pretty suspicious of you last year," said Ginny, "She knew you were behind Umbridge's ouster."

"She had to publicly disapprove of that though," said Daphne, "Even if she didn't want to."

"I think that once Harry made it clear that he didn't expect McGonagall to punish anyone other than Umbridge, she realized that he was just trying to protect the school," said Hermione.

"Actually, what convinced the headmistress was simple," said Snape, who had just entered the common room, "Mr. Nott told her that Umbridge's next move was going to be reinstituting corporal punishment at Hogwarts. Once she learned that, she realized that Umbridge was going to actively use the Inquisitorial Squad to harm students, if she hadn't already. Viewed from that perspective, she decided that any action designed to prevent that would be justified, so long as you didn't try to harm anyone else."

"Professor!" said Harry anxiously.

"Harry, Hermione, I will speak to you in a moment," said Snape, "I need to speak to the first years first."

Snape quickly gave his opening speech. Harry noticed that all the parts about special rules for Slytherin were gone. About time.

Snape motioned Harry and Hermione with him, and they followed him to his office. Once there, he motioned for them to be seated.

"The headmistress wasn't pleased with me," said Snape, "I may not be Head of Slytherin House next year. But that is on me. I should have done something five years ago, not just let what was happening continue. I am sorry for that. And I am glad that you both had the courage to do what you thought was right, even though you were certain it would cost you significantly."

"Professor?" asked Harry, "Pardon me saying so, but this is very uncharacteristic of you."

Snape gave a grim smile. "Yes, it is. In truth I have more to apologize to you for. When I walked in on the two of you in bed last year, the truth is that I panicked. I should have brought that to McGonagall immediately. Instead, I only thought of losing my job and I told Dumbledore. His subsequent actions are all my fault. The entire fiasco in Australia is my fault. I am sorry, Hermione. I put you and your parents at risk."

Hermione nodded, "Well thank you for saying it. I'd relay your apology to my parents, but I think you understand that I can't right now."

"You hid them quite well," said Snape, "The Dark Lord has all but given up trying to find them."

"Are you saying that Dumbledore was behind sending Hermione to Australia?" asked Harry.

"It was his plan," said Snape, "I am very… troubled by the way he handled this. I believe… well he seems to always think the worst of you Potter. Now you know that I am not your biggest fan…"

"That's an understatement," said Harry.

"...but I have always tried to protect you from the Dark Lord, if I could. I owe your mother no less," Snape shook his head, as if trying to clear it, "Dumbledore keeps trying to treat you as if you are a threat."

"I've noticed," said Harry dryly.

"The time may come when I have to break confidence with Dumbledore, just be aware that he may be trying to control you," said Snape.

Back in the Slytherin dorms, Ginny was waiting for them. Harry and Hermione quickly went over everything Snape had said to her.

"I don't trust Snape," said Ginny firmly.

"I don't trust him either, but do I trust him less than Dumbledore?" asked Harry.

"I say Dumbledore is the one behind all this," said Hermione, "It makes sense! He keeps trying to find new ways to control you and they all keep failing."

"I'm not ready to commit to either extreme," said Harry, "For all I know they're both lying to me."

XXXXX

**September 2nd, 1996**

"I'd like a moment with you Potter," said Professor Sprout after Herbology.

Harry nodded to Hermione, who picked up her things and left. Harry wasn't sure what this was about, but he knew that Sprout was one of his few detractors on the staff these days.

Once everyone was gone, Professor Sprout bowed her head slightly. "I want to apologize to you, Harry. I've been very unfair to you during your time here. You have been an extraordinary help to so many of my 'Puffs. But I must confess, the fact that you were in Slytherin gave me pause."

"What made you come around?" asked Harry.

"What you did for Amy," admitted Sprout, "She was vulnerable, and you sacrificed to help her. It couldn't have been easy."

"You aren't upset that Hermione and I were sharing a room?" asked Harry.

Professor Sprout laughed. "Hufflepuffs tend to have less hangups about that sort of thing. Let's just say that what I don't see I don't have to deal with."

"Seems smart to me," said Harry.

XXXXX

**September 3rd, 1996**

Dumbledore was a very good teacher, Harry had to admit. N.E.W.T. level Transfiguration was horrendously difficult (though not necessarily for Harry and Hermione, who had Tom Riddle's memories in their heads), but Dumbledore's simple and fun instructions made it seem easy. He was good natured and seemed to have infinite patience even with the slowest student. Harry was a bit ashamed to realize that he had wanted Dumbledore to be a bad teacher, as it would have made turning on him easier.

Transfiguration was one of the classes Harry had kept. He'd stayed in Potions, Charms, Herbology, Arithmancy, Defense, and Runes as well. It was a heavy course load, but it wasn't all that difficult, given his advantages.

"Harry," said Dumbledore after their first class was over, "I would like to speak with you sometime this week. I would like to share with you some information I have collected in my years of following Tom Riddle."

This was intriguing to Harry. Dumbledore's perspective on Voldemort might indeed be very revealing. As long as this wasn't a trick.

"Well, I would be more than glad to accommodate you," said Harry, "Say, Thursday night?"

"Exactly what I was thinking," said Dumbledore, "I will see you then."

XXXXX

**September 4th, 1996**

Tuesday night was the first meeting of the Army of the Triumvirate.

"Our goal this year is simple," said Harry, "We will destroy the Death Eaters' financial empire. To that end, we need full lists of everything we can find that the Death Eaters own."

"A lot of us have access to some of that information," said Ernie, "But getting all of it would be a challenge."

"Yet we have to get as much of it as possible," said Justin.

"It won't be easy," said a voice. A voice no one had expected to hear.

Theodore Nott had entered the Room of Requirement.

Everyone immediately pulled out their wands. Everyone but Nott.

"I'm not here to hurt you," said Nott.

"That has to be true, Harry," said Neville, "I specifically told the room to keep out anyone who meant us harm."

"How did you find us?" demanded Ginny.

Nott shrugged. "You weren't meeting in a classroom. So I asked the house elves. They led me right to this place. I've been waiting here the whole time. I'm not your enemy though."

"Oh really?" asked Daphne.

Nott hung his head. "I thought that there was no way that anyone could defeat the Dark Lord. Then someone goes and kills most of his most loyal Death Eaters. And funny thing, it happens right at the same time Harry and friends form a secret army. You've been clever, but not clever enough to hide it from me."

"So what do you want?" asked Hermione.

"I want the killing to stop!" shouted Nott, "I want things to go back to how they were before the war. I want someone to put a boot in the Dark Lord's arse and keep it there. I don't want to be forced to join the Death Eaters when I graduate Hogwarts! I want to be my own man!"

There was silence for a long time. Finally, Tracey stepped forward.

"Okay then," she said, "So what do you want to do to help then? You understand that you can't join us, right? We can't give you our secrets. So what do you want?"

"I want to stay out of it," said Nott, "But I can't. So I'll help you instead. The treasurer and accountant for the Death Eaters is Narcissa Malfoy. She will have copies of everything."

"Malfoy Manor is the most heavily guarded Death Eater stronghold," said Ron, "How will we get in there?"

"I have no fucking clue," said Nott, "But that is not my problem, it's yours."

And with that, Nott walked out. Ginny and Justin took one look at each other and followed.

XXXXX

"What was that about?" demanded Ginny, "Are you trying to win me over by joining us now?"

"No!" said Nott angrily, "I just… I like you, Ginny, I won't lie about that, but I understand why you are with Justin. What he has that I don't. It took me a long time, but I get it. This isn't about winning you though. It's about what kind of person I want to be. Because even if you aren't available, I think that you are wonderful. And I want to be the sort of person who you could like, or who someone _like_ you could like. And I'm not. So that's all it is. I'm sorry if that's awkward for you."

And Nott walked away.

"Are you alright Ginny?" asked Justin.

"No," said Ginny angrily, "I am not! The last thing I need is Nott fetishizing me."

Which was exactly what was happening. Nott had created a perfect Ginny in his head that he wanted to like him. And so he was going to do anything he could to please her. But that girl wasn't real! She was just a figment of Nott's imagination.

"I'm sorry," said Justin as he put his arm around her, "you don't need this right now."

"No, I don't," said Ginny, "But we're going to have to deal with it, because we _need_ Nott's information."

XXXXX

**September 5th, 1996**

Harry's meeting with Dumbledore went better than he had thought it would. Indeed, Harry was shocked at how helpful and honest Dumbledore was. He wasn't getting ahead of himself, or discussing the horcruxes yet, but he was clearly leading Harry towards something. Harry was disappointed in the lack of confidence Dumbledore was showing him by not outright telling him what he wanted to say, but he also realized that the information he was getting might be useful in itself, but maybe not in the way Dumbledore intended.

This time, Dumbledore had shown Harry a memory of Voldemort's mother and her family. It had been a wretched scene, and more. He had told Harry the story of how Merope Gaunt had seduced Tom Riddle Sr. using potions, then had been abandoned by him as she was about to give birth. Merope had died of grief, and Tom Riddle Jr. had been orphaned.

And Harry finally had to admit, what he had said to Luna this last summer seemed even more poignant. Riddle hadn't known love ever. He'd been alone his whole life. Once again, Harry pitied him. And suddenly, Harry saw one of the things that Dumbledore feared about him.

"No one loved him," said Harry, "Even his mother cared more about losing the man she violated than about Tom Riddle Jr. No one ever loved him."

"Yes," said Dumbledore sadly, "Is it any wonder he grew up to be so bereft of compassion, having never known any himself?"

"There are some similarities between myself and Riddle," said Harry, "My relatives didn't treat me with love either. But my parents did. My mother died for me. She left a mark on me, and on my very blood." Harry put his hand on his scar. He'd long seen it as a sign of what Riddle had done to him. But now…

Now he saw it as a sign of his mother's love for him. He saw it as the one thing that had been seared on his soul and left there to protect him. It was a genuine miracle, and he'd been the recipient.

"My aunt and uncle were scared of me," said Harry, "They didn't understand me. And they didn't show me love. Yet, my aunt, she did love my mother. Underneath all the bitterness and anger, she did. And that's why they kept me. That's why they protected me. They did a really shit job of it, but they did it."

"Very good Harry," said Dumbledore.

"I'm not like him," said Harry, "I'm not like Riddle at all. He only used people. I… admit I will sometimes use people, but I don't like it. And I don't do it to the people I love. And I do love. Riddle, he doesn't. He can't love. He can't comprehend it. It actually hurts him, because it's absence cuts so much that he can't bear to be reminded of what he can't have."

"How do you know this Harry?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry smiled and pointed at his scar.

"Harry, venturing into Lord Voldemort's mind is dangerous," warned Dumbledore.

"I know," said Harry, "He would lay traps for me if he could. But he can't."

"What do you mean?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry smiled. "Don't you know? Can't you see? Is this the limit of the great Albus Dumbledore?"

Harry shook his head. "Do you know why my mind is connected with Riddle's?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I do."

"Do you intend to tell me why?" asked Harry.

"I have told you…" started Dumbledore.

"You have told me part of what happened," said Harry, "But only part. Listen, I'm not angry now. But if you aren't ready to tell me why I'm connected to Riddle, I can't tell you why I feel safe looking into his mind."

"I will try to do so, as part of the lessons I am teaching you now," said Dumbledore, "But not until the end certainly. I do not believe you are ready."

"What next, are you going to show me the life of Tom Riddle through your eyes? Show his fall and his destructive rise to power? I know all that. I know what he is, what makes him tick. And I pity him," Harry hung his head, his mind not quite ready to admit what he already truly knew.

"He's detestable and horrible, and I pity him," said Harry, "Because he will never dry the tears of a crying friend, hold a lover in his arms and know for just that moment, everything is good, or look at a friend and feel pride for what they have accomplished. He is lost. And there is nothing I can do to fix that. The chance to save him was lost long ago."

"Does that mean we shouldn't try?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry looked at Dumbledore, and then started to laugh. He just laughed and laughed, until his sides started to hurt. Finally he managed to get control over himself.

"Only you would ask that silly question," said Harry, "And that is the only reason I'll be coming back. Because I agree. We still have to try. Not because we owe it to him, but because we owe it to ourselves. I think I'd started to forget that."

"Then this lesson has served its purpose," said Dumbledore, a smile now adorning his face.

Harry went back to his room sure of one thing. His choice of whether to trust Dumbledore or Snape had just become far more complicated.

**Author's Note****:** So, two things. First, McGonagall's reaction to Harry and Hermione rooming together. Let me put it this way: McGonagall is the Headmistress of Hogwarts. She knows a lot more about what is going on at school than she lets on, just like Dumbledore did when he was Headmaster. She is not trying to make life more difficult for Harry and Hermione right now. This will be made explicit in a later chapter, but for now just know that McGonagall isn't as clueless as you might think from her behavior.

One thing that was brought up in a review that was a very good point was that Harry and friends should still be wary of being potioned. Realistically, that should still be a threat to some degree. However, it is worth pointing out that if Snape is using potions on all these people, he has to realise that Harry is starting to get suspicious. The fact is that the whole thing came out because Harry suspects Snape used potions on four people in short succession. Right now, any potion use would be dangerous for him.

On top of that, it would be difficult to dose Harry or his friends, who eat from the common dishes in the Great Hall. It seems to me the only way to actually dose them would be to administer the potion to _everyone _at Hogwarts. Which would probably not escape notice. Snape could figure out a way around this if he really wanted to, but does he want to?

Next Time: Harry launches his plan to take down the Death Eaters. Will he take them out? (Hint: There are 15 more chapters and an epilogue left in this story.)


	45. Turning the Tide

**Content Warning: Character Death**

**Chapter 45: Turning the Tide**

**October 5th, 1996**

"Dobby," said Hermione, "The answer to getting inside Malfoy Manor is Dobby."

Harry and Hermione were in their room, both laying on Harry's bed. They had been napping on a Saturday afternoon, but Hermione's interjection had put an end to that.

"I won't put Dobby in danger," insisted Harry, "Malfoy Manor is crawling with Death Eaters."

"According to Snape, they have a group there ready to reply to attacks on other Death Eater properties at all times," said Hermione, "So we need to lure them out. We attack the homes of other Death Eaters. We don't have to do any damage, just lure everyone out. Dobby can then sneak in invisibly, copy everything, and get out."

"Copy everything?" asked Harry.

"House elves can make magical copies of documents instantaneously," said Hermione, "It is one of their many powers that they developed to help us. Or possibly were forced to develop. I'm not actually sure which, to be honest."

"I don't know," said Harry, "I don't want to put Dobby in even that amount of danger."

"Harry," said Hermione, "Dobby is the one elf we know of that is resistant to the magic which forces elves to be completely subservient to wizards. I say it's his choice to make."

Harry nodded sadly. "You're right, of course. I just don't like the idea of putting him in danger. But it is his decision, not mine."

Hermione hugged Harry, putting her head on his chest. "How did I get so lucky?"

"You made a very ill-advised request of a hat," said Harry.

"Oops," said Hermione with a tiny grin, "You know, I'm turning 17 this week."

"I haven't forgotten," said Harry.

"From here on out, I'm free. No one can tell me what to do," said Hermione, "I'm just… glad. I'm glad that I am going to be here with you. We're going to change everything together. I know we will."

XXXXX

Halloween was the day they decided to move. Dobby had agreed to help immediately, so they began planning. Getting the mercenaries into the UK for the first time had to be done carefully. If word got out, the Death Eaters might increase security. That couldn't be allowed. As things were, the combined fortunes of the Death Eaters could probably outspend Harry and his faction, so they had to be careful to not cause the Death Eaters to start throwing money around yet. Still, Harry detested the wait.

Harry's classes were going well. Charms was fun, as always. Defense was less so, even though Harry did well in the subject. Snape was a rough teacher there, as he had been at Potions. Arithmancy and Runes had both gotten much harder (well as hard as they could get for someone who had essentially already taken the class), but Harry didn't complain, as his study sessions for those classes meant spending lots of time with Hermione. Herbology he still studied with Justin, though Ginny had started intruding in those sessions as well. Harry grinned at that thought. That was a huge change, and for the better. Justin really was smitten with Ginny.

Privately, Ginny had told Harry that she wanted to take her relationship with Justin public. So far they had been playing it cool where people could see them. They'd been doubly secretive since Molly had become Potions teacher.

Molly had become a fairly good potions instructor. Harry had noticed that some aspects of the N.E.W.T. course were a little challenging for Molly to teach, but she had put a strong effort into doing it, and if she made mistakes, she owned up to them. Harry supposed she'd never really trained for this, so he considered her largely a success.

Quidditch practice was good. There was some tension on the Slytherin team as Harry and Ginny didn't really trust Nott. Blaise, on the other hand, seemed to get along with him fine still, and Tracey wasn't going to let anything stand in the way of her winning against Gryffindor.

The last thing that was concerning Harry was Daphne. She seemed oddly preoccupied with Ron Weasley. She'd dumped him over the summer and completely ignored him for months. But now that she was back at school she seemed to be trying to pay attention to him again. Harry guessed she'd dumped him as a ploy to get him interested in her again, it was the overcalculated sort of thing Daphne might do. Unfortunately, it was exactly the sort of thing that wouldn't work with Ron. He tended to hold grudges. He had rather firmly rebuffed all of Daphne's renewed advances.

Harry had been in contact with Sirius, and things were going well. Most of the mercenaries were in the UK by now, and Krum was saying that they had drawn up a plan to attack various Death Eater holdings. It should be ready well before Halloween. Bill and Fleur were doing well, having managed to remove most of the curses off of the Lestrange vault. However there was one last curse on the contents in the vault that was causing them trouble.

The plan was so close to coming to fruition. Harry knew that the Death Eaters would respond. They'd tried to assassinate Amelia Bones in September. They'd failed badly, largely due to the security precautions that had been put into place months earlier. They were stretched thin. Everything would depend on Halloween.

XXXXX

**October 31st, 1996**

Sirius led the way through the bushes. He was leading one of four teams of mercenaries. Krum was leading the second, Gustav was leading the third, and Remus was leading the fourth. Sirius wasn't exactly impressed by this plan, but he supposed that Harry had his reasons for wanting to infiltrate Malfoy Manor. Sirius didn't know who Harry had doing the infiltration, but he suspected it might be a student. Harry didn't want to say for security reasons. Whoever it was, it was Sirius's job to give him a clear path.

He was outside the home of the Crabbe family. Known Death Eaters. Harry wasn't sure if the son had joined them, but they had just enough wealth to be useful to the Death Eaters, but not enough to be a powerful family in and of themselves. There was a reason that Vincent Crabbe had always followed Malfoy at Hogwarts.

Sirius began casting spells, setting fire to trees and bushes on the periphery of the property. Some of the mercenaries began casting spells at objects. The goal here wasn't to hurt anyone, it was to draw out the defenders at Malfoy Manor.

Sure enough, soon Sirius heard the pops of wizards apparating in. That was the signal to begin the withdrawal. Harry didn't want anyone hurt tonight if it could be helped. Sirius just hoped he could give Harry's man enough time.

XXXXX

Dobby apparated into the house. It was strange being back here. Dobby shuddered as he realized where he was. He'd hated the Malfoys and was glad to be free of them. Yet going back and spying on them did feel a bit wrong. But they did deserve it, so Dobby quietly made himself invisible.

He'd entered the house beneath the kitchens, in the wine cellar and soon was standing outside Narcissa's study. As predicted, there were few guards around. Narcissa walked by the door once, inspecting the spells that held the door locked. As soon as she was gone, Dobby made his move.

Sure enough, the spells on the door were the Malfoy family security spells. Designed to send out an alarm if dispelled incorrectly. Dobby knew what to do though, he'd once been told those spells, and house elves never forgot things like that.

The spells came down quietly, and Dobby entered the study. It wasn't hard to find the ledgers and documents that Dobby was looking for. With a wave of his hand, Dobby created copies of everything in the room. The copies were sent to specially prepared books back at Hogwarts. It was a simple matter for a house elf.

Dobby left the study. He put the security spells back up, then hid as he heard footsteps. It was Narcissa again. She was apparently worried about the security of the study with so many people called away. Dobby made his way to the escape tunnel. Once in there, he would be able to apparate away safely. Dobby had completed his task, and Harry Potter would be very pleased.

XXXXX

**November 1st, 1996**

It was more than they could have ever hoped for.

"Harry," said Daphne, "We have more than a list of Death Eater resources and holdings here. We have proof, real proof, that multiple Gringotts bank accounts were used to supply the Death Eaters. This is huge!"

"What do you mean?" asked Harry. The entire Army was gathered in the Room of Requirement, looking over the books Dobby had copied for them.

"What she means, is that with this information, we could get the DMLE to freeze most of these Gringotts accounts," said Susan, "This is really big. We could cripple the Death Eaters in one fell swoop."

"I doubt this accounts for all Death Eater resources," said Daphne, "I'm pretty sure that most of these families have emergency funds stashed away in places. But that doesn't matter. We can do way more damage with this information that we thought we were going to be able to."

"We should get Blaise in on this," said Tracey, "his friends might want to move on the Death Eaters at the same time we do."

"If we can get the DMLE, our mercenaries, and the Blaise's Irish friends to launch a simultaneous attack on the Death Eater finances…" said Ron.

"This could be close to a death blow for Voldemort's whole organization," said Ginny.

"I think they will prove more durable than that," considered Hermione, "But they will be in a very bad place."

"Cedric and Percy will be able to help coordinate this," said Harry, "They can tell us when the Ministry moves on this, letting us launch our attacks at the same time."

"We need every bit of information we can get out of these books, as soon as possible," said Hermione.

Everyone immediately got back to work.

XXXXX

**November 4th, 1996**

Cedric Diggory was ready for whatever was coming. He was determined to help take down Voldemort, and this would be the kick off of a whole new phase in their attack.

"Uh, Madame Bones," said Cedric, poking his head into her office, "There is something you need to see here."

"Cedric!" said Amelia's secretary, "you don't just barge into the office of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement!"

"You do when someone drops this on you!" insisted Cedric. With a single flip of his wand, a small package in his hand became a large box.

"What is this?" asked Amelia.

"Someone just left this on my desk," explained Cedric, not bothering to mention that he was the one who put it there, "It appears to be a record of a number of money transfers from various Gringotts accounts. But here is the kicker. The transfers are all going to a single account. I think that there is enough information here to prove that this account is the primary Gringotts account for the Death Eaters. If not, then a very cursory investigation should confirm it. This is a complete record of the Death Eater money laundering apparatus."

"Merlin," said the secretary.

"Why did they give it to you?" asked Amelia.

"I guess I'm low profile, but it's pretty well known in most circles that I'm a friend of Harry Potter's," said Cedric, "I'm the perfect person to give this too if you don't want too much attention being drawn to it."

Amelia nodded. She had to be thinking that that was a perfectly logical explanation of all this.

"You were absolutely right to bring this directly to me," said Amelia, "And until I say otherwise no one other than the three of us will know anything about this. You any good at accounting, Diggory?"

Cedric shrugged, "I was pretty good in Arithmancy. I was good enough to get the basic idea when this was dropped on my desk I guess."

"That may not be good enough," said Amelia.

"Will you inform the Minister?" asked Amelia's secretary.

"I suppose I have to," said Amelia.

"Percy Weasley!" said Cedric, "He's got some accountancy training. Once you bring Fudge in…"

"Yes, Percy would do well," said Amelia, "We need to keep this out of the DMLE rumour pool if possible. And he is definitely not known to gossip. He has a bit of a reputation as being tight-lipped and difficult to get anything out of actually. Unless he's trying to manipulate you at least. Probably why Fudge has taken such a shine to him."

"Who do you think gave this to us?" asked Cedric.

"My guess is the Triumvirate," said Amelia, "The Order of the Phoenix would just have given this to me openly."

"Whoever it was, I'm glad they're on our side," said Cedric.

"Indeed," said Amelia, "I'd like to meet them, if I could. But what's the chance of that? I need to talk to Fudge."

XXXXX

**November 9th, 1996**

Harry had to admit, he'd been slacking off in his preparations to play Quidditch. It wasn't that he didn't like the sport anymore, but he did have much larger concerns. Still, Tracey had been on him the whole year last year, and so he'd finally taken the time to do some serious practice. Harry hoped it would pay off.

Ron's team was only a shadow of the Gryffindor team of years past. He still had Katie Bell, but Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson were gone, as were the twins. The only truly exceptional player Ron had managed to recruit was Demelza Robins. Dean and Dennis Creevey were the beaters, and they were good enough, but they wouldn't be able to take down Blaise and Nott.

But Harry had underestimated the tensions on the Slytherin team. Ginny wasn't talking to Nott, which was annoying, but understandable. Astoria was still a little under the weather, she had had a rough summer, and while being at Hogwarts had brought her most of the way back, she still wasn't 100 percent back.

As such, the Slytherin team was heading into the match divided, but the Gryffindors weren't. And that was what ultimately proved the difference. The Slytherins did run up the score on the Gryffindors, but in the end, none of it mattered. All the Slytherins were too distracted by their own problems to concentrate on the match. Which was why when Colin saw the snitch, Harry was nowhere near by. Gryffindor won the match 190 to 110.

Tracey flew over and gave Ron a congratulatory handshake.

"Good game Weasley," said Tracey, "Your team was really on point today."

"Ah, we still need some practice," said Ron, "You'd have beaten us if your players hadn't been distracted."

"Thanks Ron," said Tracey, "Still, keep winning like this, and I'm going to think you're actually a decent Quidditch captain."

Ron grinned at her. He knew Tracey well enough that he knew that was about as good a compliment that she would give a Gryffindor Quidditch player.

Back in the Slytherin locker room on the other hand…

"That was pathetic," roared Tracey, "All of you need to deal with your issues and get your heads back in the game!"

XXXXX

**November 11th, 1996**

"Amelia will be making her move on the 20th of November," read Harry, before putting down the letter he had received from Cedric, "That's when we'll move."

"There's a lot of targets to hit," noted Hermione.

"It's going to take about a week to hit them all," said Ginny.

"I've instructed the mercenaries to hit high priority targets first," said Harry, "On the last couple of days, the Death Eaters will be on high alert, so we need to make sure we're just mopping up at that point. While we will permit the mercenaries to defend themselves, their goal is not to kill anyone, but to do as much damage as possible."

"What is going to happen to all these magical creatures?" asked Luna, "Surely you aren't going to just kill them?"

"No, we won't," said Harry, "But we will sell them out of the country at rock bottom prices. Honestly, the magical livestock targets are lucrative, but they are only a fraction of Death Eater wealth, so we are pushing those missions to the fourth or fifth day. The schedule is still in flux."

"This is a big bold move," said Daphne, 'And You-Know-Who will respond."

"But if we are successful, he'll be hampered for years," said Harry, "It's time to inflict a decisive blow against Riddle. It's time to turn the tide."

XXXXX

**November 18th, 1996**

After some negotiation with Gustav, the mercenaries decided to start their attacks on the 18th. Blaise confirmed that the Irish would move on the same day. Harry wished he was able to lead these attacks, but he couldn't. He had to trust his people.

XXXXX

Sirius and Krum led four mercenaries across the fields near York. This was the site of the Malfoy family's warehouses. They'd been stockpiling resources here for one and a half years now. All sorts of things were stored here. Wool from magical sheep, which couldn't be sheared again this year, wood from magical trees, which by magical law was limited in the amount that could be harvested each year, and even a large stash of expensive potions ingredients. It was a huge haul, and destroying it would mean that the Malfoy family had no immediate way to generate cash. And considering that they were about to lose all their cash, that would devastate them.

The attack was quick and simple. Over the course of five minutes they set dozens of fires in the warehouse. No one would be able to tell where the fires started. But there was enough flammable material in the warehouse that this would probably not attract a lot of attention. Within minutes, the whole structure was in flames, and Sirius and Krum were leading their group to a second target.

XXXXX

**November 19th, 1996**

"Ten attacks in one night!" said Fudge, "The Death Eaters are getting bold."

Percy tried not to roll his eyes. For a man who could be so devious, Fudge could be surprisingly naive.

"Minister Fudge," said Amelia, "All the properties attacked last night were Death Eater holdings, we're fairly sure of it. This is likely the Army of the Triumvirate again. We already suspected that the Army had an inside line into Death Eater finances, this would seem to confirm it."

"The question is, do we do anything about this?" asked Percy, "I mean, the Army is doing us a service, but can we allow this sort of property destruction to go on?"

"If we didn't have those ledgers they gave us, I'd say we had to hunt them down for this," said Amelia, "But if they did provide them, then they know as well as we do that these are not innocent people they are destroying the property of. As long as no one is hurt, I am willing to only do cursory investigations."

"The Malfoys don't want us doing an investigation," said Percy.

"Makes sense," said Amelia, "They were probably doing illegal things there."

Fudge nodded. "Good. Whoever this Triumvirate is, they are helping us."

Percy nodded. "My guess is that this is not a coincidence, them going after the Death Eaters the very week we planned to."

Amelia nodded. "They have planned this very well. If all goes well the Death Eaters will be in full collapse by Christmas."

XXXXX

**November 20th, 1996**

Narcissa was in full on panic mode after the second night of attacks. The next day, she went to speak with the Dark Lord. He was being attended by Rookwood.

"This is a full and coordinated attack on all of our holdings," she said, "We need to fortify what areas we can immediately, because we have no idea how much of our economic base they have knowledge of. So far most of the things that have been hit are fairly well known, but the warehouse my husband set up was, while not a secret, relatively obscure."

The Dark Lord nodded. "We need to narrow down the likely places that will be attacked," he said.

"I will work on that," said Narcissa, "but at this point it will only be a guess. More attacks will give us more information."

"We need to get Madame Zabini in on this as well," said Rookwood.

"I'm under attack as well," said Clarise, who stormed into the room, "Sorry about the delay in notifying you, but I initially thought it was just the ordinary attacks between the Irish and my people. But it got worse last night. I lost ten loyal people in the last two days, and two major money making enterprises have been shut down completely."

Before Narcissa could say anything, an owl flew into the room. It had a letter from Gringotts with it. And suddenly Narcissa's stomach lurched, as she _knew_ what was in that letter.

Narcissa grabbed the letter and opened it immediately. She read the letter twice to make sure she was reading it right.

"Narcissa, we are in the middle of an emergency," sneered Rookwood, "You can read your mail later."

"Sorry my Lord, but this is in fact related to what we were discussing," insisted Narcissa, "My main account at Gringotts has been frozen. This is not just a series of attacks. This is the beginning of a series of attacks on the part of _all_ of our enemies. The Triumvirate, the Irish, the Ministry, they're all doing everything they can to shut us down! We need to get every single Death Eater and person who has contributed to us into hiding immediately. Arrests will be coming soon. Very soon. Once that is done we need to secure every site that is making us money, because we're about to lose everything we've saved up."

Another owl flew into the room. It had another letter from Gringotts. Narcissa grabbed the letter and read it.

"That was the main account we've been using for Death Eater funds!" said Narcissa almost breathlessly, "We're broke!"

The Dark Lord's face was murderous. "You heard the woman! We're under attack. Do as she says before our entire movement falls apart!"

XXXXX

Amelia Bones looked at the list of arrests. Some small fries like Runcorn had been caught, and the Selwyns had gone down, but unfortunately she didn't have enough to go on to get Malfoy or Nott. Nott had been a big disappointment, he'd managed to hide his involvement just well enough that his accounts had managed to remain untouched. The Malfoy accounts had gone down, but there hadn't been any activity from them since Lucius's death, and all the payments to the Death Eater fund had been personally authorized by him. So Narcissa would be fined, but a large chunk of her fortune would be returned.

All in all, things were going well, but not as well as Amelia had initially hoped they would. Too many Death Eaters had gone to ground. Clarise Zabini was nowhere to be found, and the Parkinsons had likewise disappeared. Amelia wasn't sure what to do about the Crabbe and Goyle accounts, both of those accounts were technically in the hands of two students. Crabbe was out of the country at Durmstrang, and Goyle was at Hogwarts and not of age. But they had been definitely paying into the Death Eater fund.

Fudge was trying to push Theodore Nott off the Wizengamot, but that would be a tough sell, even now. Still, the Death Eater faction on the Wizengamot was at historic lows. The Malfoy seat was already gone, the Wizengamot deciding to terminate the seat rather than allow it to go to a son of a Death Eater.

For a third night, the attacks had come. The attacks this night had been especially devastating, as many of the Death Eaters were going into hiding. It would be worse tomorrow when their hired security realized they wouldn't be paid anymore.

The entire situation was completely crazy, Amelia had to admit. She needed to get in contact with the Triumvirate, to try and coordinate with them. She suspected Cedric knew how to contact them, but she also suspected he wouldn't just introduce her because she asked. Though maybe it would be that simple.

She could hope.

XXXXX

**November 24th, 1996**

Harry called off the attacks after the sixth night.

The fourth night had been devastating for the Death Eaters. With all of them in hiding, and with none of the security that normally protected the various herds of magical creatures, Harry's mercenaries were able to steal huge numbers of the animals. They had buyers in foreign markets already lined up, and the creatures were moved out of Harry's control almost as soon as they entered it. It was a good plan. Night 5 was even more lucrative, as the mercenaries managed to capture several major stockpiles of magical components.

By night 6, the Death Eaters had devised a rudimentary defense plan for their holdings. It wasn't much, but it meant that many of the places the mercenaries attacked were defended. The mercenaries retreated when they encountered resistance, as they had been whole thing was well executed.

But with resistance becoming more common, Harry decided to quit while he was ahead. They'd delivered a crippling blow to the Death Eaters, one they wouldn't soon recover from. Now he had to prepare for the inevitable reprisal. Riddle had taken a huge number of knocks in the last few months, and hadn't launched a major reply, aside from his aborted attempt to kill Amelia Bones. Harry braced himself, not knowing what was coming, but knowing it was likely to be bad.

XXXXX

**November 27th,1996**

In a strange way, things had been quieter the last few days at Malfoy Manor. The other Death Eaters had gone into hiding, including the Dark Lord himself. Narcissa herself had been spared that purely by luck; Lucius had paid his contribution for a whole year in advance. She'd managed to hide all of the ledgers and books that had all the financial information when the Ministry had come calling. Narcissa wondered why she even bothered keeping them. They were basically useless now. Almost everything in them was gone.

But as she finally had the chance to inventory losses vs. what they had in the books, she noticed something bad. Something very bad. Every single loss was in the books and ledgers. All of them. It was almost as if someone had used her ledgers as a guide to dismantling Death Eater finances. And very soon she understood that indeed, that had been what had happened. Someone had access to her books!

She wasn't looking forward to telling the Dark Lord that, though it wasn't entirely her fault. She just had to hope that he was in a good mood when she told him.

She made her way to the Dining Room, and saw that there were a larger than normal number of people there. Parkinson was there, along with Clarise, Rookwood and Snape. The Carrows had shown up, though Narcissa didn't know why they had bothered. They didn't have any money to give to the Death Eaters, and they weren't in anyone's target sights right now. Nott arrived last of all. He was fortunate, he still had his accounts.

"Let us begin," said the Dark Lord.

Rookwood stood up. "The attacks seem to have stopped, so it looks like they ran out of targets that they knew about," he said, his face grim, "But the damage is done. Our finances are in complete disarray."

"I am beginning to suspect that the attacks on our homes on Halloween were some sort of rehearsal for this attack," argued Nott.

"They weren't," said Narcissa absently. Everyone looked at her.

"You have some insight?' asked the Dark Lord.

Narcissa nodded, "As the only person on our side to see everything that we had in terms of resources, I can see the patterns of what they hit and what they didn't hit. And they hit everything we had. We've lost something like 85% of our total resources, and that is not counting the fine they will hit my accounts within the next few days. They could take as much as half of my money and that would increase it to near 90%. 90% of what we had on the books. That is not a coincidence."

"What are you saying?" asked Rookwood.

"What I'm saying is that they had access to my books and ledgers," said Narcissa, "Which puts those Halloween attacks in a whole other light. Because pretty much the entire force we assigned to security here was called out that night to deal with other things. We were open, yet no one set off the alarm on my office door. I lock it with a spell that only my family knows. So they knew the spell. And they were able to copy the books and ledgers quickly, because I kept a close eye on the door to my study that night, knowing we were vulnerable."

"Go on…" said the Dark Lord dangerously.

"A house elf," said Narcissa, "A house elf could apparate into this house without permission, as house elves are not affected by anti-apparition wards. A house elf could copy the books quickly, as that is part of the magic that allows them to help wizards. And one particular house elf used to be a part of the Malfoy household, and knew our locking spell in order to make Lucius's life easier: Dobby."

"Of course," said Snape, "Dobby worked at Hogwarts for a time, but he no longer does. He was recently hired by Harry Potter."

"The attacks on Halloween were deliberately launched to allow this Dobby to sneak in here and steal our financial records," said Rookwood.

"Narcissa," said the Dark Lord, "I am glad that you discovered this. I am even more glad that you did not try to cover it up. I would have hated to have to have killed you."

"Why didn't Lucius have the elf killed when he fired it?" asked Alecto Carrow.

"Because, Harry Potter and Bryant Greengrass were right there when it happened," said Narcissa, "Lucius was tricked into freeing Dobby."

"The incompetence of the Malfoy family has cost me dearly," said the Dark Lord, "_Crucio!_"

Narcissa suddenly felt pain the likes of which she had never felt before. It seemed to go on and on. Narcissa fell to the floor, writhing in agony. Finally, it stopped. Narcissa got up on one knee and faced the Dark Lord.

"My apologies, My Lord," said Narcissa.

"Accepted," said the Dark Lord, "your willingness to submit to well earned punishment has earned you my respect, Narcissa. I recognize that the main fault here lay with Lucius, and that you would not have made the mistakes he did. Still, you must do better from here on out. Otherwise, well, we don't want to think about otherwise, do we Narcissa?"

"Of course not My Lord," said a trembling Narcissa.

"Very well," said the Dark Lord, "You may rise."

Narcissa stumbled to her feet taking her place next to Clarise.

"We will need to start rebuilding," said the Dark Lord.

"The Parkinson family still has most of its resources," said Parkinson, "They only caught one small account of ours, and they weren't able to link it to us. We still have some money, all of which is at the disposal of your armies my Lord."

"Very good," said the Dark Lord.

"My forces are still largely untouched," said Clarise, "While there were a number of attacks this week on my people, they were largely in Wales, the place where my resources are the most limited. While I have lost almost all of my people and holdings in Wales, it was an insignificant part of my enterprise. It will take time for me to build up a reserve of cash again, as my accounts were frozen, but I will recover."

"My emergency funds have not been touched either," said Narcissa, forcing herself to speak, "One way or another, I will be able to begin rebuilding."

"As will I," said Nott.

"We need cash," said Snape, "and we need it now."

"What about the Lestrange wealth," said Rookwood, "It wasn't the biggest, but we don't know where it went. Bellatrix didn't have a will."

"Perhaps we can figure that out," said Nott, "I have an idea…"

Narcissa's stomach sank. This was not good.

XXXXX

The mood in the Army of the Triumvirate was practically euphoric. In a single week, they had dealt the most serious blows they had ever struck to the Death Eaters. Everything seemed to be going well.

Harry wasn't satisfied though. He ordered everyone to keep an eye on anyone associated with the Death Eaters, Malfoy and Nott especially.

Nott set up a meeting of course. Harry was sitting in the library when Nott sat down next to him.

"Well, you did well with what little I gave you," said Nott.

"Thanks," said Harry, "I'm delighted that you approve."

"I'm surprised that Ginny isn't here," said Nott.

"She doesn't want much to do with you right now," said Harry, "and I don't blame her."

"I'm not trying to woo her," said Nott.

"That doesn't matter," said Harry, "What matters is that you've really creeped her out. That isn't easy to do Nott."

Nott hung his head. "I didn't mean to."

Harry rolled his eyes. Didn't he get it? "Listen, you need to treat Ginny as if she's just some girl you don't know, because this whole idea that Ginny is some pure angel that you can never live up to? That's very stalkerish, Theodore. And if Ginny starts to think you're stalking her… well it wouldn't be good."

Harry stood up, and turned back to Nott. "If you still want to help, come to me or Hermione, but leave Ginny alone. In fact, leave her alone all together unless we're at Quidditch practice."

"Are you her brother?" demanded Nott.

"No," said Harry, "I am her best friend though. And I will not have you making her life miserable. Period."

And Harry walked out. He hated using Nott, but he didn't have a lot of choice. He needed a line into the Death Eaters, and Nott was the closest thing he had.

XXXXX

**November 30th, 1996**

"My parents already like you," said Tonks, adjusting the tie on Remus Lupin's rather battered suit.

"That was before they knew we were sleeping together," said Remus.

"If we do this right, they won't _know_ we are sleeping together," said Tonks, "unless a certain someone spills the beans."

Remus and Tonks were getting ready to visit her parents. They planned on telling them that the two of them were officially a couple. Personally, Tonks thought that her parents already knew, but that wasn't really the source of Remus's tension. He was afraid to be public, afraid of what it would mean for her reputation. Tonks herself didn't care in the slightest.

They had apparated to a nearby field. They could have apparated closer to the house or even into it, but Tonks had this image of Remus being welcomed into their home by the front door, coming out of the cold into a warm home, so she had insisted.

As they reached the boundaries of the Tonks home, they saw a crowd of people approaching. A large group, almost ten people. Remus didn't pay them any mind, but Tonks's auror training suddenly kicked in.

"Hey, wotcha doing out here?" she asked.

"It's the Tonks girl!" said one of the men. Suddenly Tonks realized that all the men were wearing robes. Which meant...

"GET DOWN!" she screamed as she pulled Remus to the ground behind her parent's fence. Just in time to avoid a whole volley of deadly curses.

Tonks had her wand out and sent out a spell, she didn't even really remember what it was. But it hit someone. Remus also had his wand out and was casting spells.

For a moment, the combined skill of Tonks and Remus was holding them back. None of their enemies were particularly skilled. They were just petty thugs. But eventually a spell got through. Remus fell back, clutching his arm, or what was left of it. Tonks sent a reply but she barely was missed by another cutting curse.

"MUM! DAD! RUN AND GET HELP!" she screamed, knowing they would be able to hear her.

Suddenly, one of the attackers sent a blasting curse at her, and another cast one moments after. She shielded the first, but the second got through.

And after that, neither Tonks or Remus felt anything.

**Author's Note****:**

First, I am so sorry about Remus and Tonks! Originally I had planned to kill Andromeda, but it just didn't have the impact that was needed. In the end, this made more sense to drive Harry where he needs to go, though he isn't at the breaking point yet. What makes it kind of ironic is that I legitimately hate Remus and Tonks' deaths in canon. Still, these are the sorts of decision you have to make if you are going to write fanfiction.

Second, some people misinterpreted the end of the last chapter. They seemed to think it was about Harry not killing Voldemort or taking on a Martyr complex or something. But that isn't what it is about at all. Harry isn't commenting on how he is going to continue to fight the war so much as he is commenting on how he wants to live his life in general, and he is very much keeping what they did to the Death Eaters at the Ministry in mind. As far as Voldemort goes... well let's just say Harry doesn't intend to take any chances with Voldemort and leave it at that.

Next Time: Harry tries to save Andromeda, Ginny makes a big mistake, and the gang helps Luna crash a party.


	46. Holiday Complications

**Chapter 46: Holiday Complications**

**November 30th, 1996**

Harry put down the mirror on his nightstand, and sank onto his bed. He'd known there would be a counterstroke, but he hadn't thought it would be this personal. He was having a hard time thinking right now.

The door opened. Hermione came in in her bathrobe, having just finished showering. As she closed the door, she saw Harry's face.

"What happened?" asked Hermione, sitting down next to Harry on his bed.

"Remus and Tonks are dead," said Harry, "Death Eaters had come to the Tonks residence. I think they were after Andromeda. Remus and Tonks just happened to be right outside when they arrived."

"No!" said Hermione, her face shocked, "Oh, I'm so sorry Harry." Hermione threw her arms around him, pulling his head onto her shoulder.

"Andromeda and Ted got away," continued Harry, "At least Remus and Tonks bought them that. Sirius was really broken up about it though. Remus was his last friend from the old days, and Tonks was his family." He had to admit, he was pretty comfortable in this position.

Shaking his head, he wrapped his arms around Hermione and clung to her. Right now he just needed to know she was there. He'd figure out what to do later.

XXXXX

**December 1st, 1996**

He woke the next day with a purpose. He had to stop the Death Eaters from going after Andromeda. It was obvious what was going on. They thought Andromeda had inherited the Black family fortune. Harry had managed to keep his ownership of that money a secret, but that could no longer be allowed. He had to make it clear that going after Andromeda was pointless. But Harry knew that if Riddle knew Harry was in possession of the Horcrux in the Lestrange vault, he would almost immediately try to break into Gringotts and retrieve it. Harry needed to act.

He paused to look at Hermione as he sat up. She'd fallen asleep beside him last night, and wasn't wearing her robe anymore. He actually had a pretty good view of her backside from here. Harry smiled briefly, then covered her up again. No need for her to get up over this. But as Harry stood up, he heard her stirring.

"You know they're after the Black money," said Hermione.

"Yeah," replied Harry as he got dressed. He turned to see Hermione standing up. And not wearing anything. Despite everything, he hadn't really seen her in the altogether like this more than a couple of times. He blushed, which made her laugh.

"Go," she said, "Do what you need to do to fix this."

"It can't be fixed," said Harry, "But I can stop it from continuing."

And Harry headed straight for the Headmistresses office.

When he entered he got straight to the point. "Last night Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks were killed," said Harry.

"I heard," said McGonagall.

"I need to make a Floo call on your secure Floo," said Harry, "Andromeda Tonks was the real target. The Death Eaters think she has the Black Family fortune. She doesn't. I do. I need to prepare for the Death Eaters coming after it, then I need to tell them that it is mine so they stop going after Andromeda."

McGonagall had a sharp intake of breath. "So _that's _what this is about. You may use my Floo," said McGonagall.

Harry quickly floo called Bill at Gringotts. "Bill, have you dealt with the protections on the Lestrange vault?" asked Harry.

"Yes, we finished that on Friday," said Bill, "The item was there."

"Excellent, I don't suppose Brokgut is anywhere nearby?" asked Harry.

"Actually, I am right here," said Brokgut.

"Excellent!" said Harry, "Move everything from the Lestrange vault into the Black vault NOW. And afterwards I want the Black vault sealed. Do you understand? Nothing in or out until I can come and retrieve the item."

"Why not simply move the item into the Black vault?" asked Brokgut.

"I am going to alert Riddle that the Lestrange vaults are in my possession today," said Harry, "He might come poking around looking for the item. If it is the only thing missing, he might get suspicious."

"A reasonable precaution," agreed Brokgut, "We can completely seal your vault by turning the entire thing to stone. If You-Know-Who tries to take ths item, he'll destroy it if he doesn't remove the spell first. But even we won't be able to unseal it for at least two weeks."

"That is more than fine," said Harry, "We can unseal it over the break. Right now it is imperative that everything be moved and sealed before the end of the day."

"We will do it," said Brokgut with a slight nod to Harry.

"Thank you, Brokgut," said Harry, "You have no idea how many lives you are saving today."

As the floo went dark McGonagall gave him a speculative look. "What could be so important that you would take such extraordinary steps to protect it?"

"One of the keys to winning the war, Professor," said Harry, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention this to Professor Dumbledore. I don't want him to know that I know about this item yet. He hasn't seen fit to explain to me that it exists."

"I see," said McGonagall, "Despite the fact that it has fallen into your possession?"

"He doesn't know that," admitted Harry, "Luckily, I do know what to do with it, despite our former Headmaster's best efforts. I have to go now Professor. I need to talk to Malfoy."

"Do I need to accompany you?" asked McGonagall.

"Probably not," said Harry, "I just need to deliver a message."

XXXXX

Harry found Malfoy in the Slytherin common room. "Draco, we need to talk," said Harry as he cast a silencing charm around them.

"About what?" said a very annoyed Malfoy.

"About the war," said Harry, "Specifically about the Death Eaters trying to kill your aunt."

Malfoy's face went dark. "That mudblood lover is no aunt of mine."

"Actually, Sirius has officially reinstated her as a member of the Black Family, so that disowning garbage isn't going to fly," said Harry, "But aside from that, she is your mother's only living relative, aside from Sirius. Surely that means something to you?"

"It does," said Malfoy, "but I won't go up against the will of the Dark Lord."

"I'm not stupid enough to ask you to," said Harry, "I just wanted to tell you that before the Wizengamot activated the Black family will, Sirius did change it, but he didn't make Andromeda his heir. He made me his heir. I have the Black family fortune, and I suppose the Lestrange fortune as well. Killing Andromeda won't get it for your lord."

Malfoy's eyes widened at that news. He clearly wasn't entirely comfortable with his aunt being sentenced to death.

"I think your mother at the least would like to know that," said Harry.

Malfoy nodded. "All right Potter. I'll do as you ask. For my mother's sake. Not for you."

"I wouldn't expect you too," said Harry.

"If you don't mind, who would inherit the Black money if you died?" asked Malfoy.

Harry gave a grim smile. "Don't get ahead of yourself Malfoy. But it would go back to Sirius of course. Now, if only one of your friends can do the job properly. Your boss certainly wasn't able to."

And with that, Harry spun around and walked away.

XXXXX

Narcissa rushed into the sitting room where the Dark Lord was resting. She hoped he was in a good mood. The information she had received from Draco couldn't wait.

"Narcissa," said Rookwood, "Is something the matter?"

"I have received information from my son about the Black fortune," said Narcissa, "Following the deaths of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora, Harry approached Draco and admitted that he controlled the Black fortune."

The Dark Lord's eyes went wide. "So Potter controls the former Lestrange vault?" he demanded.

"It would seem so," said Narcissa, "He had kept this rather quiet, I must say."

The Dark Lord didn't seem to hear her though. "Does he know what she had? Impossible. Yet…" the Dark Lord trailed off.

Suddenly he leapt to his feet. "I must go, I will be back in a day or two at the latest. Rookwood, hold down the fort for me."

And the Dark Lord apparated away.

"Strange," said Rookwood, "Something seems to have spooked him."

"Perhaps Bella had something of the Dark Lord's in her vault," suggested Narcissa, "He once entrusted an important item with Lucius." Narcissa didn't dare say that she knew that the item had been a horcrux. That was not information that the Dark Lord would want getting out. But if Potter now had one of the Dark Lord's soul anchors...

Perhaps the time to escape had finally come, regardless of whether Draco would come with her or not.

XXXXX

Narcissa looked at the small pile of belongings that she had gathered together. It wasn't much. But it might be enough to get her far from this place. She knew her departure would hurt Draco, but she didn't dare warn him. He might not turn her in, but his reaction would draw comment. No, best to make a clean break. Draco would survive best on his own.

"Narcissa," said a soft voice. Narcissa spun around to see Snape standing there. Narcissa almost tried to hide what she'd been doing, but she knew it was pointless. Snape either knew or he didn't, drawing attention to it now would do her no good.

"What are you doing here?" asked Narcissa.

"I came at Rookwood's request," said Snape, "He was concerned about the Dark Lord's sudden departure. I trust that you suspect as I do, that one of the Dark Lord's horcruxes was in the possession of your sister?"

"Why do you say that?" asked Narcissa.

"Because you are preparing to flee," said Snape, "Don't deny it, it is obvious."

"I can't take it anymore," said Narcissa, "The Dark Lord takes and takes, but in truth all he does is destroy. I have to escape before I lose myself."

"What you say of the Dark Lord, it is true," admitted Snape.

"Come with me!" begged Narcissa, suddenly hopeful, "Together, we could stay away from him! We could make a new life! I know you see the madness in what he has become."

"Indeed I do," said Snape, "Which is why I cannot leave."

And in that moment, Narcissa understood. Snape was the Order's spy in the Death Eaters, not just as a ruse, but in truth. He was trying to take down the Dark Lord.

"Run if you want," said Snape, "I won't stop you, or turn you in. But he will catch you. You're in too deep now, even without the mark."

Narcissa settled herself down in a chair. "What else can I do?" she asked.

"Endure," said Snape. He turned towards the door to her chamber.

"Severus," said Narcissa, "Aren't you afraid I'll turn you in?"

Snape smiled grimly. "The Dark Lord will see in my mind what I want him to see, and he will see terrified delusions in yours. Pray he never looks this deep into your mind. If he does, he will see a self serving attempt to deflect away from your crimes."

And with that, Snape swept from the chamber.

Narcissa knew that she did have a chance. The Dark Lord was more vulnerable than even Snape realized. But the moment had passed. Narcissa no longer had the courage to do what she needed to.

Rookwood ran by, stopping to poke his head into Narcissa's chamber. "Our Lord has returned," he said simply before leaving.

Narcissa took to her feet, and ran after him.

The Dark Lord was in his sitting room again. As soon as Narcissa entered, he smiled.

"Good, we are all here. I had thought that Potter might have some dangerous information about me, but from what I can tell he simply moved everything from the Lestrange vault into the Black vault, then locked down the Black vault. He anticipated me going after his money."

The Dark Lord smirked. "Too late for the halfblood and her werewolf friend."

The other Death Eaters chuckled.

"I am satisfied that Potter remains in ignorance of what he has in Bellatrix's vault," said the Dark Lord.

"What is in the vault?" asked Amycus Carrow.

"It is not your concern," said the Dark Lord, "Suffice to say that it is not something I want him to have. But he doesn't seem to know it exists, so it is safe, for the moment. I will have to recover it, eventually."

Narcissa sighed in relief. Retribution was not likely coming for her yet. All thoughts of flying were gone.

For the moment.

XXXXX

**December 21st, 1996**

The train ride back to London was relatively uneventful. Harry had expected something to happen, but the truth was that his enemies were still reeling. Even minor mischief wasn't something that the Death Eaters were currently contemplating. The deaths of Remus and Tonks had apparently stretched the Death Eaters to the max.

Harry was contemplating a certain form of mischief. That morning he'd received an invitation to meet with Amelia Bones, at a place of his choosing. The problem was, it wasn't addressed to him, but to the Triumvirate. Harry considered his options. He needed to do this, but where would the best place to meet her be? And that is when it hit him: where he could go that no one could ever question him going.

Not that Harry wasn't seeing a mini drama in the making on the train. Luna still seemed to be pining over Neville. Harry didn't get that at all. As far as Harry could see, Neville did like Hannah, but he could barely get up the courage to speak with her. He'd told Luna that if she played her cards right, she still had a shot there. Luna had been noncommittal. She still had an issue working up the confidence to broach the subject with Neville, but thankfully her indecision was growing less and less pronounced all the time.

The other thing to watch was Tracey and Ron. Ron had started finding Tracey at times she wasn't around Daphne. Today, on the train, he'd managed to get all the Quidditch captains together for a little conference about 'player safety.' It had just been a ruse so that he could talk to Tracey after the meeting. Tracey didn't seem to be biting. Normally Harry would have approved of Tracey's loyalty, but given that Daphne had been warned that Tracey liked Ron before she had started dating him, he felt that if Ron was interested in Tracey, she should feel free to be interested back.

Arriving at the train station, Bill and Fleur met them there. Supposedly, they were going to apparate Ron and Ginny to the Burrow. And they were going to apparate Ron there. Ginny would be joining him there… eventually. But they were making a little stop first. Ron was pretty terrible at apparating though, so he really did need their help.

Harry noticed there were aurors at the train station. More than usual. And he found out why when Goyle left the train. The aurors were there to arrest him for authorizing payments to the Death Eaters. Goyle replied to that by pulling his wand and trying to cast fiendfyre at one of the aurors. The spell didn't go off, but Harry figured he'd added about six or seven years to his sentence as he watched Goyle go down under a hail of stunners.

XXXXX

Gringotts was preparing to close down for the day when Harry arrived. That didn't matter, even if the bank had been closed Harry would have been admitted for this task. The goblins weren't really happy that their facility had been used to house a horcrux for all these years. They wanted it gone.

It took several carts to ferry them all to the Black family vault, but they all got there. Brokgut was waiting for them.

"The vault will be coming off lockdown in just a few minutes," said Brokgut, "Will you want to lock it down again afterwards?"

Harry shook his head. "No, we will have all the artifacts removed however. I'm certain that Riddle has already been here, and he is satisfied that I haven't grabbed the horcrux and run with it yet. Might as well keep him in the dark for a while."

"Very good," said Brokgut. Suddenly, the Goblin's ears perked up. He ran his finger across the door to Sirius's vault, and it opened.

Harry walked in. He knew exactly what he was looking for.

"Harry, you want me to deal with it?" asked Ginny.

"No," said Harry, "I have this one."

He stopped in front of the cup. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the cup.

"_Legilimens,_" he said.

And once again he felt the pressure of Tom Riddle's mind on his. He knew how to deal with it now though. Through will he pushed Riddle back into the cup, then drew all the power of the cup out through himself.

A puff of black came off of the cup as it began to scream, before cutting off.

"Five down, two to go," said Hermione.

"We could go to the Riddle Shack right now," said Ginny, "We could kill every horcrux but the snake tonight."

"Mum would have a fit if you don't come straight home," said Bill.

"I actually want to use that horcrux as bait," said Harry, "We might be able to lure out a lot of Death Eaters that way. But we need to set it up properly."

"So not for a while then?" asked Hermione.

Harry nodded. "We'll have to construct a perfect lie. But if we do this right, Riddle will expose his weakness for us."

XXXXX

**December 22nd, 1996**

The next day Harry woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking. Hermione had already woken up, so he quickly used the facilities and went down to the kitchen. Dobby was cooking, but Hermione was nowhere to be seen. Harry finally managed to locate her, staring out the window in Harry's upstairs study.

"You all right?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," Hermione said sadly, "I just realized that I won't be seeing my parents for Christmas this year. I'm happy that they are safe, of course, but I do miss them."

"Well, we will be able to see all our friends at least," said Harry, "I heard a rumour that Luna is throwing a New Years party. A small one."

"That will be something," said Hermione, "Luna throwing a party?"

"I'm intrigued," admitted Harry, "And I was hoping to spend some time with Sirius and Andromeda."

Hermione's smile dissipated. "You're right, we should," she said sadly.

"Harry!" shouted Dobby, "We has a floo call down here for you!"

Harry ran downstairs to the floo. He could see Sirius's face in the fire.

"Harry!" said Sirius, "I have a visitor who wishes to speak with you. A very unwelcome visitor. If you could stop by here…"

Harry looked at Dobby. "Breakfast is ready," said the elf simply.

"Dobby just cooked us a meal here," said Harry, "Can it wait?"

"Oh, I suppose," said Sirius unenthusiastically, "My guest is Snape though. I can't guarantee I won't punch him in the face."

"We'll hurry," said Hermione as she entered the room.

XXXXX

"Professor," said Harry as he walked into the sitting room at Grimmauld Place.

"I have to admit Potter, you've been giving Albus conniption fits. He absolutely can't figure out where you are staying," said Snape with a hint of a smirk on his face.

"I'm sure," said Harry, "As you can see, our location is perfectly safe, at least for the time being."

"Good," said Snape, "because I'm glad that Albus doesn't know how to find you."

"Well that's not ominous at all," said Hermione.

"I believe I have made a large error in trusting Albus Dumbledore," said Snape, "and I'm not sure how to rectify it."

"What is the problem?" asked Harry.

"He wants you to act as a counterbalance against the Dark Lord," said Snape.

"That's obvious," said Harry.

"No, I don't mean like that," said Snape, "I mean that he wants you and the Dark Lord to keep each other in check while Dumbledore achieves his goals."

"What goals are you talking about?" asked Harry.

"It isn't common knowledge, but during the war with Grindelwald, Dumbledore took a back seat in things until the end. There have long been rumours that Dumbledore was previously friendly with Grindelwald, but nothing was ever confirmed," began Snape.

"So you think he was holding back because he sympathized with Grindelwald?" asked Hermione.

"I think that Dumbledore was opposed to Grindelwald's methods," said Snape, "but not his ideology. I think that Dumbledore is willing to control anyone if he thinks it will lead to a more stable world, and that certainly includes muggles."

"What does this have to do with me?" asked Harry.

"The rise of the Dark Lord has made anti-muggleborn rhetoric more prominent," said Snape, "But that sort of ideology is antithetical to Grindelwald's brand of magical supremacy. Dumbledore needs someone to keep the Dark Lord in check. A Dark Lord of Light as it were. That is why I believe that he sorted you into Slytherin. So you would do what needed to be done to stop the Dark Lord. As you two held each other in check, Dumbledore would use each of you as an example of why the extreme pro-muggle and extreme anti-muggle positions were bad, and try to usher in a new era of secret magical control over the muggle world."

"Whoa," said Harry, stepping back for a moment.

"That's insane," said Hermione.

"It could work," said Harry, "But only if I was much more dangerous than I am now."

"Exactly," said Snape, "You haven't become his Dark Lord of light yet. You've done some things that he might not approve of I think, but you remain committed to basic rules of engagement that the Dark Lord has forsaken. And that is why I am speaking out. I want you to keep resisting the temptation to give in to vengeance. You are doing well."

"I…" stuttered Harry. He really didn't know what to say here. He didn't even know if he believed it. If Snape was behind Harry's sorting, this is exactly the sort of thing he might say to throw Harry off the scent. What should he do?

"I will keep what you have said in mind," said Harry, "though you'll understand if I don't take what you are saying on faith."

"You would be foolish to do so," said Snape, "I just couldn't sit by and watch Dumbledore try to ruin you. I have long wondered what his game was. Only recently I heard about his connection to Grindelwald, and that set me on the path to discover this."

"Who told you?" asked Harry.

"Aberforth," said Snape.

Harry nodded again. "Well, I can't promise much, but I will be careful."

"That's all I can ask," said Snape.

Harry couldn't even imagine what Ginny's reaction to this would be.

XXXXX

**December 23rd, 1996**

Amelia walked down the street in Godric's Hollow, wearing a warm muggle coat and hat. She wondered why she had been summoned to this place of all places. Still, she had to admit, it was out of the way.

She made her way into the graveyard. The graves here were very old, and many of them belonged to families of magical lineage. In a way, this was an appropriate place to meet, not far from where Lord Voldemort's first fall had occurred.

Amelia heard voices ahead. Coming around a large monument she saw two people at the grave of Lily and James Potter. She awkwardly realized that it was Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. She hadn't counted on this.

Before she could hide herself though, Harry turned to her.

"I've never been here before," he said casually, as if he had expected her to be there, "I don't know what I was expecting. I suppose I wasn't expecting anything, but it is still… I don't really know how to explain. I felt as if something would be different after I came here, but it isn't. Maybe I've come to accept their deaths. Or maybe I'm missing something."

"There is no right way to feel for something like this," said Amelia, "You just handle it as best as you can."

"I've survived my whole life without my parents," said Harry, "I do wish they could meet Hermione. I think they'd like her."

Harry shook his head. "But you didn't come all this way to talk about my parents, did you Amelia?"

Amelia smiled in realization. "You work for the Triumvirate, don't you Harry."

Harry gave a wordless laugh. "I am the Triumvirate, or at least Triumvir #1," he said without any sign of trepidation.

"And I am #2," said Hermione.

"Wait, the Triumvirate is being run by Hogwarts students?" demanded Amelia.

"Yes," said Harry, "though we have had some help from the outside."

"Like Cedric," said Amelia. Harry grinned. Trust Amelia to see through Cedric's ruse.

"Cedric was a member at Hogwarts before he was a member outside it," said Harry, "The Army has been around in some form or another since my second year though. It wasn't an army at first, and we didn't always have a triumvirate, but the old war council did it's job admirably well."

"So, are you plotting to overthrow the Ministry?" asked Amelia, half-joking.

"Not at the present," said Hermione, "Fudge is more or less doing what we want him to do these days. We'd prefer a peaceful transition of power in any case. Gradual reforms."

"You're using the IUC as a political recruitment tool!" said Amelia as she finally realized what was going on, "You've created an entire generation of progressives. But You-Know-Who threatens that."

"He is the single greatest threat to magical Britain," said Harry.

Amelia considered this. "What about those ten dead Death Eaters. Was that deliberate, or an accident?"

"It was… a mistake," said Harry, "But while we wouldn't want to do it again, it has put us in a dominating position."

"According to the law, I should arrest you now," said Amelia.

"That would go very poorly for you," said Hermione, "In any case, we aren't the only ones involved. Would you arrest all of us? Including your niece?"

"Susan is part of your army?" asked Amelia.

"Not only is she a part of the Army, she was at the Department of Mysteries," said Hermione.

Amelia swore softly. "No offense, but I wish she hadn't been."

"I wish I hadn't been there sometimes, so no offense taken," said Harry.

"Why are you coming to me about this?" asked Amelia.

"Fudge is a problem, even if he is more or less doing what he should be doing," said Hermione, "And he will get worse. He is just not a very good leader for this war."

"We have been trying to work around him," said Harry, "But it's becoming cumbersome. For example, our recent series of attacks on the Death Eaters would have worked far better if they had been more precisely coordinated. So, I'm here, talking to you. Because we need to coordinate."

"The Minister…" said Amelia.

"There is no reason he needs to be involved," insisted Harry, "He's already given you the okay to work with us, he just wouldn't be aware that you are actually in contact with us directly."

"How do you know that…" started Amelia before she shook her head in amazement, "Percy Weasley. Of course. He's your man in Fudge's office. Wait, that's why Fudge has been acting almost competently recently. It's because you've been feeding him ideas."

"Some of it is ours and some is Percy's," explained Harry, "Percy has developed a pretty good eye for the sorts of things he needs to do to push things along."

"So you want me to coordinate with you?" asked Amelia, "Keep you up to date about what is going on in the Ministry?"

"And in exchange we would let you know what is going on with the Army," said Hermione.

"And what about the criminal elements you have working for you?" asked Amelia.

Hermione shook her head. "They don't work for us," she said frustratedly, "So we can't control them or give you a full accounting of what is going on with them. We coordinated on the latest attack because we figured it would give us an edge, but ultimately we didn't hurt Clarise Zabini enough for it to have been worth it. They're trying to drive her out of Scotland right now. She's pretty much done in Wales."

"The last thing we need right now is an all out mob war," said Amelia, "Though I understand the temptation to let Danny O'Keefe finish off Clarise Zabini."

"Danny O'Keefe is the leader of the Irish Underworld?" asked Hermione.

"So that's the name of Blaise's boss," said Harry, "He never did tell me that name."

"Wait, _Blaise_ _Zabini_ is working for the Irish magical underworld?" asked Amelia, "No wonder things have been going insane! Clarise must be on the warpath!"

"I don't know what Blaise is up to," said Harry, "And I am intentionally not paying attention. He's my friend, and I don't want to be part of any action taken against him."

"I understand," said Amelia, "So what exactly are you proposing?"

"You're interested?" asked Hermione.

"Let's just say that I have about as much trust in Fudge at this point as you do," said Amelia, "I think his position is a lot shakier than most people think, and I want to have some allies in case things go to hell when his administration collapses."

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione, "How is it shakier?"

"Umbridge will be coming back in a few months," said Amelia, "and when that happens, one way or another, things are going to be a mess."

"Wait, why would he want to have Umbridge back?" demanded Harry.

"He might not," said Amelia, "But she has just enough dirt on him that if he doesn't bring her back in she can sink his administration in a heartbeat. Why do you think he rescued her when she was accused of using Blood Quills in the Improper Use of Magic office? She was his agent in that office, helping cover up the dirty tricks he pulled on his ascent to power. If Umbridge comes back, it doesn't matter if he brings her back into things or not. One way or another, Fudge is going to be walking on a tightrope if we can't beat You-Know-Who by July or August."

Harry looked at Hermione. She just shook her head.

"No way," said Harry, "By next October or November, _maybe_ we'll be in a position to finish off Voldemort by then, but we aren't even going to be able to finish our current plan until June."

"If he's even mortal by August that would be a big win I think," said Hermione.

"What do you mean, 'mortal?'" demanded Amelia.

"Do you know what a Horcrux is?" asked Harry.

Amelia's heart sank. That was bad. Far worse than anything she had feared.

"Yes," she said after a moment.

"Well, Voldemort created seven of them," said Harry, "and we've destroyed five of them."

And it was in that moment that Amelia knew for a fact that she had to work with Harry Potter.

XXXXX

Harry and Hermione come home later than they had hoped that afternoon. It had been a long day, but they had convinced Amelia to work with them. Relaxing in Harry's living room, by the fire, they both reflected on the day's events.

"That was a lot more complicated than I thought it would be," said Harry.

"Amelia just needed to be sure we weren't a threat to the Ministry," said Hermione, "It's an understandable concern."

"I wonder if we can still get Dobby to serve us tea," started Harry.

At that moment the fire in the fireplace took the form of the head of Justin. "Harry, Hermione, I need to come through, I really fucked up."

"Justin?" asked Hermione, "Where are you?"

"I'm at Luna's," he said, "I, uh, kind of had to run over here after Molly chased me away from the Burrow."

Harry sighed. "Come on through, Justin," he said wearily.

Moments later, Justin was standing in their sitting room.

"So what happened?" asked Harry.

"So I went over to visit Ginny," said Justin.

"We figured that," said Harry.

"We met out in the shed they keep their brooms in," continued Justin, "and we were snogging a bit. So then Ginny decided to uh, grab a bit lower, as it were. She didn't seem all that comfortable doing it, and while I didn't mind it on my end, I told her she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to. But she insisted. And then Molly walked in."

"And she saw what was happening I assume?" asked Harry.

Justin blushed. "It was all pretty visible, if you get my meaning. Molly started screaming at me, and I just ran!"

Harry put his head in his hand.

"Do you want me to handle this?" asked Hermione.

"No, it has to be me," said Harry, "Ginny likes you, but this is something I have to do. I'm the only person she'll listen to."

"Why?" asked Justin.

"Because this is our fault," said Harry, "at least in the sense that she is trying to keep up with us. And I'm closer to Ginny than Hermione is."

"You'll never convince Molly to let you talk to her right now," said Hermione.

Harry shook his head. "I will, and it will be easy. Once you realise Molly Weasley's priorities, it's easy enough to convince her of just about anything, so long as it doesn't hurt her family."

Grabbing his wand, Harry apparated to a spot not far from the Burrow. He quickly made his way towards the door, but he was intercepted by Ron outside.

"Hey Harry," said Ron, "Mum isn't letting Ginny have any visitors right now."

"I just talked to Justin, I am very aware of what happened," said Harry, "I'm here to talk to Molly."

"That might not be a great idea," said Ron.

"Don't worry," said Harry, "believe it or not, your Mum and I are on the same side of this one."

Harry walked into the Burrow.

"Harry!" said Molly from the kitchen, "This is an unexpected surprise. I'm afraid that Ginny…"

"I'm aware of the situation," said Harry as he raised his hand to stop her, "I came to speak with you actually. Well, I need to speak to Ginny, but I need you to understand why it is so important."

"I'm afraid it isn't going to be possible today," said Molly.

"It has to be today," said Harry, "Otherwise one of you will end up saying something that you will both regret. Just hear me out."

"Okay, I'm listening," said Molly, "But I don't think that it is going to change my mind. Ginny is still too young to be doing… certain things."

"I sort of agree with you," said Harry, "but at the same time you have to realize that Justin isn't just some guy to Ginny. They're together, and it is serious. And I know you well enough to know you aren't ready to accept that. But if you go into that room and do something stupid, like demand she stop seeing Justin, it will go very badly for you. But Ginny _isn't_ ready for this, and Justin's account just confirmed it for me."

"What was he thinking?" demanded Molly.

"He was thinking that the girl he likes was doing something very fun, and even then he told her not to do anything she was uncomfortable with," said Harry, "Justin is fine. Ginny is just trying to grow up a bit too fast. And the reason you need to let me in is because she will listen to me about it, but not to you."

Molly seemed to deflate at that. "You're probably right. Ginny has spent most of the last few years trying to avoid my advice in that area. I don't know why."

"Do you not know why, or are you trying to hide from the fact that you do?" asked Harry before shaking his head, "I'm going to go talk to Ginny now."

Molly nodded.

Harry walked upstairs and knocked on the door to Ginny's room. "Hey Ginny, it's me," he said.

"Come in," she replied.

Harry walked into her room. Ginny was lying on her back, on her bed.

"Surprised Mum let you in here," said Ginny.

"I can be very persuasive," said Harry.

Ginny sat up and patted the space on her bed next to her. "Have a seat," she offered.

Harry sat down next to her. "So Justin came over to my place…"

"I know, I know, he didn't want me going so far," said Ginny.

"He didn't mind for his own self," said Harry, "But he was concerned about you. He said you were clearly uncomfortable. He didn't want you to do anything you didn't want to."

"That's just like him," said Ginny, "I… I kind of am going crazy for him. I wanted to be ready. I really did. You and Hermione..."

"What we did, we did because we had to," said Harry, "You _don't_ have to Ginny, you shouldn't use our relationship as a comparison. Also, until I turned 16 we weren't sharing a bed, even after Hermione moved in, and even then we weren't exactly charging full speed ahead. I will admit that this Christmas we've been a bit more… aggressive about things, but we're a whole year older than you, and our relationship is a lot further along than your relationship with Justin in any case."

"It's just frustrating," said Ginny.

Harry put his arm around her shoulders. "Just do things when you are ready. Don't compare yourself to anyone else, just do things when you feel right about it. And it is always fine to not be ready."

"But I've done this before. It's in my head!" snapped Ginny angrily. And there it was.

"That wasn't you," said Harry, "That was _him_. And what he did wasn't love."

"I fucked this up, didn't I?" asked Ginny as she put her head on Harry's shoulder.

"It's fine," said Harry, "Justin cares about you, and he isn't offended by what you did. He probably would have enjoyed it. But only if you do it for the right reasons. Because, honestly, I think he's kind of crazy for you."

Ginny laughed at that. "Okay. That sounds promising."

"And that doesn't mean there are things you can't do. I mean I'm sure neither of you would mind if you grabbed his bum a bit," suggested Harry.

Ginny giggled, "I've done that a few times. He's been a little reticent to grab me back though."

"Well, you have to take care of that," said Harry, "I know for a fact that he will enjoy fondling your backside."

Ginny blushed, "That's right, you have some experience there, don't you?"

Harry didn't dignify that with a response, though his ears might have been turning red.

"Just do what's right for you Ginny," said Harry.

After a little more small talk, Harry walked back out to talk to Molly.

"The crisis is over," said Harry, "But once she turns 16, all bets are off. At that point I don't really have a lot I can tell her without being a bit of a hypocrite.

"So you basically bought me 8 months?" asked Molly.

"8 months of no sex," said Harry, "No other guarantees. I can't even guarantee they won't eventually get back to what they started today. Honestly, it is a pretty normal thing for people their age to do. My only interest was that Ginny seemed to be uncomfortable doing it. Oh, and Justin did try and stop her for that very reason, so please don't take it out on him."

Molly sighed, "I suppose it would be wrong."

"And try to let them see a little of each other over the break, even if it's chaperoned," said Harry, "They really are in love, or at least as in love as two kids their age get. Don't punish her too hard for just wanting to grow up a bit fast."

Molly smiled wistfully, "You're trying to sound as if you have so much experience with that, hmmm?"

"Hermione and I started going through some of this a couple years back," said Harry, "It's been... interesting. We dealt with it as well as we could."

Harry didn't trust himself to say more.

"Well, I will take your advice under advisement," said Molly. Something suddenly seemed to catch in her throat.

"And thank you for being such a friend to her, Harry," said Molly, "You have been very, very kind, in spite of everything."

Harry grinned. "Ginny is one of my best friends, and she's almost like a sister to me," he said, "No matter what happens, I will stick by her."

Molly nodded, her face twisted with some angst Harry knew to be guilt. He almost decided to end her suffering right there and tell her what he knew had happened.

But she'd find out in 7 months anyway, so he kept silent. Time to head home.

XXXXX

**December 28th, 1996**

Harry and Hermione had a fairly good Christmas. They visited Sirius, who had his cousin and her husband as permanent guests now. Andromeda had unexpectedly had a gift for Harry. It was a locket. On one side the locket switched between pictures of Harry's father, on the other side of his mother. The pictures were all different of course, some were from his parent's childhoods, others from their teenage years, others from their adulthood. It always seemed to show what he wanted it too though. Andromeda said that the photos were from Remus, who had left them to Sirius.

All in all, it was a sad Christmas, but Harry and Hermione did their best to keep things as cheery as they could. Which was why they were both extremely disappointed to learn that the rumour that Luna was going to throw a party had not come to fruition.

"It's because Neville isn't coming," explained Tracey, who had come over to visit with Harry and Hermione, "Apparently the whole thing was designed so that Luna would have a chance to talk to him. But his Gran is making him go to the high society new years party at the Greengrasses this year."

"The Greengrasses are holding it again?" asked Harry.

"A lot of pureblood families weren't able to this year for some reason," said Tracey with a grin.

"Hmmm," mused Hermione, "You know, I think we should find a way to give Luna some time with Neville."

"You have an idea?" asked Harry.

"Yes," said Hermione, "but somehow, I doubt that Daphne is going to approve."

"Ooooooh," said Tracey, "I think I know what you have in mind."

"We're gonna crash the pureblood party," said Hermione, causing Harry's eyes to gleam with mischief.

XXXXX

**December 31st, 1996**

Bryant Greengrass had to admit that his wife had really outdone herself with this party. It was all very well done, and the way she'd put out tents and made them into an extension of the activity room made the entire scene seem far more elegant than it had any right to be. It was as if their entire property had been transformed into a faerie garden. And the Minister had come! He had already agreed to provide extensive security for the event, but he came himself in an effort to show that it was safe.

The one sour spot was that Narcissa Malfoy and Draco were there, but that was actually good news. It meant that it was very unlikely that the Death Eaters would attack tonight.

So as Bryant greeted Fudge, he was in a good mood. A mood that was interrupted when Daphne ran up to him.

"Father, we have a little problem outside," she said excitedly.

"I'm talking to the Minister, Daphne," said Bryant.

"The, uh, situation is rather urgent," insisted Daphne.

"Then deal with it," said Bryant.

Daphne seemed not to like that answer at all. "Fine," she said, "I'll do that. Just don't complain afterwards."

So when a large number of loud teenagers, led by the Weasley twins, rushed into the room, Bryant had to admit that he had been warned. They were followed by Harry, Hermione, Tracey, Ron, Luna, Angelina, Alicia, Justin and Dean.

"Daphne..." said Bryant, his voice disapproving.

"When I say something is urgent I mean it," said Daphne, "I needed you to be the one that turned them away." She pointed at Harry and Hermione who were having a conversation with Augusta Longbottom.

"I'm not really in a position to turn away Harry and Hermione," said Daphne, "though from what I gather, this is actually more Augusta's fault than anyone else's. She really should have let Neville go to Luna's party."

Bryant sighed. Sometimes he thought having children had been a mistake.

XXXXX

Neville grinned as he saw the havoc that Harry's party crashers were causing among the guests. The Weasley twins were leaving pranks everywhere. The truth was Neville hated these things, and would much rather have gone to Luna's party. But apparently they'd brought it to him.

"Hey Neville," said Luna as she walked up to him. She led him out into the tent. It was all transfigured to look like a faerie garden in a crystal palace of course. Very pretty.

"You do this for me?" asked Neville.

"Yeah," said Luna shyly.

"Thanks," he said.

"How have you been?" asked Luna, "Did you visit your parents over the holidays."

Neville nodded, somewhat sadly. "I did," he said, "It's a lot easier these days. Since Harry and Hermione killed Bellatrix."

Luna hung her head. "Does it really make it easier?" she asked.

"Yeah, it does," said Neville, "I'd rather she spent her whole life in Azkaban, but once she broke out of there someone needed to put her down. She was just that dangerous. Hey, Harry and Hermione don't like to talk about it, but I just realized, you were there. Which one of them killed Bellatrix?"

Luna stood silently for a moment. Finally she took a deep breath. "Neither of them. I killed her."

Neville's eyes went wide. He couldn't imagine this gentle girl killing anyone, much less the terrifying Bellatrix Lestrange.

"She had Hermione's Mum captive," said Luna, "I snuck up behind her and cut her arm off above the elbow. And as Hermione rescued her mother, I had an open shot at Bellatrix's throat. I… I hadn't intended to kill her, but in that moment all I could think about was all the people she had hurt, and all the people she might hurt in the future. And so I just cast, and suddenly her throat was cut."

"I…" said Neville, not knowing what to say.

"I'm not sorry I did it," said Luna, "But I am sad that I had to. I sometimes dream about it. I wouldn't call them nightmares, but they aren't pleasant dreams."

Neville put an arm around Luna, pulling her close to him. "I understand Luna, and I'm sorry you had to do that," he said, "But I'm glad… I'm glad you avenged my parents."

"You know that I like you, right?" said Luna, "I do like you. I know you are into Hannah…"

Neville was stunned. He hadn't realized. And he was into Hannah, but she had made clear that she wasn't interested in a relationship right now.

"Hannah is a very nice girl," said Neville, "But.. well, she hasn't really paid the attention back to me that I was hoping yet."

"And I do kind of like you as well," said Neville, "in fact…"

And that was when he lifted Luna's face up and kissed her.

"Neville!" came the unwelcome voice of his Gran, "what are you doing to poor Miss Lovegood?"

"Exactly what I want him to," said Luna softly, so only Neville could hear.

"Sorry Gran," said Neville, "Luna and I are going to disappear for a bit."

His Gran was going to be livid, but Neville didn't care. He had much more important things on his mind now.

XXXXX

Tracey watched Neville and Luna run off upstairs, probably to go snog somewhere. It was actually adorable.

"Makes you think," said Ron Weasley.

Tracey jumped. She hadn't realized that Ron was there. "About?" she asked.

"Sometimes we care about people without bothering to admit it to ourselves," said Ron.

"Ron..." started Tracey.

"Listen I like you, and I know you like me," said Ron, "I know you're Daphne's best friend, but I look back on things and realize that you were interested in me long before she was."

"Don't be silly," said Tracey.

"I may be a bit thick, but I'm pretty sure that even I can figure something out given enough time," said Ron, "But it doesn't matter. Whether or not you were interested in me, I am interested in you now."

Tracey blushed.

"Listen, you don't have to answer me now," said Ron, "Just think about what you want. Haven't you played the part of Daphne's loyal friend for long enough? Why not do what you want for a change?"

"I don't know…" said Tracey.

Ron grinned, "All I know is that you're beautiful, smart, and good at Quidditch. You're basically the perfect girl. Consider it at least?"

Tracey nodded, her face flaming.

Where had this come from? And what was Tracey going to do about it? Would it be betraying Daphne to agree?

But then Tracey smiled. Ron Weasley liked her. That was reason enough to be happy for the moment.

**Author's Note: **A bit of a slower chapter, though we get Luna hooking up with Neville. This is sort of the denouement of Luna's plot arc honestly. In my original outline Luna only played a very minor role because she wasn't sorted into Slytherin. Originally her main involvement in the plot was she was supposed to provide an excuse for Ginny to join Harry in his trip to rescue Hermione in Australia. She also would have infiltrated the Granger house in Australia much as I wrote it, but in earlier versions Hermione didn't have her wand, so the shell she gave Hermione was supposed to be some sort of spell focus. Once I decided Luna would be sorted into Slytherin it was suddenly easy to find things for Luna to do. Luna killing Bellatrix was something I came up with late, as it neatly sidestepped some issues I was having with the original ending to that scene.

Ginny's plot in this chapter was just something I wrote on the spot really. I just wanted to remind people that Ginny is still running a little hot and reckless. Honestly, she's going to until she has it out with her mother. Which is coming up in a few chapters.

Next Time: Draco makes a mistake, Dumbledore makes a big mistake, and Snape makes a **_huge_** mistake.


	47. Harry and Dumbledore, Ginny and Snape

**Chapter 47: Harry and Dumbledore, Ginny and Snape**

**January 5th, 1997**

Harry and Hermione had to admit, they hadn't quite anticipated quite such a furor from their little stunt at the Greengrasses. A fair number of people seemed to think that Harry should be fined over the matter. Bryant and Philomena had been adamant that the entire thing was a harmless prank, but a few of the more exclusive families had been quite angry. However, Augusta Longbottom was not among them. She thought that Neville finally having a girlfriend was quite a good development, once she had gotten used to the idea at least.

Still it was enough of a furor that Harry had taken the time to apologize to Bryant. Strangely, Bryant wasn't that angry about the whole thing.

"Well, Daphne did try to warn me," said Bryant with a grin.

Harry guessed that the real deciding factor had been Minister Fudge's reaction. He'd apparently found the whole thing funny. And it made sense. He didn't really like Bryant, so seeing him get embarrassed was useful to the Minister. Meanwhile Bryant was just trying to stay on Fudge's good side for the moment.

But as he returned to school, Harry felt as if suddenly things had shifted into park. It was inevitable really, until things settled down there really wasn't much he could do to track the Death Eaters. But the uncertainty was beginning to get to him. He didn't want to give Voldemort time to recover from his losses, but that was exactly what he was getting.

One thing Harry was sure of, he needed to start planning his next move, because it would likely prove to be decisive. With Hermione and Ginny's help, he felt that he was in a good place.

XXXXX

**January 13th, 1997**

"Draco is acting weird," remarked Millicent, "Even for him."

It was only a week back from break, but Harry couldn't help but agree with Millie. Draco was acting weird. He'd practically abandoned his 'friendship' with Goyle before the break had started. Not that Goyle had ever been much more than muscle to Draco, but Harry wondered what this might indicate.

"He basically doesn't respond to anything anymore," said Millie, "not even insults. He's got some sort of plan, and I don't know what it is. But it's clearly taking up a lot of his thoughts."

"Hmmm, that doesn't sound good," said Harry.

"Think he has some sort of mission from Riddle?" asked Ginny.

Harry arched an eyebrow at Ginny's mode of reference to Voldemort. And he made a note to emulate it. He couldn't think of anything that would annoy the man more.

"It's possible," said Harry, "I mean he might try to kill me, I suppose, but Hermione and I have already proven we can handle him."

"Plus it would make no sense to get rid of his more unreliable allies," said Hermione, "We know they won't make a difference, but Malfoy shouldn't be able to."

"I wonder…" thought Harry, "Maybe Riddle's trying to get him to kill Dumbledore. It's exactly the sort of petty revenge he'd take if, for example, the Malfoys were accidentally responsible for leaking the whole of the Death Eater finances to their enemies."

"We should probably warn Dumbledore," said Hermione.

Harry nodded, then stood up.

"Now?" asked Hermione.

Harry shrugged. "No time like the present."

And so he walked up to Dumbledore's office off the Transfiguration classroom and knocked on the door.

"Harry!" said Dumbledore, "You haven't come to me with something for a long time."

"Well, I figured you probably shouldn't be left in the dark on this," said Harry, "I think Malfoy might be trying to kill you."

"He definitely is," confirmed Dumbledore, "I do appreciate the warning though. I hope you aren't intending to get involved in this matter."

"Not really, I figure you can look after yourself," said Harry, "But on the off chance that you didn't know, I figured that I probably should let you know. With the element of surprise, anything is possible."

"Good," said Dumbledore, "I wouldn't want Draco hurt unless we had no other options."

Harry nodded. "That's admirable Professor," he said, "I think Draco is past the point of no return now, but if you want to try and save him, by all means please try. I'd be happy to be proven wrong here."

"You would?" asked Dumbledore curiously, "I was under the impression that you hated Malfoy."

"I do, for many reasons. Not the last of which was the way he treated Hermione when she was sorted into Slytherin," admitted Harry, "But I think everyone should get a chance to redeem themselves. Even if what they do is unforgivable. Even Malfoy. But I think he's been driven too far into Riddle's embrace to really ever escape it."

Dumbledore smiled, "I see you've taken to calling him by his proper name."

Harry shrugged, "Might as well. It annoys the hell out of him. Plus… well, maybe there's some of that young boy left in there. I doubt that even more than that Malfoy is saveable. But who knows?"

Dumbledore seemed almost beside himself. "I agree Harry. It is very unlikely that we will be able to make the slightest difference in that respect."

"Well, I'm not here for any other reason," said Harry, "Just watch your back. Malfoy may very well be desperate. If this is one of Riddle's punishments, who knows what sort of time limit he placed on it."

And so Harry walked off. Something was bothering him, but Harry couldn't quite figure out what it was. It was probably nothing.

XXXXX

**January 18th, 1997**

The first Hogsmeade trip of the New Year was a challenge. Security in the village had been tripled, yet Tracey was still very uneasy. There had been a lot of rumours floating about the village, stories of battles taking place outside the village between groups as large as ten people. No one knew what to make of it.

Tracey was part of the Army of the Triumvirate's watch program. Simply put, she was just looking out to make sure no one caused any trouble. It wasn't official or anything, but Harry had been very concerned that someone would try something. The Death Eaters had been too quiet recently.

But it wasn't Death Eaters that worried Tracey, it was Seamus. He was acting very odd. Even worse, the first chance he got, he left the village. So Tracey just had to follow him.

She managed to track him a short way into the forest. There he met with several rough looking wizards and several centaurs. The Irish magical underworld was working with the centaurs!

Moments later, she felt a small prick on the back of her neck when one of the centaurs found her.

"We have a spy!" shouted the centaur.

"What's this?" demanded an older man with the wizards, "Bring 'em out."

The centaur roughly drove Tracey into the clearing.

"Tracey!" said Seamus.

"She's not a Slytherin, is she?" demanded the lead centaur.

"She is, but she's a friend of Blaise's," said Seamus, "She's one of Harry Potter's closest Lieutenants, and a personal friend."

"Ah, that's a different matter," said the man, "Name's Daniel O'Keefe."

"Ol' Danny," said Tracey, "Blaise mentioned you a few times, years back, though nothing other than the name."

"Now what are you doing out here?" asked Danny.

"It's too dangerous," said the centaur.

"Now Bane, if this girl is a friend of Harry Potter's, we won't be hurting her and that is that," said Danny, "Why are you here?"

"I was worried about Seamus," said Tracey honestly, "We know Clarise Zabini would very much like to kill him. I was just keeping an eye on him."

"Perfectly innocent," said Danny, "And you wouldn't go squawking about us being out here? Aside from telling your Triumvirate I mean. Obviously you'll be telling them."

"You're fighting Zabini, so why would I?" asked Tracey, "I say the sooner she's gone, the better for all of us. I'm glad you seem to be helping the centaurs."

"Well, they need a hand," said Danny, "And I always like to lend a hand to a magical in need. In exchange, our people can hide out in the centaur encampments."

"Hey, I'm all for helping the centaurs," said Tracey, "Harry and Hermione have told us all about their problems."

"Have they now?" said Bane, "Well, they haven't tried to help us, have they?"

"They have, actually," said Tracey, "But no one listened to them, of course. You didn't expect the Wizengamot to actually take action, did you?"

Bane laughed angrily, "I know what you mean. I suppose that Harry Potter hasn't done anything to cross us. Very well, be gone from here."

"I'll take her back to the village," said Seamus, taking Tracey by the arm and dragging her away from the meeting place.

"That was very dangerous," said Seamus.

"I know - but you were very obviously sneaking around," said Tracey.

"Ugh, I'm no good at sneaking," said Seamus, "I should have let Blaise do this, but we thought it would be more dangerous for him."

Tracey nodded. But as they got closer to the village, she saw two wizards and a witch patrolling outside the village. Rather rough looking wizards and a witch.

"They with you guys?" Tracey asked very quietly.

"No," said Seamus, "Which is bad."

And at that moment they saw them. "It's Finnegan," said the witch. And they drew their wands.

Tracey was already in motion. She pushed Seamus down, causing their first killing curse to miss them by inches. She fired back with a stunner, as she was firing towards the village. She didn't want to accidentally hit some student in the streets with a blasting curse. One of the wizards went down. Seamus did fire off a blasting curse, but he aimed it at the ground in front of the witch. Both of the two remaining opponents were knocked off their feet. The witch looked pretty messed up; her face and chest were all bloody. The wizard was less obviously injured, yet he was also very clearly dead, which the witch, who was screaming, wasn't.

"Nice reflexes," said Seamus.

"I bet they wouldn't have fired to kill with Blaise," said Tracey.

"Yeah," said Seamus.

Aurors were running up to the scene of the battle. Tracey stood up and helped Seamus up. This was going to be a fun one to explain.

XXXXX

"Blaise, you can't use Hogsmeade trips to do secret rendezvous with the Irish underworld anymore," said Harry. The school investigation into the attack on Seamus had not turned up his links to Ol' Danny. But it had been a near thing. Seamus had claimed that he thought he saw a centaur and went to say hello, Tracey had said she had followed him to get him to go back to the village, and then they were attacked.

"I have to, Harry," said Blaise.

"You put the lives of children visiting Hogsmeade in jeopardy today," said Hermione, "Going into the village is one thing, it is rather meticulously patrolled. But either you or Seamus leaving the village puts everyone at risk."

"Hey, I'm not part of your Army of the Triumvirate, you can't order me around," said Blaise.

"So you say you are okay putting third and fourth year students in danger?" demanded Daphne, "Tracey didn't dare use effective combat curses because she was scared she'd hit someone."

"Of course I'm not," said Blaise.

"Don't use Hogsmeade trips as cover for your meetups," said Ginny, "I don't want to have to take further action, but we will if we have to. The safety of Hogwarts students has to take priority over everything else."

"I… fine, I'll sneak out through one of the secret passages on non-Hogsmeade weekends." agreed Blaise.

XXXXX

**January 30th, 1997**

"Why are we doing this?" Harry asked Hermione again.

"Luna wants to show Neville the prefect's bathroom," said Hermione.

"And we are agreeing, why?" asked Harry.

"Because we're suckers," said Hermione.

They reached the entrance to the prefect's bathroom, and Neville and Luna were indeed there. They entered the bathroom, Harry giving the password, and Harry and Hermione were soon getting into their swimwear. Neville and Luna had gone to the other side of the partition set up in there, and were both giggling.

Suddenly both Neville and Luna ran by towards the water. Neither was wearing anything.

"Oh dear," said Hermione.

Harry walked over to the edge of the water, wearing his swimming trunks.

"Really?" he asked.

"I think you are overdressed," said Luna, who was waist deep in the water. Neville was blushing furiously, but he was waist deep in the water as well.

"I should have expected this," said Harry.

"You really should have," said Hermione. Harry turned to her, only to discover that she had removed her swimwear as well. Suddenly Hermione pulled his trunks down to around his ankles.

"You were definitely overdressed," she said, as she slipped into the water.

Harry shook his head in defeat as he looked at his friends, then shook his trunks off of his feet and entered the water.

XXXXX

**March 15th, 1997**

Slytherin took the Quidditch match with Ravenclaw, and fairly dominantly as well. Harry had to admit that Gryffindor looked really hard to beat. Still, Gryffindor hadn't beaten Ravenclaw since Colin had become Seeker, so many thought that Slytherin was still in it.

Harry was worried. The war had not produced almost any news since January and it was now March. His sessions with Dumbledore weren't coming as frequently as he'd like, and Dumbledore seemed to be intentionally spacing them out. But Harry assumed that was because the old man was trying to gauge Harry's reactions to things.

But on the third Hogsmeade weekend of the year, things went south fast.

When Harry got back to the castle, there was a buzz all through the halls. Harry couldn't hear much, but what he did hear was that Katie Bell had been injured by some kind of magic artifact. Harry immediately went to Ron.

"Apparently she got it from Madam Rosmerta," said Ron, "And Rosmerta was clearly imperiused. No one knows who set this up."

But Harry had a very good idea of what had happened. He made a note to bring it up with Dumbledore in this week's session. Harry had to admit that he hadn't seen this possible outcome of events. If he had thought of it… but of course he hadn't. And apparently neither had Dumbledore.

XXXXX

**March 20th, 1997**

"It was meant for you," said Harry.

"I know," said Dumbledore, his voice troubled.

"I never even thought that allowing Malfoy to continue would put students in danger," said Harry.

"I considered it, but I didn't think that Draco would stoop so low," said Dumbledore.

"That was a mistake," said Harry, "But it isn't even about stooping. Malfoy doesn't have a reliable way to kill you, unless you are seriously considering letting him kill you."

"I… had considered that," said Dumbledore, "Severus has tried to get him to accept help from him, but Draco has been resistant to the idea."

"I can understand why you'd be tempted," said Harry, "But if Draco decides to kill you, he will try to do it. I think he is more than capable of murder."

"He's full of anger at his father's death," said Dumbledore.

"Yes, and that anger has made him dangerous," said Harry, "Please, I know you want to help him, but that's only if you can stop him from becoming a murderer. If the choice is between saving Draco and your life… well you don't _have_ to kill Draco."

Dumbledore nodded. "I know, I know. Sometimes I think I can do more than I actually can though."

"Professor," said Harry, "Just be careful. Our differences notwithstanding, your death would be a powerful victory for Riddle's forces."

"In any case, we aren't here to speak about Draco," said Dumbledore, "I have one last memory to show you."

Harry went over to Dumbledore's Pensieve. It didn't take him long to realize that something was familiar. This was Slughorn's memory! The one where Riddle had asked him about Horcruxes. But in this memory Slughorn shouted Riddle out of his office.

As Harry pulled his head out of the Pensieve, he smiled. It had finally come.

"Notice anything about that memory Harry?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, Slughorn modified it. It was pretty obvious. He didn't do a very good job of it."

"No, it was quite hastily done," said Dumbledore, "Slughorn is quite possibly the only person alive that Riddle mentioned the term Horcruxes to."

"That's why Slughorn went into hiding," said Harry, "He was afraid Riddle would kill him for that."

"Very good Harry," said Dumbledore, "I am quite glad that you can see the importance of this. But of course, there was something worse hidden under that modified memory."

"Well, horcruxes are quite bad enough, I'd imagine that the fact that Riddle created a horcrux is something he'd want to keep quiet," said Harry.

"Wait, you know what a horcrux is?" asked Dumbledore.

"Oh yes," said Harry, "In my second year, when I was trying to find out who Riddle was, I went and talked to Slughorn myself. I didn't see this memory, but he did tell me what happened. What really happened. Riddle asked Slughorn if it was possible to create multiple horcruxes. Slughorn was very… distrubed by that question. I suppose I would be too, though I probably wouldn't be discussing horcruxes with a student either."

"That is… not something I intended you to know at that point," said Dumbeldore.

"Well, I did," said Harry, "Which made it really annoying when you refused to tell me what Riddle's diary was."

"You knew it was a horcrux?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry nodded. He wasn't giving the old man one iota of information that wasn't forced.

"I am sorry," said Dumbledore, "I thought that a full explanation…"

"I needed to know," said Harry, "But that is in the past. We are trying to work together now."

"Quite right," said Dumbledore, though his face was still very concerned.

"So how many horcruxes did Voldemort intend to create?" asked Dumbledore.

"He thought that seven was a special magical number, so counting his own soul shard, he planned to create six of them," said Harry.

Dumbledore's eyes went wide. "That's… worse than I had hoped."

"It isn't good," agreed Harry.

"You seem oddly at peace with this," said Dumbledore.

"I've known some of this for about four years now," admitted Harry, "I've had a lot of time to think about it. Trust me, my initial reaction was not this mild."

Dumbledore seemed to accept that for now. Yet he was clearly troubled.

"Well, in order to destroy Voldemort, we will need to destroy his horcruxes," said Dumbledore, "Now, I think I have located the locations of two of them. One was in a cave near the coast, the other was left in the Gaunt cottage. I believe that this is so anyway. I have debated which horcrux to go after, but after I lost the Elder wand, I decided against going after either without your assistance, though getting Minerva's permission to leave school grounds will certainly be difficult."

"If we do this," said Harry, "We should go after the horcrux in the Gaunt cottage."

"Why is that?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry laughed. "The horcrux in the cave has already been destroyed," said Harry.

"What?!" asked Dumbledore, shocked.

"Well, technically Regulus Black tried to recover it shortly after it was put there," said Harry, "He died attempting to do so, but he managed to give the real Horcrux to Kreacher, and he replaced it with a fake. Kreacher brought it back to Grimmauld Place, and that was where we found it. It has since been taken care of."

Dumbledore stared at Harry for a moment, then laughed. "Well that is a load off of my mind, though it leaves us in a rather difficult position. We only know where one horcrux is."

Harry sighed. He'd have to come clean, at least a little bit.

"I know where every horcrux is, actually," said Harry, "An advantage of having an in with Riddle's mind."

"Harry, that is incredibly dangerous," said Dumbledore, "He could easily create misinformation to confuse or trap you."

"I know," said Harry, "I've been very careful. But I know every horcrux. Helga Hufflpuff's cup, the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, Slytherin's locket, the Gaunt ring, the diary, and Nagini, his familiar."

"Though I found out about Nagini on my own, as well as the locket," said Harry, "The locket was the one that Regulus stole. Nagini I noticed because I could see through her eyes in the graveyard."

"Clever," said Dumbledore, though he looked concerned as well.

"So where are they?" asked Dumbledore.

"Helga Hufflepuff's cup was in the Lestrange Vault," said Harry, "I inherited that when Bellatrix died, so I destroyed it over break."

"Really? That's amazing news," said Dumbledore, "How have you been doing it?"

"We have developed a means of draining all magic from the horcrux, thus killing it," said Harry, "So the items are still intact. As you can see, I haven't been idle in my summers."

"And the other horcruxes?" asked Dumbledore.

"The diadem was here at Hogwarts," said Harry, "Hermione destroyed that one, against my advice mind you, but it got destroyed. They like to fight back when you try to destroy them."

"It is indeed quite dangerous," said Dumbledore.

"So the Gaunt ring at the Gaunt shack is the last horcrux, aside from Nagini, who Riddle keeps close at all times," said Harry, "I think it is probably the second Deathly Hallow in fact, though I'd have to see it to be sure. Still, I wouldn't use it if I were you. Riddle put a nasty curse on it."

"That is good to know," said Dumbledore, his face going a bit pale, "Well you've done quite well! You've put together a lot of things I hadn't anticipated, like the Deathly Hallows, though I suppose I did know that you were aware of their existence. Still, Voldemort has nearly been made mortal."

Harry looked at Dumbledore for a long moment. Was he really not going to mention this?

"Is there nothing else you have to say on this topic?" asked Harry.

"I've already shown my deep respect for what you've done," said Dumbledore.

Harry shook his head angrily. "No, that isn't it at all," he said the anger growing within him. Could he really be intending to hide this from him? Could he be?

"I don't believe it," said Harry. "Even now, you aren't coming honest with me. I say that I've destroyed all these horcruxes and you still don't trust me enough to tell me the truth."

"The truth?" asked Dumbledore, "The truth about what?"

"THIS!" screamed Harry as he pointed at his own scar, "When were you intending to tell me about this horcrux?"

Dumbledore looked stunned. "How did you know?"

"The advantages of having a friend who was possessed by a Horcrux," said Harry, "one night we were having an… important conversation, Ginny Weasley put her head next to mine and she felt a very familiar presence. My scar was a horcrux."

"Wait, was?" asked Dumbledore suddenly.

"Yes, it's dealt with," said Harry, "No thanks to you."

"But I didn't know how to deal with a horcrux that was embedded in your skull," insisted Dumbledore, "If you know how…"

"It doesn't matter," said Harry, "It's gone, that is all that matters. You know what? Working with you, it was a mistake. You clearly don't trust me yet."

"Harry you have to understand... " started Dumbledore.

"No!" snapped Harry, "I'm done with this! I'll destroy the Gaunt ring when I'm good and ready. I don't need your help. I've made a fool of myself trying to trust you for the last time."

And with that, Harry stormed from the room.

XXXXX

"And that is when I stormed out," said Harry as he recounted what had taken place between him and Dumbledore to Ginny and Hermione.

"I can hardly blame you," said Ginny.

"I can't believe that Dumbledore would try to hide something so important," said Hermione.

"Oh please, of course he would," said Ginny, "Dumbledore doesn't trust anyone."

"I really am starting to think that Snape might be right about Dumbledore," said Harry.

"This really doesn't prove anything, but Dumbledore isn't exactly dispelling our doubts," said Hermione.

"Harry, I cannot believe that you are on the verge of listening to Snape about this," said Ginny, "That insane story about Grindelwald and Dumbledore making you a Dark Lord of Light is just that. Insane."

"Why would Snape tell us such an obvious lie?" asked Hermione.

"Because you'd fall for it," said Ginny, "For fucks sake, am I the only one of us to have picked up that famous Slytherin cynicism? Somehow, Hermione has managed to go through Slytherin essentially unchanged, while Harry has managed to avoid losing his trust in most people. Bravo to the both of you, but let's be real. This is Snape. He has lots of reasons to lie to us. And he is very good at it. We can't tell if he is lying or not. So we have to treat him as if he is lying at all times."

"You are just angry because he creeps you out," said Hermione.

"Yes, he creeps me out!" shouted Ginny, "He should creep me out! And you know who else I think he creeped out? Your mother, Harry! By all accounts they were very close. There is a reason they drifted apart! How he could say that he loved you mother and still call her a mudblood? He sounds no better than Nott. Maybe he's worse. At least Nott and I have some common interests that we engage in together on a regular basis."

"We need some evidence," said Harry.

"But where do we get it?" asked Hermione.

"Well, we could always ask Grindelwald about whether we can trust Dumbledore," suggested Ginny.

"Wait, what would that help?" asked Harry.

"Well Snape claimed that Dumbledore sympathized with Grindelwald's goals," said Ginny, "And Grindelwald would probably know if that was true or not."

Hermione looked at Ginny as if she was crazy for a moment. Then she looked at her like she was a genius.

"That's brilliant!" said Hermione, "We could go to Nurmengard."

"Will they even let us in?" asked Harry.

Ginny shook her head, "We can't go to Nurmengard until the school year ends. We'd best stay focused on our main plan."

"We need to get Sirius to call in the mercenaries again," said Harry an agreement, "And we need to brief the Army."

"Also, I think the time has come in to bring in Parvati," said Hermione, "She has a skill I think we can use."

"I think we're in agreement then?" said Harry.

Ginny and Hermione nodded.

"Then let's set this plan in motion!" said Harry.

XXXXX

**April 14th, 1997**

Everything seemed to be going well for their plan. When the Army was briefed on it, there had been no one who objected. The plan itself was simple. There was an alarm that Voldemort had set over the Gaunt shack if anyone tried to enter it. It would actually be a simple matter to disarm it, but Harry didn't want to disarm it. He wanted to trip it. Ginny thought it was a good plan.

And that was the clever thing. The Triumvirate knew exactly what Voldemort would do when he realised they were going after his horcrux. He'd apparate to Riddle Manor with a large group of lackeys and try to ambush whoever was entering the Gaunt shack, which was why the Army and their mercenaries would be outside the Manor. And they would set it on fire. The bulk of Voldemort's people would be disabled, and Voldemort himself might make it to the shack, but he would not be able to prevail against Harry, Hermione and Ginny all at once.

The entire plan was actually dependent on the fact that Azkaban prison was now dementor free. Amelia Bones had confided in Harry that he could now send people to Azkaban, without fear that it might be a revolving door prison. Obviously Voldemort was still capable of breaking in if he wanted to, but Ginny suspected he wouldn't do so for the lowlife thugs that Clarise Zabini had recruited.

The Army could try to kill the people instead to make certain Riddle couldn't rescue them, but Ginny knew that would have disastrous consequences. Amelia still viewed this all as a law enforcement matter, rather than as a war. If Harry's people killed anyone and it wasn't self-defense, she'd back away from the Triumvirate and maybe even turn on them. Harry had admitted that he was somewhat to blame for this. Hitting the Death Eater finances had left their organization weak enough that it wasn't being taken as seriously as Harry thought it should. Not that Ginny _wanted _to kill people, but she was worried that even Amelia didn't seem to realise how quickly this could turn bad.

Krum had been notified, and even now he was beginning to smuggle in the mercenaries again. It would only be a few weeks until the end of the school year now, and they would move on the night of the day after the last Quidditch match.

Thinking of Quidditch, Ginny was happy at the way the last Quidditch match had turned out. Slytherin had beaten Hufflepuff by a commanding margin. If Gryffindor lost to Ravenclaw, Slytherin could still take the cup.

Ginny arrived back in her bedroom, with Luna following behind her. The meeting had gone a bit long, as it often did when they were planning a big operation. But now things were set up, and while there was still much to do, it was the sort of thing that could be done at their leisure.

Ginny laid down on her bed. Parvati had been delighted to get the challenge of designing an uniform for the Army, but she didn't have a lot of time. Luckily Daphne had already had a few ideas, she just needed Parvati's expertise to actually make the damned things. They'd finally be able to go out with a degree of anonymity. It would be useful. In fact Luna had brought back samples of different materials to test if they would serve well for the outfits. She'd hung them up on a peg in the corner of the room and was casting spells on them.

"That's odd," said Luna, as she cast a spell on some of the materials. "Why is this detection spell not working on this side of the room?"

Ginny sat up. "That is strange," she said. Ginny cast a detection spell. It worked for her.

"It's only in this tiny area in the corner of the room," said Luna.

Ginny looked up at the corner of the room. There was _something_ up there. She couldn't quite see it. It was almost as if… it didn't want her to see it. Focusing hard, she broke through the spell and levitated the object down to her hand.

It was a small orb, and Ginny didn't recognize it. In fact she'd never really seen anything like it. She began probing it with every sort of sensory magic she knew. It was apparently some sort of magical sensor.

"That's designed for scrying," said Luna, "My mum had one, it's sort of like a muggle listening device. Though a person could link their mind to it directly. In that case I suppose it would be more like a muggle video camera."

"Wait…," said Ginny, her voice suddenly sick, "Is someone spying on us? In our room?"

Luna's eyes widened a bit. "That does seem to be the case Ginny. Now I know what you are thinking, that this must almost certainly be a plot by the Rotfang conspiracy to make us think that someone is spying on us, but I can assure you that it simply isn't very likely. No, I think we are being watched, and probably with less than honorable intentions."

"Someone's perving on us you mean," said Ginny.

"A distinct possibility," said Luna.

Ginny considered. It _could _be Nott, but she honestly didn't think he was the type. He was a creep, but he was the type of creep that would worship the ground she walked on, not the type of creep to watch her undress. It also could be a younger student. That would be galling, but Ginny could deal with that at least. She wasn't sure if she would deal with something like that by reporting it to Flitwick, or whether she would take personal revenge instead.

Yet the sophistication of the method indicated to Ginny that this was probably an adult. Which meant that the list of candidates was very, very short.

"_Legilimens,_" Ginny muttered as she pointed her wand at the beacon. It was a long shot…

Suddenly Ginny found herself overwhelmed by a strong feeling of… something. She couldn't quite process what she was feeling. She realized that she'd entered the mind of another person, but it was shrouded under Occlumency. Somehow she'd managed to enter this mind under some of the layers of Occlumency, but others were in place. Ginny felt like she was being suffocated, as if all her thoughts were somehow disconnected and distant, but she pushed through it all…

And found herself in Snape's office staring out from Snape's seat, looking down at Snape's hands grading papers. Ginny tore herself out of his mind.

"It's Snape's," she said.

Luna seemed unperturbed at that, though with Luna it was hard to be sure.

"Oh dear," said Luna, "If he wanted to see us naked so badly he should have asked us."

"You'd have done it?" asked Ginny dubiously.

"Of course not," said Luna, "But it would have been far better for him to ask for it, be turned down and then not have done it rather than to just have done it without us knowing."

Ginny nodded. "I agree completely, Luna."

"As things stand, I do admit, I feel slightly... violated," admitted Luna, "Maybe we should tell McGonagall."

"Right now," said Ginny, "This can't wait."

Ginny stood up and made sure she had her wand, and she marched out to the common room, Luna right behind her. The common room was brimming with students still, and Ginny saw Harry sitting with Hermione, both studying.

"Harry, we're going to see McGonagall, could you escort us there?" said Ginny, "Hermione, your presence would be helpful too. We have a huge problem."

Suddenly Snape rushed into the common room. He looked around until he saw Ginny and Luna.

_I guess he noticed me in his mind,_ thought Ginny.

"Miss Weasley…" started Snape.

"Sorry Professor," said Ginny, "I'm heading to see the Headmistress."

"I don't think that is necessary," said Snape desperately.

"Well I do," said Ginny, looking to Harry and Hermione for support.

"Well, we'll make sure you get there," said Harry standing besides Ginny. Hermione also leapt to her feet and stood besides Luna.

Snape scowled at them, but didn't move to stop them. He had to realize that Slytherin was all but Harry's at this point. If things came to blows, he'd be massively outnumbered.

"Fine, but I'm coming with you," said Snape.

"This makes you look more guilty, but fine," said Ginny. She led the way out of the common room. As soon as they were out of sight of the other Slytherins, she heard a quick scuffle, then the sound of a spell casting. Ginny turned to see an unconscious Snape on the ground.

"He tried to cast a spell on you," said Hermione, her wand in hand.

"That wasn't smart," said Luna, "I'm a bit disappointed in the Professor to be honest."

"This is very out of character for him," said Harry, "Whatever you have on Snape, it has him really worried, but he's also uncertain enough that he isn't thinking clearly."

"Hmph," said Ginny as she continued on, "Probably for the best that he isn't there anyway."

When they reached the Headmistresses office they were admitted immediately. To Ginny's surprise, her mother was already speaking to Headmistress McGonagall.

"Hello Miss Weasley, Miss Granger, Miss Lovegood and Mr. Potter," said McGonagall, "I was just speaking to Professor Weasley here about how we would handle this summer, as of course she is going to want to go back to the Burrow to be with her family. Is your concern urgent?"

"I found this in my room," said Ginny, holding out the scrying device.

McGonagall frowned, while Molly's eyes narrowed to points. Harry seemed puzzled, but Hermione gasped.

"Is that a remote scrying orb?" asked McGonagall, "Merlin! I haven't seen one of these in years, not since…" McGonagall gave Harry an uncomfortable glance.

"The Marauders used one?" asked Harry, "I hope they didn't use it for what I think they would use it for…"

"Well, they were never able to get up the girl's staircase, thank heavens," said McGonagall, "Not that they didn't try. They mostly used it to spy on Professor Snape. Though there was one time that it got left in the prefect's bathroom..."

"That's funny, because Snape was using this on me!" said Ginny. Molly's eyes somehow seemed to get even harder.

"Wait, are you sure?" asked McGonagall.

"I tried using legilimency on this, it was connected directly to someone's mind" said Ginny, "And I managed a view of a mind. I didn't get very far, but I did see out of his eyes for a while. And I saw the inside of Snape's office, from Snape's perspective."

"Even worse, when Ginny tried to run up here and tell you, Professor Snape tried to stop Ginny from reporting this," said Hermione.

"And then he tried to physically stop her when she left," said Harry, "Luckily Hermione caught that. He's probably still unconscious in the dungeons."

"Well, that is that," said McGonagall angrily, "I'm putting Professor Snape on suspension, effective immediately. We'll have to do a full investigation."

"He's always been creepy towards me," said Ginny, "He constantly pauses before he says my name, or stares at me, and he's been harassing my boyfriend. Even mum doesn't do that."

"You should have said something," said McGonagall.

"There was nothing to report until now," said Ginny, "I just… I feel kind of violated."

"As you should," said McGonagall, "This is very disturbing. I'd never have expected this of Professor Snape. I've known him for a long time, and this is the last thing I'd have believed from him."

"Oh bloody hell," said Harry, causing everyone to turn towards him, "Don't mind me! I just figured something out."

Harry reached into his robes and pulled out a locket. "Look at this!" said Harry after whispering to the locket.

There was a picture inside of a young girl, about 11 years old, sitting at a Hogwarts table and eating and smiling at the camera.

"What a nice picture of Ginny," said Molly, "but what does it have to do with anything?"

"Mum…" said Ginny.

"That isn't Ginny," said McGonagall, "That is a young Lily Potter."

"Nonsense," said Molly, "Ginny doesn't look anything like Lily Potter."

Ginny sighed. "I don't… anymore. But when I was younger I looked just like that."

"Snape was in love with my mother, but he blames himself for her death," said Harry, "Who wants to bet he sees my mother in Ginny, despite the way she has matured differently?"

Ginny gasped. But it made so much sense!

"I don't think anyone is going to be taking you on that bet, Harry," said Luna.

Ginny had to agree with Luna. Suddenly, all of Snape's previous behavior had taken a much more sinister tone. But there was one thing she was suddenly very certain of, thinking back on Snape's reaction to McGonagall trying to get Ginny resorted. Snape had been behind her being sorted into Slytherin.

But why on Earth had he sorted Harry into Slytherin? Why had he forced them into a marriage contract? Something still didn't make sense. But Ginny was determined. She was closer than ever to solving this mystery.

One way or another, Ginny swore she'd pry the answers from Snape.

**Author's Note:** Harry's main concern with Dumbledore at this point is that Dumbledore doesn't seem to trust him. I think that Harry is fully justified in thinking like that. That being said, not hearing out Dumbledore is the same error Harry made after fourth year. Or rather the problem is that Harry has once again closed off that avenue of communication, and right when they might actually have something to communicate.

Speaking of which, uh, Snape. Yeah. I am don't want to give anything away, but we now know the 'who?' of the big mystery of this story, now we need the 'why?'. And I have given a tiny piece of that answer. But you are not getting the full answer until chapter 59, so strap in, cause there is still a fair bit of story to go.

Next Time: Harry plays a long game, Blaise has a family reunion (it does not go well), and Colin has a very good day.


	48. Pressing the Advantage

**Content Warning:** Minor Character Death

**Chapter 48: Pressing the Advantage**

**April 26th, 1997**

Professor Sinistra had not taken learning that Harry and Hermione shared a bedroom well when she stepped in as head of Slytherin. However, when McGonagall pointed out that there was technically no rule against it, Sinistra had insisted that Sirius be consulted. The result had been rather predictable; Sirius had sent Harry and Hermione a congratulatory letter and given explicit permission for them to continue. Sinistra had not been happy.

She had been especially not happy when she discovered Luna in bed with Harry and Hermione the next night. Luna had decided that using the excuse of being uncomfortable in the room she shared with Ginny was an excellent way to get some hugs from her friends. And truthfully, neither Harry or Hermione minded, both of them understanding that Luna's feigned discomfort wasn't entirely feigned. And Ginny was more than happy to have her own room for a few days. Perhaps a little too happy. Harry suspected she had snuck Justin in on at least one night, and while Ginny didn't deny it, she insisted that they hadn't done any more than some vigorous snogging.

All in all, Harry was really hoping to become Head Boy next year. He could go a few weeks like this, but Sinistra was a lot less accommodating of Harry and Hermione's privacy than Snape had been. Hermione had almost moved back into her own bed. Almost. McGonagall had interviewed Harry for the position, and he gathered by her interview that he was the leading candidate.

The news about Snape had been a catastrophe. Defense Against the Dark Arts Classes were in disarray. The IUC had been working overtime to help students with O.W.L.S. and both Dumbledore and Flitwick had stepped in to teach the sixth and seventh year N.E.W.T classes. And Harry had to admit, it was bad timing! Still something in Harry doubted that Snape had simply been perving on Ginny. He didn't seem the type. Harry strongly felt he was missing some information, but he had no idea what it was.

Harry wasn't upset with Ginny though. She had been given no other choice. The thing they had argued about was what this meant for Snape's trustworthiness regarding Dumbledore. Ginny thought that this meant he couldn't be trusted at all, but Harry believed that Snape might have been helping them because of his infatuation with Ginny. Hermione thought that was far-fetched, but wasn't willing to completely dismiss the idea.

All in all, it was a colossal mess. But Harry had more important things to deal with. He'd snuck out of school and was meeting with Gustav and Krum. This was the big briefing.

"I think it is too dangerous for you to bring your people," said Gustav.

"My people will be primarily involved in laying and controlling the traps," said Harry, "and we are well trained. We're only bringing our best and everyone in our group is ready to join the fight."

"Remember, we don't want corpses this time, we want to send them to prison," continued Harry, "Azkaban no longer uses the dementors as prison staff, and Riddle won't break the petty thugs out unless he has to, as they're expendable to him."

"You asking for help from Danny O'Keefe?" asked Gustav bluntly.

"There is no official relationship between us and the Irish underworld," said Harry, "a couple friends of mine work for Danny, which has allowed us to leak information to him, but that is it."

"That is good," said Krum, "Danny has a reputation as being ruthless. There are also rumours that he is fending off a faction that wants to be less aggressive in his war on the Death Eaters."

All in all, Gustav's men were ready, so Harry quickly returned to school. Yet, he decided to stop in with Blaise quickly.

He found the boy in his bedroom.

"Hey Blaise, got a minute?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," said Blaise, "What's on your mind?"

"I heard a rumour that there is some… some dispute in Ol' Danny's group about how he's going after Death Eaters," said Harry, "I just want to be sure…"

"That he's staying in the fight? Don't worry about that," ssid Blaise, "My father has just been trying to convince him to be more careful."

Something about that did not sit well with Harry. "Hey just be careful yourself, okay? Danny has a really nasty reputation, and guys like that typically don't like it when you question them, no matter how well intentioned you are. Especially if you have followers."

"My dad isn't putting a faction together," said Blaise confidently.

"Good," said Harry.

XXXXX

**May 31st, 1997**

The day of the Ravenclaw/Gryffindor Quidditch match had finally come. If Gryffindor won, Gryffindor would win the cup in a sweep. But Colin Creevey had never beaten Cho Chang to the snitch. She'd always managed to distract him.

The game itself was brutal, in that Gryffindor had a clear advantage in Chasers and Beaters. Ron had everyone well drilled and the Ravenclaws couldn't defend worth anything. In the end it was going to come down to the seekers though. And nothing Cho was doing was working.

She'd tried blowing kisses, she tried batting her eyebrows, she'd even started making lewd comments. Colin was focused on finding the snitch. Three times he nearly had it, but Cho managed to push him away before the snitch disappeared.

Finally though, he found the snitch and Cho was just too far away. As he lunged for the snitch, Cho had time for one last desperate act. She grabbed the front of her robes and pulled them open.

"Oh wow," said Harry, "I was not expecting that."

"I'll say this," said Tracey, "Cho still has nothing to be ashamed of there."

Colin on the other hand just grinned. And swept in and grabbed the snitch.

The Slytherins went still. They'd just lost the cup.

As the Gryffindors celebrated, Tracey turned to her teammates. "Let's go," she said.

And so she led the entire Slytherin team down to the pitch to congratulate the Gryffindor team.

But Harry noticed that more than congratulations were exchanged between Tracey and Ron. She whispered something to him, and suddenly his smile got very silly looking. Harry walked over to Tracey after congratulating Ron.

"Was that what I think it was?" asked Harry.

"I only agreed to talk to him," said Tracey, thought the faint smile she gave as she said that gave the game away.

"Should be some talk," said Harry with a snigger.

XXXXX

There was a denouement to the Quidditch match. Harry and Hermione had hall patrol that night. However, shortly after it began, Ron came running up to them.

"I can't find Colin, he isn't at our victory celebration," Ron said urgently.

Harry reached into his robes and pulled out the Marauder's Map. Opening it, he searched for Colin. And he found him. In a broom closet. With Cho.

Ron, Harry and Hermione all stared at the two little names on the map, basically covering each other.

"You know what? He's earned the right to celebrate how he wants," said Ron sheepishly.

XXXXX

**June 1st, 1997**

The first stage of the Triumvirate's plan was simple, they needed to meet up with the mercenaries. The tricky part was getting out of school. Harry was keeping the group from Hogwarts small, but it was still a not inconsiderable number of people, including himself, Hermione, Ginny, Daphne, Tracey, Ron, Neville, Luna, Cho, Colin, Astoria, Sue, Padma, Justin, Ernie, Hannah and Susan. Harry had tried to get Blaise and Seamus to come with him, but they wouldn't budge. Apparently, things were very tense right now near Hogsmeade.

Getting everyone out of the castle would be difficult, because tonight they were leaving earlier. One or two people might be able to make it out to the Forbidden Forest, but obviously the entire group couldn't go that way. They'd be seen. But the entire group would also draw attention to any of the secret passages. They'd snuck out back during the raid on the Ministry using the Room of Requirement to transport them to one of the passages, but they had gone through the passage to the Three Broomsticks at a much later time. On that occasion it had already closed for the night, which would not be the case tonight.

So Harry had a conundrum, which he solved by disillusioning people and sending them through the secret passage underneath the Whomping WIllow. This passage led to the Shrieking Shack, where they would rendezvous with members of the mercenaries who had specially prepared portkeys. From there they would assemble near Riddle Manor and begin setting up. Harry hoped to catch a big portion of Madame Zabini's thugs tonight.

So long as they showed up.

XXXXX

"Blaise!" shouted Seamus as he ran down his boyfriend, "we have a problem!"

Blaise had been sitting outside waiting for Seamus. He'd been later than usual, so he'd gotten a bit worried. "What is it?" asked Blaise.

"Your dad just went into Hogsmeade, apparently to pick something up for Danny. Almost as soon as he entered, your mother and her goons invaded the village!"

Blaise swore. Whatever Harry was doing, he was probably hoping to net a few of his mother's thugs. Well a lot of them wouldn't be showing up apparently. He hoped that was okay, but now Blaise had to take things into his own hands.

"She'll kill him," said Blaise, "Is Danny moving?"

Seamus nodded, "He is," said Seamus, a bit nervously, "But according to my friend in the village he isn't exactly hurrying. Apparently they've had a bit of a falling out."

Blaise scowled. "Well that settles it, I'm going in."

"I'm right behind you!" said Seamus.

Blaise nodded. He'd need all the help he could get.

XXXXX

The trap outside the Riddle Manor was simple. They'd blocked up most of the exits, and had placed stunning runic clusters around the areas people would have to leave by. It probably wouldn't catch Riddle, but if it did, Harry wouldn't complain. So when the Death Eaters apparated in, the Army would set the house on fire. All at once. The Death Eaters would rush out, and it would be goodnight. Voldemort would have to go on alone. Harry didn't think he'd be able to catch Riddle tonight. He felt that he probably could defeat him, but that Riddle would likely flee before he could be properly captured.

But of course, this entire situation wasn't about capturing Riddle. It was about luring him into a false sense of security.

Once everyone was in position, Harry led Hermione and Ginny to the edge of the Gaunt property. They were wearing their new robes. They were silver, and when the hoods were up they projected a blank face over their real faces. The rest of the army had grey robes, but Hermione had felt that the members of the Triumvirate should have uniforms that set them apart.

"Once we cross this line, we can't go back," said Harry.

"I have no intention of going back," said Ginny.

Harry stepped forward and Hermione and Ginny followed as he approached the Gaunt shack.

XXXXX

Narcissa sat at home trying to find some way to put things right again. The fact was that the Death Eaters were finally beginning to recover from the disaster last year. But they didn't have nearly as many resources as they had previously held. Clarise Zabini's thugs were the only thing they had going for them, but their utility was strictly limited. Clarise thought she could hire thugs from other crime lords in Europe, but even that would be very expensive, and would put the Dark Lord in debt to some very dangerous people. Not that he should be scared of them, but he should be wary of taking an offer that seemed too good to be true.

Suddenly a chime went through Malfoy Manor. It was a clever way for the Dark Lord to summon people, only those he needed would hear the chime. Narcissa made a beeline for the dining room, where she supposed the Dark Lord was.

He was, and he was agitated. "How many people do we have that are fit to take the field right now?" he asked.

"I've still got about thirty of Zabini's men camped out on the manor grounds," said Narcissa, "They could be used."

"What is the concern?" asked Rookwood.

"An alarm I set has gone off," said the Dark Lord, "I must investigate in force immediately. I will get the men personally and head to Riddle Manor."

Narcissa wondered what was at Riddle Manor. She could only hope it wasn't a trap. Or maybe she should hope it was. At least then she'd be free.

XXXXX

Blaise raced through the Three Broomsticks as if he was being pursued by demons. He could hear the sounds of fighting on the outskirts of the village near the Forbidden Forest. Danny was trying to fight his way in, in all likelihood.

But Blaise knew that Danny wouldn't make it in time. The Hog's Head would be where his mother confronted his father, and the ring around it would be tight and fierce.

At least from outside the village. From the inside, someone might make it. And indeed, the path to the Hog's Head was clear. There were two guards out front that Blaise could see from an alley across the way.

"Two more in back," whispered Seamus, who walked up to Blaise as casually as he could.

Words weren't really necessary. Both of them raised their wands and cast silent cutting charms. The guards out front collapsed.

Entering through the front was not an option though. They'd be in full view of everyone in the common room. No, but his mother would want to talk to his father alone. They'd be in a private room. And Blaise knew which room his mother always used.

Blaise pointed up, and Seamus nodded. With a swish and flick he levitated Blaise up to the second story. Blaise tapped his wand on a window. It popped open, and Blaise climbed inside.

The room was empty, as Blaise had known it would be. He crept over to the door to the hallway, and opened it a crack poking his eyes out. Down the hall a short way there was another door, and that door had a man by it. Bruce, his mother's best bodyguard. She was in there, all right. Blaise silently cast another cutter, and Bruce went down. He felt a pang of guilt in his stomach. He'd known this man, but unlike Magnus, he'd liked him. But there was no time for regret now. Later perhaps, but not now.

Blaise crept up to the door and put his ear to it.

"If you'd ever paid attention to what Blaise wanted instead of what you wanted, you'd have realized what was happening," his father was saying.

"Oh, please, Blaise is a boy, he barely knows what he wants," said his mother.

"Blaise has known he was interested in men since I was raising him," said Pascale, "I always suspected. Funny how you didn't."

"It wasn't easy to get anything out of him with him pushing me away all the time!" shouted Clarise.

Blaise shook his head. There was no time for this. He opened the door.

"This better be important Bruce, I said I didn't want to be disturbed," said Clarise.

Blaise silently disarmed her, and her wand flew into his hand. "Sorry Mum, Bruce is a bit indisposed," he said with a lopsided grin. With one move of his mother's wand he cut his father free, while his other wand hand stayed fixed on his mother.

"Well done, boy!" said Pascale proudly as he moved to pick up his wand.

"Indeed," said Clarise, "I am surprised you made it here without raising an alarm."

"Well, my father's life was at stake," said Blaise, "I had to improvise, which is my strong suit."

"So what now?" asked Clarise.

"We turn you in," said Blaise.

"You think Voldemort won't free me immediately?" asked Clarise.

Blaise grinned. "Oh I'm sure he'd like to, but after tonight, well he's going to have much bigger concerns. He chose a veeeery bad night to have divided forces."

Clarise seemed to flinch at that. She probably feared his wrath.

"We'll take you out the window," said Blaise as he cast a gag over her mouth.

But as they walked towards the room Blaise had come in through, a huge shudder hit the Hog's Head. And suddenly Blaise realised that Danny and his men had arrived. Which meant…

Men came up the stairs. "_Confringo_!" Blaise cast at them, but they both ducked out of the way. And with that there was a noise from downstairs as more men started heading up. Spells tore past Blaise and Pascale as they leapt back into the room they'd just vacated. But Clarise ran forward, into the protective wands of her men.

Blaise leaped across the hall, sending two more blasting curses. They weren't aimed at his mother, but at the goons falling in behind her. And that worked. Both went down, clutching injuries. And suddenly Pascale broke out into a sprint, following her.

The two men who had dodged into other rooms suddenly blocked Blaise's path. Another blasting curse took them down. Blaise ran forward down the stairs. There was a full blown battle going on in the common room. But neither his father or mother was a part of it.

"They went out the back boy," said Aberforth, who was hiding behind the bar. He looked more annoyed than scared. Well Blaise would be annoyed too if someone was blowing up his livelihood like this.

Blasie ran out the back door. Only to find his father bleeding from his temples and kneeling in front of his mother who had recovered her wand and pointed it at Pascale.

"Blaise, I have tried to save you so many times," said Clarise, "I love you and I want to save you. But if you keep fighting against the Dark Lord, he will have you killed."

"Voldemort's days are numbered," said Blaise defiantly.

"The Dark Lord is immortal, and those who defy him will die," said Clarise, "Like this. _Avada Kedavra._"

And Blaise's father fell over, dead.

Blaise nearly felt his legs go out, but he managed to keep on his feet. He looked at his father. His father was dead. _His father was dead!_

And then he looked at his mother.

And he pointed his wand at her. "_CONFRINGO_!" he screamed.

Clarise barely had time to dodge, she was so surprised. But she managed it. But Blaise wasn't done; he cast the blasting curse again, and his mother just barely had time to apparate away.

And then Blasie screamed, a primal scream of rage and grief and pain. He'd failed. And now his father was dead.

XXXXX

Ron looked out at Riddle Manor through his omnioculars. The house seemed deserted, but the telltale cracks of a series of apparitions told a different story. Voldemort was assuredly here.

Ron was laying on his chest and keeping watch: his job was to make sure no one tried to flee Riddle Manor away from the Gaunt Shack. It was unlikely; anyone who did so would almost certainly face Voldemort's wrath.

Ron felt a presence next to him lie down face on their chest in the dirt next to him.

"Daphne and I finished laying the runes," whispered Tracey, "So I came over here to give you some backup."

Ron smiled his thanks, but she couldn't see that with his mask on. So he just patted her on the back. Or at least he'd meant to. He'd accidentally managed to pat her bum instead.

"Sorry," he whispered.

He realized that Tracey was quaking. At first he thought she was quaking with rage, but then he realized the truth. She was trying to suppress her laughter.

Suddenly she stopped as they finally saw movement. Inside the house they could see shapes. A figure that could only have been Voldemort led the way followed by a sizeable number of roughly dressed wizards. Less than Ron had thought though. That might be a problem, might not. It depended on what they were doing.

And then the mercenaries opened up, setting Riddle Manor ablaze. Voldemort led his men out of the door. Right into the trap.

Voldemort led them straight on towards the Gaunt shack. Fortunately, no one could apparate directly to the shack, as Voldemort had put up an anti-apparition ward there. What this meant was that Voldemort was leading his men right through a field filled with stunning runes.

And the moment Voldemort was out of their range, Luna activated them.

About 3/4s of Voldemort's followers collapsed immediately. The mercenaries and members of the army immediately began taking down the rest.

"Onward!" cried Voldemort as he ran off towards the Gaunt Shack. None of his men were able to follow though. Everyone was now down.

"We need to warn Harry," said Tracey.

"_Expecto Patronum," _said Ron, conjuring his terrier Patronus, "Harry, he's coming."

"Smooth, Weasley," said Tracey, "Nice Patronus."

"Well, I did just accidentally grope a girl," admitted Ron, "I figure I've got plenty to be happy about."

Tracey punched him in the arm, but it wasn't very hard. She didn't seem unhappy at all.

XXXXX

The inside of the Gaunt shack was pretty dilapidated. Despite Riddle's fascination with his ancestry he clearly didn't like being reminded what the Gaunt family had been reduced to. So he'd abandoned this place. Let it fall into complete ruin. It eventually would have gone back to nature, all memory of it lost. As Riddle would prefer, really.

Harry shook his head. This wasn't the time for that. So long as Riddle had even one horcrux remaining he would never listen to reason. Though Harry wondered whether even his impending death would make a difference to the Dark Lord.

It wasn't hard to find the ring, it was exactly where Riddle had left it. Ginny drew her wand and quickly removed the curses that Riddle had left on the ring for anyone foolish enough to put it on.

"Hermione?" asked Harry.

His girlfriend nodded, picking up the ring and looking at it for a long while. Finally, she pointed her wand at it and cast "_Legilimens!_" For a moment, Hermione's eyes went hazy. But suddenly a cloud of black came out of the now screaming horcrux. And then it was done.

"I think this really is the resurrection stone," said Hermione.

"Keep it then," said Harry, "Maybe we'll find a use for it."

Suddenly a patronus terrier hopped into the room. "Harry, he's coming," said Ron's voice.

"Right on time," said Ginny.

All three of them walked out of the shack and stood in front of the door. It was only a few moments before the Dark Lord swept in. Harry noticed he was levitating in. What an indulgent waste of effort! It was such a simple trick, and once someone knew it, it wouldn't impress anyone.

"My, my, do you expect me to be impressed?" asked Harry, "Such petty tricks may impress the easily manipulated, but it's obvious that you just cast a levitation charm on your shoes. Impressive balance though."

Harry had to admit that it all sounded more threatening when coming from under his mask. That was good. Fighting Riddle now might work out, but it also might be a disaster. He had to keep him off balance.

"You are brave, I'll give you that," said Riddle as he settled down to earth, "Few would dare speak to me like that. But I suppose you have earned it. You've been frighteningly effective against me. Too bad I'm going to kill you today."

"Unlikely," scoffed Ginny, "You are rather badly outnumbered. And outclassed, though you have no way to know that."

"Honestly, I'm surprised that he hasn't figured it out yet," sniped Hermione, "It's fairly obvious."

"Ah, the perils of mutilating one's own soul," said Harry, "Not for the faint of heart, and it does make the soul rather… calloused you might say. So much so that it is difficult to feel when a large part of your soul is torn away."

"Like when we destroyed all of Tom Riddle's horcruxes?" asked Ginny.

"Just so," agreed Harry.

"Give me what you took from that house!" demanded Riddle.

Hermione held out the ring for a moment. "I don't know why you'd want this, it's only power is to call back the spirits of the dead. And you don't care about anyone who has passed on. I mean it _used_ to be a horcrux, but it isn't now."

Riddle's face seemed torn between disbelief and horror. "Who are you? Afraid to show your face?"

"To you? Never," said Harry. And with a wave of his hand his mask disappeared. Ginny and Hermione similarly did away with their masks.

Voldemort suddenly seemed to lose tension. "Harry Potter. I should have known. I knew you had promise. You have outdone even my wildest expectations for you. You have hurt me, and my followers, more than any other wizard alive. That is an impressive feat."

"Well I didn't do it alone," insisted Harry, "But I doubt anyone else would have been able to do it either."

"So you know of my horcruxes?" asked Riddle.

"Know of them?" mocked Harry, "I've destroyed them. ALL of them. Diary, locket, cup, diadem, that ring and finally, the little present you left in my head. You told Slughorn you wanted to create seven soul fragments. Well, all that's left is in your decrepit body. And I'd like to see you try to make another one with all the damage this has done to your soul."

"A truly inspiring performance," said Riddle, his voice on edge, "But you know, I do intend to kill you now. You can't just apparate away."

Hermione grinned, "Want to know _how _we destroyed the horcruxes?"

Riddle suddenly got a lot less sure of himself.

"We absorbed them," said Ginny, "I discovered how to do that when your diary tried to possess me. But that pathway goes both ways. I drained all the power from the diary, and the horcrux just… died. But me? I got your memories in return."

"And so we've been draining all of your horcruxes, and in return, we've received all of your memories," said Hermione.

"We know your every move," said Ginny.

"Your every flaw," said Hermione.

"Your every weakness," said Harry, "Fighting us is like fighting three of you."

"So let's do this," said Ginny as she raised her wand.

The fight was short and brutal, and Riddle didn't even get a spell off. It only took Riddle moments to realize that he was overmatched. The sheer fury of the incoming spells drove him back. Within moments, he had to withdraw. The best part was it was only Ginny and Hermione casting at him. Harry was worried about their wands linking again. He didn't want to remind Riddle of that.

Harry pursued of course, but that wasn't the point. The moment Riddle was out of the anti-apparition ward, he apparated away.

Harry smiled. The trap was now set. They could only hope it bore fruit sooner rather than later.

XXXXX

Blaise Zabini sat in the destroyed common room of the Hog's Head, nursing the Firewhiskey Aberforth had given him. He didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do. It was as if his entire world had fallen apart in mere moments. His father was dead. He had tried to kill his own mother. What was happening to him?

Seamus was sitting next to him, holding his hand. Seamus knew he wasn't ready to talk. He always knew.

"How are you doing, lad?" said Danny, who walked up and took a seat next to Blaise.

"Shouldn't you be gone?" asked Aberforth from behind the bar.

"No one can say they saw me taking part in the fighting," said Danny honestly, "I'm a bit too old to be mixing it up these days."

"I'm shitty," said Blaise in response to Danny's question.

"Well that's to be expected," said Danny, "And it's a good sign that you admit it."

Blaise turned to Danny, and narrowed his eyes. "Did you let them take my father? Did you wait and let this happen."

"Blaise, what are you doing?" asked Aberforth.

"No Abe, he's got the perfect right to ask that question," said Danny, "Cause you see the truth is that I thought about it. Part of me thought he might be a threat to me. But the truth also is that neither of you ever did me wrong. And if I was wrong, well I'm an old man. I've lived a good life. You'd be worthy successors to me. Maybe I hesitated to just charge in, it's hard to say. Was that responsible for Pascale's death? I don't know. I know I didn't mean to do it."

Blaise nodded, satisfied. "I want to kill her so badly. It scares me."

"And so it should boy, so it should," said Danny, "I know that feeling. When I was just a young man, only a couple years older than you are now, my father was hung by the English because he wanted a better life for Ireland and her people. Back during the First World War. Bad times, very bad times. And all I could think of was revenge. And I spent far too much of my life trying to get it."

"So you're saying I should do nothing," said Blaise bitterly.

"No boy," said Danny, "I'm saying you shouldn't do anything right now in the heat of the moment. Because you will regret it."

"I'm not going to go off half-cocked and just try to kill my mum while I'm working for you," said Blaise.

"No you aren't," said Danny, "because you won't be working for me, at least not for a while."

"What?" demanded Blaise angrily.

"Blaise, you just lost your father," said Danny, "you need time to heal. You and Seamus can go off somewhere to do what you need to do, but you need to put yourself back together. Your father was right, I shouldn't have let you get involved in this."

Danny put a warm hand on Blaise's shoulder, "There is still a place for you with my organization, once you've healed a bit. But not until then."

Blaise tried to hide his anger, but it came out looking like a snarl. Danny just nodded sadly, then left.

"He's right," said Aberforth, "You can't…"

Blaise gulped down the last of his firewhiskey. "Thanks for the drink Abe, but I need to get back to school."

Blaise stood and Seamus stood beside him. It was over. For now.

XXXXX

**June 2nd, 1997**

Narcissa had to admit, she probably should have left long ago. But now it might be too late. When the Dark Lord had returned, he had immediately headed to his rooms and called for Rookwood. A few minutes later he'd sent out a summons for Snape. That was bad. What was really bad was that the Dark Lord had returned alone.

Clarise arrived soon after.

"How did it go?" asked Narcissa.

Clarise shook her head. "It was a disaster. I...I killed Pascale." Her voice sounded weak and distracted.

Narcissa nodded sympathetically. "That must have been difficult. I'm sure it was necessary."

"It was a mistake," said Clarise, "I killed him to make a point to Blaise. But he rejected it and… he tried to kill me!"

Narcissa looked around to make sure that no one was able to hear them, then dragged Clarise into a nearby room which was deserted.

"Did anyone else see?" asked Narcissa.

Clarise shook her head. "Most of the men I took with me are dead."

"Good," said Narcissa, "If the Dark Lord hears of this, he will insist on Blaise's death. He cannot learn of it."

Clarise nodded.

"You should know though, the Dark Lord took the rest of your men who were on the grounds on a mission to Riddle Manor. No one but the Dark Lord returned."

"Blaise mentioned something about the Dark Lord choosing a bad night to have divided forces," said Clarise, "Do you think it was the Triumvirate?"

"Probably," admitted Narcissa, "I doubt it was the Ministry."

"That would be about half of my total people!" said Clarise in horror, "And most of my best fighters."

Snape poked his head into the room. "The Dark Lord calls for us."

Narcissa and Clarise followed Snape. But he led not to the usual dining room, but to the Dark Lord's private bedchamber. This was not good.

They entered the room, which was dimly lit. The Dark Lord sat in a chair by the window, his familiar Nagini curled up around him. Rookwood was standing behind the Dark Lord's chair.

"This is not a thing I would confide in anyone had I a choice," said the Dark Lord, "but our situation is grave, and until this is dealt with we are vulnerable. I need the situation dealt with. And we cannot wait. The situation in Little Hangleton was a trap. All the men with me were captured. It was the Army of the Triumvirate. And at last their leadership revealed itself to me. It is led by Potter, Granger, and the Weasley girl."

Snape tried to hide a smile, but couldn't quite.

The Dark Lord did not smile. "Yes, yes Severus, you were correct that she was in with Potter the whole time. But he also revealed that he has destroyed the bulk of my horcruxes."

Everyone in the room knew what a horcrux was. Everyone in the room knew what this meant.

"Through fortune though, he has missed one and he doesn't know that fact," said the Dark Lord. As he said it, he petted his familiar. No, Narcissa dismissed that gesture. It couldn't mean what she thought it did.

"I am still immortal," said the Dark Lord, "Rookwood, explain the rest."

"The process of creating a horcrux necessarily damages the soul of the person creating it," said Rookwood, "After all, you are trying to break off a piece of your soul. This causes a great deal more damage than an ordinary murder. But the creation of the horcrux creates a force that holds the soul together. Which means that as horcruxes are destroyed…"

Snape hissed. "The soul grows less stable."

"Correct," said Rookwood, "The Dark Lord's situation is grave. His soul was damaged enough to create seven horcruxes, but is being held together by the power of a single horcrux. Any additional damage taken to his soul could cause him to start completely unraveling. This would kill him, horcrux or no. Which means that for the time being, the Dark Lord cannot use his powers to kill. Not unless it is absolutely necessary."

And suddenly it all made sense. Whatever was lacking from the Dark Lord would have to be made up from the money and resources that Narcissa and Clarise controlled. They were going to have to cover for the Dark Lord.

"But can anything be done about this?" asked Clarise, her face now looking sickly. Narcissa suddenly felt very badly for the woman. She had alienated her son for the Dark Lord, and now the Dark Lord might be doomed.

"When I was an Unspeakable, there was a book we had, a book full of soul magic," said Rookwood, "I only know of the one copy which we held in the Department of Mysteries. There was magic there that could repair a soul, though I do not know what it was."

"So if we could get that book…" said Narcissa.

"Precisely," said the Dark Lord, "We must begin preparations to take control of the Ministry of Magic."

XXXXX

Harry sat down next to Blaise on his bed in Blaise's room.

"I'm sorry," said Harry, "I wish I had been there to help."

"I probably wouldn't have asked you to come," admitted Blaise, "I had lots of help in any case. It wasn't lack of help that got my father killed." Blaise's tone had turned bitter.

"If you need anything from me, need to talk, need someone to cover..." started Harry.

Blaise sighed. "I need a place to stay. Both me and Seamus. We aren't going back to Ireland this summer."

"Well that one is easy," said Harry, "You can stay at my place. I'll make sure Dobby meets you at Platform 9 ."

"You can't take me?" asked Blaise.

"Hermione and Ginny and myself are going… somewhere as soon as we get to Platform 9 ," said Harry, "I'd tell you where, but I'm not telling anyone that. Not even Daphne."

Blaise nodded sadly.

"We'll only be gone a few days," said Harry, "and then we'll spend the summer together, you and Seamus, Hermione and me. It'll be fun."

Blaise gave Harry a small smile. "I always wanted to just be able to spend some time with my best mate. Guess I finally have the chance."

Harry gripped Blaise on the shoulder firmly. "And who knows? This time next year we may have won the war."

Blaise nodded. "Thanks Harry, but if you don't mind, I'd like to be alone for a while," he said kindly.

"Of course," said Harry. Harry got up and returned to his room. Hermione was waiting for him.

"How is Blaise?" asked Hermione.

Harry just shook his head. "He's… not good. But I can't blame him."

Harry sat down next to Hermione and put his head on her shoulder. She laid her head down on his head. And they stayed that way for a long time as they held each other.

_This night should have been a triumph_, thought Harry.

**Author's Note****:** Yes, the whole point of Harry's 'trap' was to convince Voldemort that Harry believed he had destroyed all of Voldemort's horcruxes so that he will believe that Nagini is safe. It's a clever plan, but it's kind of passive. When it looked like Harry might be able to cooperate with Dumbledore and they were certain Snape would be their man inside the Death Eaters the whole plan was a lot more sound. Now it is sort of a matter of waiting for Voldemort to get over confident. Not great strategy. In fact, Harry's offensive has kind of settled into park a bit. Yes, I know you can all see where this is going.

The death of Pascale wasn't really planned, I just sort of wrote it. It was basically just, "What will Blaise do while the AoT is off doing their thing?" I knew Clarise and Danny were gonna fight over Hogsmeade, and I knew Danny was going to win, but everything else fell into place mid-chapter.

FYI, I am actually back at work now, (though I am generally alone, so yay social distancing) so my time to work on this is a bit more limited. I am also rereading the whole story to get the details right in the last few chapters. I am trying to keep up with releases but if I fall a bit behind, that will be why. I have also been correcting some minor mistakes that slipped through previously, so there is that going on. I am up to chapter 30, so I am getting close to done.

Next Time: The Triumvirate meets Grindelwald, Ginny finally gets honest with Molly, and Draco finally starts actually being effective. A bit.


	49. Answers

**Content Warning:** Character Death

**Chapter 49: Answers**

**June 14th, 1997**

Sirius Black watched as the train pulled into Platform 9 . Sometimes he didn't know why he put up with all of this. Oh sure, he supported Harry's independence, and he knew that if Harry had come back to live at Grimmauld Place it would have been open war between Harry and the Order. Not that most people in the Order were unreasonable in Sirius' opinion, but they would follow Dumbledore's instructions. Of course, Dumbledore had figured out that Sirius was more loyal to Harry than he was to the Order, but Sirius didn't think he knew about Harry's connection to the Triumvirate. Or at least he hadn't. Sirius idly wondered whether Voldemort had told Snape who the person who had nearly brought the Death Eaters to their knees really was. Or if Snape had told Dumbledore.

Of course, he was here today with a purpose. He looked at Dobby and Kreacher, who were there with him. They were here to bring Seamus and Blaise to Harry's home. Sirius didn't know why Harry himself didn't take them, but he supposed that might have something to do with his cryptic instructions - follow Molly Weasley and give her the note Harry had sent him after she talked to Justin. Sirius wasn't sure that Molly would talk to Justin, but Harry seemed to think it was a certainty. It was possible that Justin was in on this a little bit as well, but Sirius had to admit that _he_ was in the dark here.

Students streamed off of the train. Daphne Greengrass was one of the first off the train. She had a very annoyed look on her face. Sirius waved to her, and she smiled and waved back. Blaise and Seamus followed shortly thereafter.

"Daphne looked upset," said Sirius as Blaise approached.

"Well, Tracey is dating Ron," said Blaise, "Which we all warned her would happen."

"Ah, teenage drama," said Sirius, "I don't miss it."

"If you is being ready to go, we will take you to the Potter residence," said Dobby to Blaise and Seamus.

The two boys said their goodbyes to Sirius and apparated away with the elves. Sirius looked around again. Daphne had found her parents. Sirius waved to Bryant, who, seeing this, walked over to Sirius.

"Slumming it with us Purebloods?" joked Bryant.

"Oh please, I'm not slumming it with anybody I meet," quipped Sirius, "Everyone else is slumming it with me."

"I'm surprised you're here," said Bryant.

"So am I," said Sirius, "But I have my instructions."

Bryant nodded. Sirius wasn't sure that he trusted the man. Oh, he wouldn't do anything to harm Harry deliberately. He knew that it would spell disaster for his daughter. But Sirius was fairly sure the pureblood hadn't been excised from this one, only repressed.

Sirius finally saw Molly Weasley. She was doing her best to ignore the far too nearby Harford and Gillian Finch-Fletchley. Neither Ron or Ginny had emerged yet.

After some time Ron and Tracey finally emerged from the train, holding hands. They walked up to Molly and began talking to her. Molly seemed quite delighted by whatever they told her. Probably that they were together, now that Sirius thought about it.

"What is that about?" asked Bryant.

"Your daughter hasn't told you?" asked Sirius.

"My daughters don't tell me very much these days," admitted Bryant.

"Blaise told me that apparently Ron and Tracey are an item," said Sirius.

Bryant winced. "That's… not going to go over well with Daphne. Though I daresay Ronald and Tracey are a much better match. Not that I had anything against Daphne dating Ronald, mind you. But…"

"Harry didn't think it would last either," said Sirius.

Justin had now emerged. And suddenly Molly was looking worried. Ginny hadn't come off the train yet. Reluctantly, Molly turned to Justin.

"Pardon me," said Sirius, "I have to hear this." he stepped forward so he could hear the conversation.

"Justin, do you know what is keeping Ginny?" asked Molly.

"Why would my son know such a thing," said Harford.

"Because Ginny and I are dating," said Justin amiably.

"What?" demanded Harford, "I forbid it!"

"I'm seventeen," said Justin, "you can't forbid anything. I'm of age."

Harford's mouth suddenly snapped shut.

"Anyway, I don't know where Ginny is," said Justin, "We were snogging on the train ride home, and she said she wouldn't be able to speak to me for a while. Then she left. I couldn't find her anywhere on the train."

Sirius nodded. It must have been Ginny who wrote the note, not Harry. Which made sense. Justin didn't seem too worried, so Ginny must have clued him in that there would be no danger. Molly, however, wasn't very happy with that.

"What do you mean?" demanded Molly, "She can't have gone anywhere."

"I wouldn't be so sure," said Sirius, "I think Ginny sent me this to give to you right now." Sirius handed Molly the note that had been mailed to him.

"Why did she send this to you?" demanded Molly.

"Probably because she knew I wouldn't open it if I was asked not to," said Sirius apologetically, "I think you would have immediately opened it regardless of what she wanted, and then would have taken action to stop… whatever she mentions in that note."

Molly opened the note. She read it, then shook her head angrily.

"Do you know where Ginny is?" asked Molly.

Sirius shook his head. "No idea," he admitted, "Harry knows I wouldn't keep Ginny's location from you." Okay, that was a small lie.

"I thought Harry had some sort of prank planned," lied Sirius again, "which I wasn't going to spoil for him. You know, I actually feel slightly used."

Molly's shoulders sagged. "Well Ginny wrote that she is safe, and that I won't find her for a few days. She also said that she lied to you to get you to deliver this, so I suppose it isn't your fault."

"How dare she!" shouted Sirius, trying to suppress a smile

"If it's any help, she's with Harry and Hermione," said Justin, "I'm pretty sure of that."

"Well at least there is some adult supervision then," said Sirius, "Hermione is pretty responsible."

"That may be," said Molly, "But I still should have been consulted."

"Easier to ask forgiveness than permission," suggested Tracey.

Everyone stared at her. "Hey, I'm just saying that's why Ginny did it. The three of them aren't telling me their secret plans yet," Tracey protested.

Sirius hoped the reason that the Triumvirate had done this was very important. This had all the makings of a huge mess.

XXXXX

**June 15th, 1997**

Harry handed over his wand as he entered the massive gates. Several German Aurors were watching them making sure they weren't acting suspiciously. Harry couldn't blame them, after all, the prisoners of Nurmengard were some of the most dangerous witches and wizards in the world.

Hermione and Ginny both turned in their wands and they were led to the top of a large tower. The guard said little, except that they were being taken to see the warden.

The warden sat in his office looking out a window at the valley below. Nurmengard was well hidden, and the view here was quite picturesque.

"So Harry Potter wants to meet with Gellert Grindlewald," said the warden, "Why?"

"I find myself in a difficult position," said Harry, "I don't know who around me to trust. I want to trust Dumbledore, but he hasn't made it easy. But someone has told us a nice little story. One which Grindelwald is in a position to confirm or deny."

"And you think he'll be honest with you?" asked the warden.

"He has no reason not to," said Hermione, "Grindelwald wasn't anti-muggleborn. He probably finds Voldemort just as distasteful as we do."

"Besides, if Grindelwald lies, we suspect we know how he will lie," said Ginny, "He'll try to make things worse in a way to get back at Dumbledore."

"I suspect that Grindelwald isn't interested in causing more chaos now, though," said Harry.

The Warden nodded. "I don't think he is either. I wouldn't trust releasing him, but I'd say he's reformed. For the most part."

"Releasing him would be a bad idea," said Harry.

"People would still rally to his name," said Ginny.

The Warden thought for a moment. Then he nodded. "Well, as you are fighting your own Dark Lord, I suppose we can indulge you on this. We'll have you brought to Grindelwald's suite."

The guard led them away again. This time they headed to another stairway. They went down, down, down, then up for a fair way. Finally they came to a stop outside a heavily reinforced door.

It took several minutes to undo all the spells on the door. But once they were removed there were three different locks; each one, Harry suspected, with a different type of enchantment on it.

Harry led the way into the room. Calling it a suite might be a bit on the generous side, but it wasn't exactly what Harry thought of when he thought about magical prisons either. It had a table and a few chairs, a bed that wasn't huge but looked more than comfortable enough. And it had a separate bathroom with a shower. And it had a window, though there was a haze over the window that showed that it was protected by powerful spells.

Grindelwald wasn't what Harry expected. He expected a wizened old man. And while Grindelwald was old, he was hardly wizened. He still held a certain vitality. It reminded him of Dumbledore.

"Visitors!" said Grindelwald, "This is a rare treat! Come in, come in! Who are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"My name is Harry Potter," said Harry politely, "these are my friends, Hermione Granger, and Ginny Weasley."

"Harry Potter, that name rings a bell," said Grindelwald, "Ah yes, the boy who brought down the Dark Lord. Too bad it didn't take, am I right?"

"Quite," said Harry with a smile.

"Trying to figure out how to finish the job?" asked Grindelwald.

"The how isn't so difficult," replied Harry, "But knowing who to trust to help me do what I need to do, that is the interesting part."

"I'm sure," said Grindelwald.

"I have a message from an old woman, she said she used to be your seer," said Ginny suddenly.

"How is old Natalia?" asked Grindelwald.

"I haven't seen her in years, but the one time I did see her she told a prophecy about me," said Ginny.

Grindelwald laughed at that. "Ah, so I was wrong about her only prophesying for me," said the former Dark Lord, "I'm not unhappy to hear that. She was treated very poorly after my downfall, and it wasn't her fault."

"So what brings you here?" asked Grindelwald.

"How well do you know Albus Dumbledore?" asked Hermione.

Grindelwald's face suddenly grew wary. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because either Dumbledore or another person has been manipulating me for years, and I need to know if this other person is lying to me," said Harry, "They told a story, a story about Dumbledore using me as a Light Dark Lord in order to conquer magical Britain. I'd like to say this was insane, but I still have some concerns. Dumbledore hasn't exactly been open and forthright with me."

"Ah, Albus, still haven't learned to trust people, have you?" siad Grindelwald sadly, "It's my fault you know. I was the one who betrayed him."

Harry motioned to Grindelwald to continue. He was determined to hold judgement until the end.

"One summer, I was staying with my aunt Bathilda Bagshot, and she happened to live next door to the Dumbledores. Albus was taking care of his family, as his father was in prison for muggle-baiting, and his mother was dead. He was a good caretaker, but he resented being forced to do it. He was so brilliant, he could have done anything. And instead he had to take care of his close-minded brother and his… damaged sister. His sister had been injured by muggles, and her mind never recovered. Ariana was her name. Still, he did his duty."

Grindelwald paused and shook his head. "We became friends, and we plotted the summer away. Many of my best ideas about what I wanted to do when I came to power came from those days. Dumbledore seemed to agree with me, that muggles needed to be controlled. But in my heart, I know the truth. He was too soft to ever really go through with it. In the end, he always does the right thing," Grindelwald sighed, "If only I'd understood then… well, my life might have been very different."

Understanding hit Harry. "You were lovers, weren't you?" asked Harry.

"Very perceptive," said Grindelwald, "Yes, we were lovers. And then Aberforth found out. He didn't like my politics, and he definitely didn't approve of our relationship. Things got heated. It came to spells. And somehow, in the middle, poor Ariana tried to break it up. And she died doing so. One of us killed her. And that was when I fled."

"Oh man, that explains why Aberforth hates his brother," said Ginny.

"It wasn't your fault," said Hermione to Grindelwald.

The old man shook his head. "Kind of you to say, girl, but of course it was my fault. I should have not risen to Aberforth's bait. I should have left. I should have done anything but resort to my wand," Grindelwald shook his head, "I am far past that now though. I have done so much worse. Yet I will admit, that moment haunts me more than most of the rest."

"So what you are saying is…" said Harry.

"Listen," said Grindelwald, "I can't believe that you actually believe that story about a Dark Lord of Light. It's utterly ridiculous."

"I don't believe it," said Harry, "I haven't for some time."

"What?!" asked Hermione, "Why are we here then?"

"Snape is definitely trying to make Dumbledore look bad," replied Harry, "that's been obvious for a while. Ever since we caught Snape spying on Ginny at least. Probably since he insisted that he didn't demand that Dumbledore prevent you from contacting me when they wanted to move you to Grimmauld Place two years ago. What I'm trying to figure out is whether Dumbledore is being manipulated by Snape's lies, or just potioned into compliance. If it's the former, then Dumbledore doesn't trust me, and we'll have to do without him. If he's under the influence of a potion we still may be able to get his help."

"It would be very difficult to deceive Dumbledore like that," said Grindelwald, "He would have to have a strong distrust of you for it to work."

"But Snape hasn't had access to his potions store this year," said Hermione, "When Dumbledore didn't tell you about your scar…"

"Your scar?" asked Grindelwald.

Harry pointed to his scar. "It used to be a horcrux, created by Riddle the night he tried to kill me. I managed to get rid of it, but Dumbledore never told me what it really was."

Grindelwald sat in silence for a moment, his face serious. Then he nodded.

"That scar, it is the result of your mother sacrificing herself to save you, isn't it?" asked Grindelwald.

"Yes," replied Harry.

Grindelwald narrowed his eyes, "Tricky. Albus probably didn't know how to get rid of the Horcrux. That alone wouldn't justify not telling you. But I do know one thing that _would_ be able to kill one. A killing curse! But simply letting Voldemort try to kill you would be very hazardous. It would be a 50/50 shot as to whether it would kill you or the horcrux. Wait. What if you sacrificed yourself to protect others from Voldemort?"

"You think that's what he wanted me to do?" asked Harry.

"Well it would create a powerful protection," admitted Grindelwald, "which wouldn't work on _you_ unless you somehow survived the killing curse. But wait, aren't you of age boy?"

"Not quite yet," said Harry.

"Well that protection of your mothers will wear off then, so that wouldn't protect you after that…" mused Grindelwald, "Unless somehow your blood had been used in some sort of ritual that preserved it."

"Yeah, about that," said Harry cagily, "Riddle used my blood to resurrect himself."

"Wait… that's it!" said Grindelwald, "That explains everything! Voldemort didn't break the protection of your mother when he used your blood. He preserved it. Which means that if Voldemort used the killing curse on you, it would only be able to kill the Horcrux."

"So, wait, you are saying…" interjected Ginny.

"He knew that I wouldn't die if Riddle hit me with a killing curse, and that if I performed an act of self-sacrifice it would then protect me as well as whomever I was protecting," stated Harry.

And suddenly Harry understood. Dumbledore had trusted him. He had! He had trusted Harry to ultimately make a self-sacrifice. But that left one question.

"Why didn't he trust me with the knowledge that my scar was a horcrux?" asked Harry.

"Because for the magic of self-sacrifice to work, you have to actually think you are sacrificing yourself," said Hermione, "If you knew that his killing curse had a 50 or 100 percent chance of just killing the horcrux, you'd be taking a gamble, not laying down your life. The magic wouldn't work. You would get one free killing curse from Voldemort, and that would be it. He was trying to get you permanent immunity."

"Dumbledore kept you ignorant, to protect you," said Grindelwald.

"That's bullshit!" said Ginny, "What gives him the right to make that decision for Harry?"

"Just because he means well, does not mean his actions were correct," agreed Grindelwald, "Believe me, I know all about that. I meant well, but how many died because of me?"

"He still screwed up, and we'll have to address that," mused Harry, "but it wasn't because he didn't trust me. He does trust me. Which means…"

"Snape really must be using potions to manipulate him," said Hermione, "That's why it seems like sometimes he trusts you and sometimes he doesn't."

"The only type of mind control that would work on him," said Grindelwald sadly, "poor Albus."

"Thank you," said Harry, "that was very enlightening,"

"How is Albus, by the way?" asked Grindelwald suddenly.

"He's well, as far as his health goes," said Harry, "though he is no longer Headmaster of Hogwarts. I, uh, may have gotten him fired. In my defense, he did try to play me against the Defense teacher without asking me what I thought. He should have asked. Though I now have to wonder if any of that was a potion."

Grindelwald laughed. "Probably not," he said, "It sounds exactly like something Albus would do." But there was no accusation in his eyes. Just warmth as he remembered his old friend.

XXXXX

**June 16th, 1997**

Ginny apparated into the back garden of the Burrow as smoothly as she could. She didn't think she could sneak into the house, though it would be nice if she could. Sure enough, she could see her mother's silhouette in the window.

So she just decided to brave it out. She walked in the back door, right in front of her mother and said, "I'm home."

Molly's eyes flared.

"Where were you? How dare you run off like that! Do you know how worried I was? Running off with no adult supervision, how could you?" yelled Molly.

"I was with Hermione," said Ginny, "I was plenty supervised."

"Hermione is not your mother," insisted Molly, "She has no right to act as such, not that I'm blaming her for _your_ actions."

"There wasn't any danger," said Ginny quietly. She really didn't need this. Not now.

"That wasn't for you to decide!" insisted Molly, "You're only fifteen years old! You're still a child!"

And that was when Ginny snapped.

"I am NOT a child!" she screamed, "I have not been a child since the day Riddle possessed me! And I am tired of you treating me as if I am about to break! I defeated Lord Voldemort as an eleven year old!"

"Ginny," said Molly, "I understand that it was very traumatic…"

"NO, you don't understand!" said Ginny, "But maybe you should. Apart from Charlie you're the only person in the family I haven't told. Harry and I lied about how we destroyed Riddle's diary. Because I destroyed it by sucking out all the magic from it. And in doing so… I absorbed his memories. I have all of seventeen year old Tom Riddle's memories. Including the girl he murdered to make his first horcrux."

Molly stared at Ginny in horror.

"I am not a child," said Ginny, "This war is my war. I have seen the inside of Voldemort's mind. And it is the most horrible thing I have ever seen. He has, _has _to be stopped. I'd rather die than live in a world ruled by him. Harry, and Hermione, and myself, we're all fighting that fight. And I won't stop. No matter what you say, I won't stop. I can't. Because when I close my eyes I see the face of the girl he murdered, the things he planned to do..." Ginny suddenly realised she was crying. She tried to stop, and ultimately managed it, but that was embarrassing, especially when she was trying to argue that she was grown up.

"Oh, Ginny," said Molly, "I didn't know. I'm so sorry! I…" Molly trailed off. She clearly didn't know what to say.

"Are you going to try to stop me?" asked Ginny, wiping away her tears.

Molly shook her head. "Where did you go?" she asked.

Ginny smiled. "Harry's going to come over on his birthday, and we'll explain everything then."

XXXXX

**June 25th, 1997**

There were far fewer Death Eaters gathered today than Narcissa remembered from last year. So many more people lost from the year before that, including Lucius. Nott was here, as well as Parkinson, Rookwood, Snape, and Clarise. The Carrows were now part of the inner circle for Merlin's sake! Draco was in attendance as well, but Narcissa didn't know why. But all the other people, the minor Death Eaters, they were gone.

"Dumbledore is going to be fired," said Snape, "Apparently McGonagall already wasn't happy that he hadn't taken stronger precautions to make sure any assassination attempts wouldn't harm the students. When he tried to defend me, that was the last straw."

Narcissa grimaced. She wasn't sure what to think of the accusations against Snape. Both Weasley and Lovegood were enemies of the Dark Lord, that much was true, but they were also both purebloods, and Narcissa wasn't exactly comfortable with the level of disrespect Snape's actions had shown them. Plus they were so young! The Dark Lord, of course, had found the whole thing hilarious. He'd been constantly ribbing Snape about the whole thing. And once Draco had made his report it had been clear that Snape's position at Hogwarts was unnecessary; Harry Potter controlled Hogwarts, and anyone who tried to wrest it from him was not going to have a good time of it. With Dumbledore gone, his reason for being there was completely unnecessary.

"Well, it seems Draco's efforts did bear some fruit then," said the Dark Lord, "as well as your own Severus. I must admit, that I didn't think a lecherous man spying on a fifteen year old girl would aid my plans, but here we are."

Snape simply nodded in response to the Dark Lord's taunts.

"Such a loyal servant!" said the Dark Lord, "What of the Ministry?"

"We still need an agent on the inside," said Parkinson.

"I have an idea, but the person I'm looking for is shockingly hard to find right now," said Nott.

"Even with an insider, Fudge is too stubborn for us to Imperius," said Narcissa, "We will have to assassinate him."

Everyone seemed shocked at that. Not because of the suggestion itself, but because it was Narcissa who made it. She never advocated killing people directly.

"What are you all looking at?" asked Narcissa, "I'm only stating the obvious. Fudge won't be gone for another three years. We can't wait three years. We can't wait one year. We have to kill him, and soon."

There were murmurs of agreement from everyone.

"Draco has a report," said Snape.

Everyone turned towards Draco. Please let this be good news, thought Narcissa.

"I decided to see if I could find where Potter was living," said Draco, "and while that was a failure, I did locate his muggle aunt, uncle and cousin. They are living completely unprotected in Surrey."

"There were protections on them, but Potter's absence has caused them to fail," said Snape, "By all accounts, he hates his relatives."

The Dark Lord smiled a thin smile. "I know the feeling," he said cryptically.

"Potter has a soft heart though," said Draco, "I figure, if we kill them, Potter will feel responsible. And he'll feel worse about it because he hated them, and he'll think he could have done more to save them."

"A good idea!" said the Dark Lord, "would you like to do the honours Draco?"

"It _would_ be an honour," said Draco.

"I would like to join Draco," said Snape, "I never liked Petunia. I have some very inventive ideas of what I'd like to do to her."

The Dark Lord's eyes seemed to enjoy the implications of that. "By all means, Severus. The more inventive the better."

XXXXX

**July 1st, 1997**

It all started with a visit from Bill.

"Snape's officially gone," said Bill, "and McGonagall asked me if I could fill in for the Dark Arts position. Thing is, I think it's probably cursed."

"Have we not dealt with that?" asked Hermione.

"Can we deal with that?" asked Harry, "I mean, Riddle cast the spell, but he never actually researched how to undo it."

"Well, you could tell me what he did," said Bill, "I am a curse breaker after all."

So Hermione quickly explained how the curse worked. It was actually rather complex, a nasty bit of magic that Voldemort had found in India.

"Well the complexity works against it, now that we have identified it," said Bill, "I think I could deal with it. Hell, you could easily deal with it, once I explain the problem."

"Curse-breaking does seem like an interesting skill," said Harry.

Bill quickly explained the way that the curse would probably react in a school like Hogwarts. His explanation was surprisingly detailed.

"You know," said Hermione, "This seems to be awfully similar to a Blood curse, except it uses the magic flowing through the natural ley lines around Hogwarts instead of the magic in a person's blood."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Bill

"Well, how would you go about dealing with this?" asked Hermione.

Within minutes, Harry, Hermione and Bill were all involved in a long discussion about curse-breaking and curses and the way they interacted.

"You know I'm not really qualified to teach curse-breaking," said Bill after about half an hour.

"True," said Hermione, "But we aren't trying to apply for a job with Gringotts, or break into an ancient tomb. We're looking for specific applications for problems we have. There's nothing wrong with you helping us with that, is there?"

"I guess not," said Bill, "But if you want to take this up as a career, you'd need to get proper training."

"I'm more interested in the healing aspect of all this," said Harry, "Maybe there is some overlap between curse breaking and dark magic and healing."

"We know a lot about curses," said Hermione, "More than most healers do. You know, we might be on the cusp of an entire new field of magic."

"It isn't new," said Bill, "but it is really rare. It's called soul healing. And you're right. Only people who know lots about curses, curse-breaking and healing can attempt it. Only a handful of people in history have managed to use it."

"Is it that hard to learn?" asked Harry.

"Apparently no one who has learned it has tried to pass it on," said Bill, "mostly on account of the fact that they refused to teach people how to use the curses necessary to understand this magic."

"Because they felt guilty," said Harry, "Most people who followed the path were probably reformed Dark Wizards or Witches, weren't they?"

"Exactly," said BIll.

Harry looked at Hermione. He wondered if they were both thinking the same thing. With Voldemort's memories, they could learn this. And they could pass it on. Because their knowledge hadn't come from committing acts that made them feel guilty.

"Bill, could you teach us what you know about curse-breaking this summer?" asked Harry, "We'll do proper apprenticeships when the time comes, but we think we might be able to get started on this."

"If you're interested in soul healing I can teach you a few things, sure," said Bill, "But I don't know the healing side at all."

"That's all right," said Harry, "I know someone who does."

XXXXX

**July 5th, 1997**

"Absolutely out of the question," said Andromeda Tonks, "In order to learn healing you need to learn it properly! Half-measures won't cut it. If you want me to teach you advanced first aid or something, that I would be willing to do. But this is too reckless."

Harry grimaced. He'd hoped for a more receptive response. Andromeda was a fully trained healer, though she had stopped working at St. Mungo's years ago. Still she knew everything they needed to know.

"We aren't trying to learn how to be healers quite yet," said Hermione, "We're looking more into theory."

"Then read a book," said Andromeda.

"We're looking into soul healing," said Hermione.

"So you're saying that you only want to do the most complicated type of healing? Oh, that fills me with confidence," said Andromeda.

"We don't want to use it on people!" said Harry forcefully, "But if we aren't capable of even doing the basics we don't want to waste our time getting official training in both curse-breaking and healing! We think we are capable of doing soul healing. But until we know even a basic bit of healing we can't test it!"

Andromeda stopped for a moment. "So, you'll promise me you won't actually try to use this to heal other people?"

"We won't use any form of healing magic other than standard first aid, on any person," said Hermione.

Harry nodded his assent.

Andromeda sighed. "I suppose if all you want is firsthand knowledge on how the spells work… fine, I'll show you."

"That's fantastic, when can we…" started Harry, but then suddenly two figures fell into the room, clinging to each other. It was Petunia and Dudley, and they were both horribly injured. Petunia's clothes had been cut to ribbons and she was bleeding from all over her body. Dudley seemed to have a serious wound on the side of his head.

"Dudley! Help Dudley!" screamed Petunia, as she fell to the ground. Dudley fell as well. Andromeda immediately looked at Petunia.

"Slow her blood loss, her injuries are serious, but the boy's head injury is life-threatening!" said Andromeda sharply. Harry immediately began casting a blood slowing spell.

"Do you have any medical potions?" asked Andromeda.

"We have a first aid kit," said Hermione, "I'll get it!"

Andromeda cast spell after spell at Dudley. Harry couldn't see what effect it was having though.

Blaise and Seamus ran into the room. Both seemed taken aback at what they saw.

"What can we do?" asked Blasie

"I need water," said Andromeda, "And more healers."

"I'll get the Davises," said Blaise.

"I'll get the water," said Seamus.

Five minutes later both of Tracy's parents had arrived and were helping. Tracey's father was helping Andromeda with Dudley, while her mother was healing Petunia while Harry and Hermione took turns slowing her blood. After an hour of work. Andromeda finally stopped working.

"Dudley will make a full recovery," she said.

"Petunia will as well," said Tina, Tracey's mother.

"It was a close thing," said Peter Davis, Tracey's father, "The spell that hit Dudley only winged him. If it hadn't it would have killed him, hitting him in the head like that. He's lucky to be alive. I can't be sure, but I think he was hit by…"

"Sectumsempra," said Harry, "a variant on the cutting curse, with multiple cutters. It is extremely potent and difficult to control. Petunia was hit by the same thing, but the cutters weren't all concentrated on the same location. The spell was spread out to cause maximum pain and suffering, though it would also be less effective at killing her. The spell was designed by Severus Snape during the last war."

"What happened to Vernon?" asked Hermione.

Harry shook his head. He had an idea.

XXXXX

Petunia woke up in a strange bedroom. She had no idea where she was. What had happened? And then she remembered. They'd been attacked. And Vernon…

She stifled a cry at that moment. She had no idea where she was, or what had happened to Dudley. She had to find out. She tried to stand up, but her entire body was sore. She was surprised to find that she wasn't nearly as wrapped in bandages as she had thought she'd be.

Suddenly the door opened, and Harry entered, followed by his girlfriend. She was clearly his girlfriend, no matter what he had told them for years. Petunia realized rather awkwardly that she couldn't remember her name.

"Where's Dudley?" demanded Petunia.

"He's asleep," said Harry, "He was hurt far worse than you were."

"I saw him hit in the head," said Petunia.

"He was," said the girlfriend, "The healers managed to keep him alive. He'll have a nasty scar for the rest of his life, but he'll live."

Petunia nodded, and managed to calm herself a bit. Dudley was alive, that was all that mattered.

"Uncle Vernon?" asked Harry, his eyes showing he suspected the worst.

Petunia closed her eyes. It didn't help. What they did still ran through her head.

"They cut him open, and... pulled everything out," said Petunia. "It was the blond haired boy, Snape called him Draco. He's the one who attacked Dudley too."

"This was done by Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy," said Harry, his voice turning murderous. It wasn't a question, but Petunia nodded.

"I always knew Snape was up to no good," said Petunia, "Where am I?"

"You are in my home," said Harry, "you can stay here as long as you need to, so long as you remain civil. Once you want to leave, we can have arrangements made, but you should be safe enough here for the time being."

"We need to upgrade the defenses," said the girlfriend.

"Bill will be here in a couple of hours," said Harry, "We'll take care of it."

"Harry," said Petunia, "Thank you. You saved Dudley's life, and my own… I… Vernon should have let us move. You told us and we ignored you."

"Well, there's nothing to be done about it now," said Harry, "We can only move forward."

Petunia nodded. She couldn't do anything about it now. Suddenly she broke out into tears as her grief finally hit her. She was so consumed by her grief that she didn't see the long stare that Harry and his girlfriend gave each other. Finally, the girlfriend nodded and walked over and put an arm around Petunia, as she cried herself out.

XXXXX

**July 10th, 1997**

Petunia and Dudley stayed with Harry and Hermione for a few days, but it was clear that they weren't happy there. So Harry decided to set them up in an apartment in Edinburgh.

"There is nothing to link you here," said Harry as he led them into the apartment, "You'll be safe here."

The goodbye was awkward. Harry did leave them a phone number to contact him with. Just in case.

The rest of July was a bit of a blur to Harry, to be honest. Harry and Hermione spent a great deal of time with Blaise and Seamus. Blaise's anger at his father's death seemed to have passed, being replaced by grief. But Harry had noticed a change in Blaise. His tough guy exterior seemed to have disappeared, especially around Seamus. Seamus believed that Blaise was having some sort of epiphany, and Harry believed it. Though he wondered what it was. Time would tell, Harry guessed.

XXXXX

**July 31st, 1997**

On July 31st, Ginny Weasley was ready for action. She'd told her mother that Harry was going to come over in the morning, and she knew that Dumbledore would be there. The time had finally come to clear the air. But it was possible that Dumbledore wouldn't believe them. It was going to be a difficult morning.

Ron was downstairs early. Ron wasn't quite privy to all of the secrets Ginny was, but he knew today was going to be a mess. She knew he'd be on their side. Ron had a lot of faults, but he was a good brother. Most of the time.

Dumbledore also arrived early. Well, that was to be expected. Ginny wondered how he would explain himself. She wondered how her mother was going to explain herself.

When Harry and Hermione arrived, Dumbledore seemed to get more tense. Ginny wondered what he knew. Had Snape told him about the Triumvirate? Did Snape even know? Was Dumbledore still himself? It was all about to come to a head.

"Happy Birthday, Harry!" said Molly as Harry walked up to her and gave her a hug.

"Thank you," said Harry, "Hello Professor."

"Hello Harry," said Dumbledore, "Though I am no longer a Professor."

"It was an honorific," said Harry, "I hope you understand that I am not comfortable calling you by your given name."

"Of course, Harry," said Dumbledore.

"Listen, there is something we need to tell you Harry, as well as you, Ginny," said Molly.

"There are other things we need to discuss," said Dumbledore.

"And none are as important as this!" snapped Molly, "Hasn't hiding things from Harry managed to get you into enough trouble?"

Dumbledore nodded his assent to this.

"I am not proud of what we did," stumbled Molly, "But when you were still under Dumbledore's power, He and I, well, we made a decision for Ginny and you Harry. One I regret. We… oh this is so difficult. I don't even know why we did it."

"We signed a marriage contract between you and Ginevra here," said Dumbledore, cutting through the awkwardness.

"You shouldn't have done that," said Harry simply.

Both Molly and Dumbledore seemed to be bracing for more, and when it didn't come they both looked puzzled.

"I'm surprised at how well you are taking this Harry," said Dumbledore, "I was afraid you would be angry."

"Well, I am a bit angry," said Harry, "But as the contract can't possibly be valid, I don't feel that I need to be too upset."

"I assure you Harry, the contract is valid," said Molly, "I tested it myself."

"Have you done so recently?" asked Harry.

Both Molly and Dumbledore blinked. They obviously hadn't. Molly pulled out what seemed to be a copy of the contract, but Ginny guessed that it was the original. She cast a spell on it, and a red light came from her wand. Molly's shoulders sagged in relief.

"It's not valid!" said Molly, her voice on the verge of breaking down, she was so happy.

"I know that we checked it," objected Dumbledore.

"Oh, it probably was valid when you signed it back in my third year," said Harry, "But I spent the next two years trying to figure out how to get out of it. We finally managed it during the holidays of my fifth year."

"How?" asked Molly.

"I had sex with him," said Hermione nonchalantly.

"What?!" said both Molly and Dumbledore. Ron whistled. He hadn't known that.

"I had sex with him," repeated Hermione, "without him giving me explicit permission of course. There was just enough ambiguity in the language of the contract…"

"I see!" said Dumbledore, "Well, this is awkward."

"Real awkward," said Harry, "But it's done with. We have more important things to deal with."

"Have you even heard about the fates that befell your relatives Harry?" demanded Dumbledore suddenly, "Your uncle murdered, and your cousin and aunt taken?"

"Um, I know that my Uncle Vernon was killed, and I'm not exactly happy about that, but Petunia and Dudley are fine," said Harry, "They escaped using a Portkey I provided to them. They are currently safe in hiding."

Dumbledore's demeanour immediately grew less hostile. "I didn't know you gave them a Portkey...ah, it must have been blood activated. That's why you could save your aunt and cousin and not your uncle."

"Why do you keep jumping to all these conclusions about Harry," said Hermione.

"It's almost like someone is priming him to constantly think the worst of me," said Harry.

"Did your aunt identify her attackers?" asked Molly.

"It was Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape," said Harry, "Petunia, of course, is very familiar with Snape. He was trying to torture her to death when she broke loose."

"Harry…" started Dumbledore.

"Okay, let's say for a moment that Snape didn't mean it, he was just doing what he had to to allay the Dark Lord's fears," said Harry, "I don't think the ends justify the means here, but I can see the logic there. It makes sense. But that doesn't explain why he didn't tell you. Or why he kept lying to us about you, or lying to you about me. Did you know that he told me that you were trying to turn me into a Dark Lord? A Dark Lord for the muggleborns? All so you could control the magical world by your standards."

"That's preposterous," said Dumbledore.

"Yes it is," said Harry, "But given the lack of trust between us, I had to be sure. So I went and asked Grindelwald about it. And he convinced me that you were on our side. Given our recent discoveries about Snape, I realized that I needed to trust you."

"That's good to hear Harry," said Dumbledore, who seemed to be calming down a bit, "I have to admit, I'm glad to hear that Gellert thinks so highly of me after all this time. He meant well, I think, but somewhere along the way he became willing to do anything for his goals. But one thing I am not clear on, what recent discoveries about Snape are you thinking of?"

"The fact that he was spying on me and Luna?" said Ginny incredulously.

"I don't believe it," said Dumbledore, "I know Snape. He would never do something like that."

"He did," said Ginny, her voice able to freeze the Sun.

"Never is a big word, Albus," insisted Molly.

"Miss Weasley, Snape indicated to me that you have been framing him," said Dumbledore.

"I'm not," said Ginny, "he's lying."

"He's always been lying to you Professor," said Harry.

"I don't believe you," said Dumbledore, "You have hidden so much from me. Like your alliance with the Triumvirate. Snape says he has proof that you are involved with them."

And there it was. Dumbledore was not thinking critically. Now that Snape had access to his home potion supplies, Dumbledore was once again under his control.

"Is this true Ginny?" demanded Molly, "The Triumvirate are murderers!"

Ginny gave Harry a sad look. She felt awful. It was her fault that this was going to go so badly. If only she had come up with something else to do with those Death Eaters in the Ministry. But there was nothing for it.

"Mum," said Ginny, "We are the Triumvirate. Harry, Hermione and myself are the Triumvirate."

"Which we told Riddle when we faced him at the Gaunt shack," said Hermione, "If Snape says there is evidence that we were involved, that means Riddle told him that. Snape knew we were the Triumvirate and didn't tell you."

"You killed all those people?" asked Molly, her voice small.

"It was my idea," said Ginny, her eyes full of tears, "I was just so mad after Dad's death, I just couldn't see any other way to deal with it. Harry fought me all the way on this, but when Hermione decided to support me, well it was two to one. But after we did it..."

"It was wrong," said Ron, "But we haven't done that again."

"Harry, I thought..." stammered Dumbledore, "Severus is right. You are far more dangerous than I thought."

"Professor, maybe we should listen to them," said Molly, "they clearly feel badly over what has happened."

"No, I will not throw down one Dark Lord to let another raise up in his place," said Dumbledore, "I made that mistake once. Goodbye Harry, Hermione, Ginny."

And with that, he stormed out.

"Dammit, I didn't even think that Snape might be potioning him again," admitted Harry.

"Snape is using potions on Albus?" asked Molly. Harry nodded.

Molly immediately turned to Ginny. "You have to leave, all of you. Now. This place is only safe because it is under the protection of the Order. Once that protection is withdrawn, all of you will be in great danger."

"Mum…" said Ginny.

"I am not kicking you out Ginny," said Molly, "I believe you when you say you regret what you did, and I wish to speak more on this. But you all need to leave now. Ron, take Ginny to Bill and Fleur's new home. Hopefully she can stay with them."

"You know about that?" asked Ginny.

Molly smiled. "Of course. I also know that they wanted to get married this summer, but decided against it because they didn't want to invite people from France while the war is on, not after Arthur's death at least," said Molly, "Now go there, and stay safe! I couldn't bear to lose you Ginny."

"Right!" said Ginny.

Molly turned to Harry and Hermione, "I will see you at school. Though you may find things very interesting this year."

Ginny grabbed Ron by the arm. "Goodbye Mum," she said, tears in her eyes. There was so much she needed to say!

"Goodbye my dear," said Molly. And Ginny appareated away with her brother, into the unknown.

XXXXX

Harry and Hermione apparated back onto Harry's property.

"That went poorly," said Hermione.

"Yeah," said Harry. Somehow, Snape had managed to start potioning Dumbledore again, and Harry hadn't even considered it a possibility until it was too late.

"We should stock up the complex here," said Hermione, "If we need to gather large numbers of people, the order won't be able to help."

"Yeah," said Harry. What Hermione was talking about was important, but suddenly Harry wasn't interested in it anymore. He realized that for the first time since his third year, that damn contract wasn't being held over his head.

"So, I just had a thought," said Harry, "I… well now that the marriage contract business is done and disposed of for good, well, I feel free for once."

"That's good," said Hermione, "Though in reality we've been free for a year and a half."

"I want you to know that I love you," said Harry, "And I know that you will want your parents to be here when it happens, but when this war is over, when they can be here, will you marry me? I just... I want you to know that I intend to spend the rest of my life with you"

Hermione blinked as if she'd just been blindsided. "I… yes! I will marry you."

"I didn't get a ring," said Harry, "It was just a spur of the moment thing. But when we head to Diagon…"

"I don't care about a ring," said Hermione. And suddenly, she was kissing him as hard as she'd ever kissed him before.

And for a moment, Harry forgot all his troubles.

**Author's Note:** So I had a question as to why Harry didn't try to reduce Voldemort to his wraith form. Harry isn't sure that Voldemort is killable in that form, even with all the horcruxes destroyed. Plus, if Voldemort becomes a wraith instead of dying, it will be obvious that he has another horcrux, which Voldemort would then hide as deeply as he could.

Harry asking Hermione to marry him was a spontaneous writing decision. Originally Harry wasn't supposed to get married at all. But I realized that Harry and Hermione would want to eventually get married, and this was the first moment when Harry would feel that it was something he could actually promise her.

Originally I only intended Dudley to escape the massacre at Privet Drive, but originally it was Voldemort who attacked them. Once I realized I could use Petunia to identify Snape I switched to the Draco/Snape version. There's actually a little more to why these things are related, but telling that would be spoilers. Petunia will show up again though.

Next Time: Honestly, I'm not going to tease this next chapter. It's going to be rough.


	50. A Time to Mourn

**Chapter 50: A Time to Mourn**

**August 2nd, 1997**

Minerva McGonagall had to admit, being Headmistress wasn't easy. It meant making difficult choices. Firing Albus had been an exceedingly difficult decision. He had understood, of course, and he even had to admit she wasn't wrong. But the moment she'd understood that Dumbledore had anticipated that someone might try to kill him, and that it might cause collateral damage, McGonagall had leaned towards not renewing his contract. The discovery that he still supported Snape, and thought the man was innocent, had been the last straw. It spoke very poorly of his judgement.

McGonagall didn't regret canning Snape at all. The man should be in prison, but he had disappeared. Supposedly Dumbledore knew where he was, but he wasn't talking. McGonagall wasn't sure that Snape could be trusted at all anymore, but Dumbledore had made sure that this wasn't her decision. Still, something about Snape made McGonagall's skin crawl. She absolutely would never have believed that Severus would do something like spying on Ginny until the proof sat in front of her, though she did admit she could see him having helped kill Vernon Dursley. Flitwick still thought something was fishy about it, but he also said that he had no doubts about Snape's guilt, just that he thought they were missing some piece of information that would make it all make sense. McGonagall didn't think that would be forthcoming. Sometimes things just didn't make sense.

With two teaching slots open, McGonagall had been busy. Luckily, Bill Weasley had stepped up to volunteer for the Dark Arts position. McGonagall was a bit concerned about that, because of the curse, but Bill had laughed it off, saying he could handle a little curse. The transfiguration position was proving difficult though. There was one candidate, but McGonagall was a bit wary of hiring him as a teacher. While excellent at Transfiguration, Sirius Black was a bit of a wild card as far as discipline went.

But today, McGonagall and Flitwick were meeting with Harry and Hermione. They had been selected as Head Boy and Girl. For Hermione it had been unanimous. But Harry had proven contentious. Sinestra was against him, but McGonagall suspected that was because of his living situation at school, which McGonagall had to admit was a bit of a double standard. While McGonagall herself hadn't entirely approved of that, she had decided to allow it for one reason: she did not want to punish Harry and Hermione for doing the right thing. They had enough pressure on them with their… extracurricular activities. Plus, they'd both been at least sixteen, and they had obeyed the school rules. If they had been even slightly less responsible, McGonagall wouldn't have ever considered it though.

Flitwick had been behind Goldstein, as had been Sinistra, but Professor Sprout had been fully behind Harry. She had said her badgers had nothing but good to say about Harry. With Dumbledore gone, Molly Weasley had stepped up as head of Gryffindor. And she had also given her full-throated support for Harry. So it had been up to McGonagall. And in the end she knew that the person everyone in the school looked up to was Harry Potter, not Anthony Goldstein.

"I hope you aren't too disappointed that Anthony didn't get it," said McGonagall.

Flitwick grinned. "I think I'll survive. Potter deserved it. I probably wouldn't have even mentioned Anthony if I'd known Sinistra was going to flip like that."

"If her house ever discovers that she voted against a Slytherin Head Boy…" said McGonagall.

"Doesn't bear thinking of," said Flitwick, his smile turning vicious.

McGonagall 'heard' the sound of someone coming to the gargoyle outside the headmistress' office. "Harry and Hermione have arrived. Enter."

A few moments later, the new Head Boy and Girl entered McGonagall's office. They were both deep in conversation.

"It has to be here, in this room," said Harry.

"Maybe, but it could have drifted," said Hermione.

"Riddle took precautions against that," said Harry.

"He's screwed up basic things like that before," said Hermione.

"Only only one way to find out," said Harry, "Headmistress, do you mind if we cast a spell?"

"You're of age Potter," said McGonagall, "Go ahead."

Harry spent a few moments in thought then cast a spell that McGonagall didn't recognize. Suddenly a great black blotch appeared in the middle of the room.

"What is it?" asked a curious Flitwick.

"I think it's the curse on the Defense position," said Harry, "Tom Riddle put it here when he applied for it back in the 60's."

"It is here," said Hermione, "It shouldn't be though. It should have drifted."

"It's probably the magic on the Headmistress's office," admitted Harry.

"Well this is a fortuitous event," said McGonagall, "How did you figure it out?"

"Once we identified which curse was used it was easy," said Hermione, "We knew this was the only location Voldemort had easy access to."

"So how do we deal with this?" asked Flitwick.

"_Finite_," said Harry.

And the blob collapsed on itself and vanished.

"You have to be kidding me," said McGonagall in disbelief. A curse hounded people for decades, was even responsible for deaths, and a student defeated it with a Finite?

"The spell was too complex," said Harry, "It was meant to be hidden, but once found, it was easy to deal with."

McGonagall shook her head. These two students were indeed very formidable. "Well I must thank you for your service Mr. Potter, Miss Granger. That curse has been a great difficulty to the school for decades. But we are here to discuss your upcoming tenure as Head Boy and Girl."

"We will go over all the requirements of the position," said Fltiwick, "As deputy Headmaster, I will supervise you directly."

"One matter," said McGonagall, "You will have separate quarters in the school. It has a combined sitting and study room, but separate bedrooms. You are free to invite people into your sitting area, but neither of you is allowed to sleep in the same bedroom. Those rules go back to the founding of the school.

Harry grinned. "If that's the case then there is no problem," said Harry, "The rules back at the Founding were quite specific."

"Oh Potter, well done," said Flitwick admiringly.

"What am I missing?" asked McGonagall.

"The rules are different for couples that are betrothed," said Hermione, "And Harry and I are engaged."

Somehow, McGonagall was utterly unsurprised at this turn of events.

"Congratulations," said McGonagall, "Now if we can get back to the matter at hand?"

XXXXX

**August 4th. 1997**

Hermione took the amulet she'd made out of the drawer in her study. Harry had been kind enough to give her a room to use as a private study, and she appreciated the privacy it gave her. Of course, Harry was often here, as what they were working on they were working on together, but he wasn't one to disturb her when she was in here unless he had a reason to.

The amulet felt heavy in her hand. Well, it was made of alchemical silver, which had been the only material that Hermione had trusted for such a delicate enchantment. She stuffed the amulet in her satchel. Time to deliver it.

Hermione met Harry near the front door.

"Ready?" asked Harry.

Hermione nodded. "Let's do this," she said.

Both of them apparated to the Greengrass residence. Hermione still didn't like apparating. But Harry was reluctant to use the Floo network, and was in the process of taking his house off of it. Hermione suspected that the network had been under surveillance by the Death Eaters for some time. Harry was serious about hardening the Potter property. Things were going to get worse before they got better.

Hermione knocked on the door only to have Philomena open it for them. Philomena was a kind woman, and Hermione could tell that she agreed with her daughters far more than her husband did.

Bryant Greengrass came down the stairs to greet them. His expression was strained. While Hermione didn't exactly blame him for not liking them, she was worried about him. If he turned against Harry, or even just decided to take action to annoy Harry in retaliation for his frustration, he could be a big problem. Harry seemed to think Daphne had him tamed, but that wasn't what Hermione saw. No, this was a man who was looking to take his destiny back into his own hands. And that made him dangerous.

"Are you here to see Daphne?" said Bryant a bit stiffly.

"Actually, we're here to see Astoria," said Hermione, "We have something for her."

"Astoria is not well right now," said Philomena.

"I'm sure," said Harry, "But I think this will help with that. At the very least she'll feel better to know people are thinking of her."

Bryant left to go get Astoria, while Philomena led them into the sitting room. A few minutes later, Astoria came in with Daphne.

Hermione got up and gave Daphne a hug, as did Harry. Then Hermione pulled out the amulet. They'd learned a lot from Andromeda and Bill in the last few weeks. And they'd also talked to Madam Pomfrey when they'd been at Hogwarts. Occasionally Madam Pomfrey would train gifted seventh years in the basics of healing, allowing them to skip much of the first year of training. Harry and Hermione had gone over their plan to convince her to hold the class for them. Ultimately she'd agreed. She'd also been impressed with what they came up with.

"This amulet is designed to gather magical energy," said Hermione without prelude, "Simply put, it is a magical battery. We believe we can use it to treat your blood curse."

"You can cure it?" asked Astoria skeptically.

"No," said Harry, "This is a treatment that should allow you to live a normal life, but if you stop using it, the curse will continue to affect you."

"You see the Blood Curse works by draining your magical energy," said Hermione, "Now at Hogwarts, this isn't an issue. The entire place is suffused in magic, that's why it's such a great place for a school. The Drain is constantly compensated by your body's magical ability to absorb surrounding magic."

"The problem is that anywhere else this doesn't apply," said Harry, "Your body quickly depletes your magical energy, which draws on your physical strength to replenish itself. This amulet is designed to combat that by gathering and concentrating magical energy, then transferring it to you."

"That sounds very simple," said Astoria, "Why hasn't this been tried before?"

Hermione shook her head. "Two reasons. The first is that the Blood Curse has traditionally been seen as a disease, as opposed to what it actually is, which is a curse. A disease acts differently than a curse. Treating a magical disease like this wouldn't work, the disease would eventually adapt to consume the excess magical energy. But a curse only does what it is cast to do. The other reason is simple. Most magical medicine is based around curing conditions. This isn't a cure, it is a treatment to manage your condition. Those have only become common recently, most notably with the wolfsbane potion. Given both of those things, no one ever thought to consider that maybe replenishing your magical reserves might allow you to live a better life."

"We'll need to tune the amulet to you," said Harry.

"Okay," said Astoria. Harry began casting spells over Astoria, and giving instructions to Hermione. As Harry gave instructions, Hermione made magical adjustments to the amulet. It was very tricky work, but Hermione was proud of herself. Each spell had to be very exact, but she was quite confident that she had made no mistakes.

"It should be good," said Hermione as she finished her adjustments, "You should wear it at all times. It should recharge as you sleep."

Hermione handed the amulet to Astoria. She put it on and immediately her eyes lit up. "This feels _amazing_! How can I thank you?"

Harry shot Hermione a triumphant smile. "We actually are looking into removing your curse," said Harry, "But until we know a bit more it will be hard to do. Eventually we want to create a curse diagnostic spell, but that is beyond us at the moment. Once we get to Hogwarts though…"

"This amulet is also designed to map out the way the curse affects your body, but it can't do so when it is providing you with energy," said Hermione, "Keep wearing it at Hogwarts though and we'll be able to use it to track the curse. If we can identify the exact way the curse was cast, we can probably get rid of it."

Astoria threw her arms around Harry's neck, then let go and hugged Hermione as well. "I can't thank the two of you enough!"

Daphne smiled. "I had no idea you were looking into this," she said.

"We decided to go into Soul Healing," said Harry, "And we think this proves we have a knack for it."

Hermione wondered. She remembered that Fleur had told her that she needed a goal in life. Something that could give her a purpose beyond any relationship, something that was her life's work. This might be it. But there was also one other area she might be interested in. But she didn't want to rain on Harry's parade yet.

XXXXX

**August 25th, 1997**

It was the last week of August, and Harry and Hermione had come to Diagon Alley to do their school shopping. Indeed, the Alley was full of children doing just that, including most of the muggleborns from second year and up. Harry had to admit that it had been a productive summer. He and Hermione had made a lot of progress on their soul healing, the Army was finally getting organized to the point that Harry was willing to start pitting it against Death Eaters in open combat, and Harry had managed to spend at least some time with Blaise. Blaise was doing better, but he'd mostly just wanted time alone to think. Alone aside from Seamus that was.

Of course the first place Harry had to go was Gringotts. But there he had a surprise waiting for him. Brokgut was all too happy to speak to him, but when he came in, Nokbog was with him.

"Is, uh, something the matter?" asked Harry.

"Well, last year it came to our attention that you possess a goblin made artifact," said Nokbog.

"Oh," said Harry, "You mean the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff?"

"Quite so," said Brokgut, "Now you are a very good customer, so we didn't want to make an issue of it before we had to, but are you aware of how goblin property law works?"

"Yes," said Harry, "An item belongs to it's creator and his descendents in perpetuity, only being leased to others for a span of that person's life."

"Good," said Nokbog, "As you did remove a powerful curse from the Cup, there was no immediate hurry, and we had to determine who exactly owned the cup…"

"Well, I'd be more than happy to return it," said Harry, "I didn't know it was goblin made."

"All the Founder's artifacts are goblin made," said Nokbog.

"Wait, all of them?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, all of them," replied Nokbog, "Do you know where another one is?"

"We did temporarily have possession of Slytherin's locket," said Harry, "We gave it to the house elf Kreacher. It meant a lot to him as his master Regulus Black died trying to destroy the Horcrux Voldemort had put in it. And while he didn't exactly succeed, Kreacher did bring it to a place where we were able to cleanse it."

Nokbog thought about that for a moment. "We will contact Kreacher then. As I see it, his master's death in rescuing the relic would mean that it has been bought with blood. Kreacher thus has a right to the locket for the duration of his life, but after his death it would need to return to its rightful owner."

"That's good," said Hermione, "As Kreacher is an elf, I'm sure he'll agree. I'm more concerned with the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw."

"You found it?" said Nokbog incredulously.

"Voldemort did," said Hermione, "He made it a Horcrux. I cleansed it, but in the process, well it chose me to be it's master."

Nokbog considered this. "There is some precedent for this, but it doesn't exactly apply here. The Sword of Gryffindor has a tendency to show up to any worthy Gryffindor that needs it. Under Goblin law, this is quite permissible. However the right of use is only granted for the duration of the crisis that it is summoned for. But this doesn't apply to the Diadem. As far as I know, it chooses one worthy person and then won't choose another while that person is alive. In that case, and given that you cleansed it, you probably also have a lifetime use exemption. I will have to check on that though."

"Of course," said Hermione, "If you do need it back though, please let me know."

"We will," said Nokbog, "And thank you for your understanding. Not all wizards are willing to do as much."

"Now Mr. Potter, about that request you made…" said Brokgut.

XXXXX

Ginny Weasley waved as she entered Weasley's Wizard Wheezes with Fleur. Fred and George waved back and ran over to greet her. It really had been too long since she had seen the twins.

"Ginny, we haven't seen you since Christmas!" said Fred.

"Have you been avoiding us?" said George with a pout.

"Of course I have," said Ginny, "Having two disreputable brothers is bad enough, but to actually be seen with them?"

Both twins laughed at her sarcasm. Ginny was glad they were doing so well. The shop looked to be full of children (and some adults). It was clearly very popular.

"Mum's going to be here in just a few minutes," said Fred.

"I know," said Ginny, "Ron stayed back at the Leaky Cauldron to wait for her."

"There isn't any… you know… bad blood between you, is there?" asked George.

"Not really," said Ginny, "That's all dealt with now." It wasn't really a lie. Ginny was pretty sure the two of them were good now. Of course, pretty sure wasn't certain.

"And if it isn't the beautiful Miss Fleur Delacour!" said Fred, who ran up and took Fleur's hand and kissed it.

"Always good to see you, Fleur," said George, kissing her other hand.

"What's this then!" said a voice from the back of the shop. It was Angelina Johnson. She grabbed both twins by the ear and dragged them away from Fleur.

"We were just greeting our future sister-in-law!" protested Fred.

"Mhmm," said Angelina, clearly unconvinced, "And just you wait until I tell Alicia about this George! She's mad enough at you as it is!"

Fleur just laughed. She clearly knew the twins meant nothing by their little display, they were just trying to have a laugh. Ginny wondered about how to extricate them from this situation, but it was then that Molly and Ron arrived.

"Well, as good as it 'as been to see all of you, I must get to work," said Fleur. Everyone waved goodbye to her as she walked out of the store.

"Is it difficult, living in the same house with her?" George asked Ron.

"Nah," said Ron, trying to be nonchalant, which sent Ginny into a fit of giggles.

"He was walking around in a permanent haze," said Ginny.

"Ronald!" shouted Molly.

"I can't help it!" said Ron

Ginny walked over to Angelina as her family squabbled. "Anything to report?" Ginny asked.

"A few odd characters have been hanging around the last few days," said Angelina, "If I didn't know any better I'd say they were casing the alley."

"Damn," said Ginny, "Well if they're going to do anything, today will be the day to do it. They're holding a Muggleborn orientation today."

"I'm not too worried about the kids in orientation," said Angelina, "Flitwick can protect them. But most of the rest of the muggleborns come and do their shopping today as well."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to be vigilant," said Ginny.

XXXXX

Harry and Hermione weren't in a hurry today. They had seldom come to Diagon Alley, as they believed that most days their presence here would act as a danger. But today was different. If Voldemort was going to try anything, it would be today.

"Hermione, Harry!" said a voice. It was Amy, and she was with her family, right outside Flourish and Blotts.

"Hey Amy," said Hermione happily.

"My name is Carrie," said Amy's mother, "and this is Max. Amy's told us a lot about you. Apparently she looks up to the two of you."

"Well I'm glad that she likes us," said Harry.

"Professor McGonagall seemed to think there was some issue in her sorting?" asked Max, "It wasn't very clear."

"It has been traditionally very rare for muggleborns to get sorted into Slytherin," said Hermione, "In fact, Amy and I are the only muggleborns sorted there in the last 50 years. During the last war, most of Lord Voldemort's support came from former members of Slytherin."

"But things have changed, correct?" asked Carrie.

"Harry and I have worked very hard to change this," said Hermione, "And I think we've largely succeeded. But I am sorry to say that we won't be in the Slytherin common room very much this year, Amy."

"Why not?" said Amy.

"We're Head Boy and Girl this year," said Harry, "So we have private quarters outside Slytherin."

"Ooooh, so you're going to be spending all your time kissing, huh?" said Amy.

Harry and Hermione both started laughing, though Harry thought that his cheeks might be a bit red. They certainly felt warm.

"If only we could," said Hermione, "But we're going to be a little busy to spend all our time kissing. Though Harry did ask me to marry him." Hermione held out her hand. On it was the engagement ring that Harry had asked the goblins to craft for her. It had a fairly sizeable diamond on it, and the band had tiny inlaid emeralds.

"Oh, how wonderful," said Carrie, "You're waiting for school to be over?"

"The war, really," said Hermione, "My parents went into hiding a year ago, and I want them at my wedding."

"Is it that bad?" asked Max, "Should we be in hiding?"

"They are only hiding because I'm dating Harry Potter," said Hermione wryly, "And he's sort of become Voldemort's archenemy, given that Voldemort was initially defeated by Harry as a baby."

"It was my mother that defeated him," said Harry, "She just did it by casting a protection spell on me."

"What's this?" asked Carrie.

Harry resigned himself to telling this story again. "Okay, I was born during the last war," said Harry, "There was a prophecy that said someone born on the day I was born would defeat Voldemort, who's real name is Tom Riddle, by the way. So he came to kill me. He murdered my father and mother, but my mother died trying to protect me, which caused a powerful protection spell to cause Riddle's cures to rebound on him. So that's why he went away the first time."

"He keeps coming after Harry, but it always ends badly for him," said Hermione.

"Once I'm out of school, I'm going to take up the fight against him full time," said Harry.

"Well that's a story," said Max.

"In any case, the new prefects from our year are going to be Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini," said Hermione, "So they'll make sure you are safe."

"Daphne is very nice," said Amy, "But Blaise is a little intense sometimes. Though I do feel sorry about his father, that was so sad. Also is it normal for prefects to swear as much as Blaise?"

"What's this?" asked Max.

"Blaise does have a tendency to swear," said Harry.

"It's actually a pretty Slytherin trait to be honest," said Hermione, "It took years for me to give up stopping these reprobates from swearing."

"I wasn't so bad," said Harry.

"You were less bad than Blaise and Daphne, but they rubbed off on you," said Hermione, "And let's not even talk about Ginny…"

Suddenly Harry realized something was wrong, a momentary tingle in his senses that something was not quite right. Looking up he saw hooded figures appearing with a crack.

Death Eaters.

"_Protego Maxima!_" Harry roared as he created a barrier between the Case family and the Death Eaters.

"Get behind us!" shouted Hermione.

"But…" started Max.

"You can't fight these men! Get behind us!" said Harry.

The Cases ran behind Harry and Hermione who had begun casting spells furiously. There were at least five Death Eaters in the immediate proximity. Harry knocked out one, as did Hermione, but the Death Eaters began casting spells at them. One was casting the killing curse! Harry pulled one of the street carts in the way of that right away. In moments, all five Death Eaters were down.

An Auror ran up to the site of the battle. Harry could hear signs of fighting in other parts of the alley. He needed to get into the fight.

"Are you all right Harry?" asked the auror. It was Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"I'm fine, but others are in danger," said Harry.

"Head into the bookstore, it should be safe inside now," said Hermione to the Case family.

"You going to help?" asked a surprised Kingsley.

"Of course," said Harry.

"Dumbledore said…" started Kingsley, but he shook his head, "Later. Let's take out these Death Eaters."

XXXXX

When the Death Eaters tried to enter Weasley's Wizard Wheezes they got more than they bargained for. Ginny, Molly, Ron, Fred, George, and Angelina all turned their wands on the intruders immediately. It was probably overkill. Five Death Eaters were floored immediately.

"I need to join the fight," said Ginny.

"Ron and I will go with you," said Molly.

"We can come too!" said George.

"No, we have to protect our customers," said Fred, shaking his head.

"Good thinking Fred," said Ginny as she led the way out into the street. The sounds of combat greeted her ears, screams, spellfire and explosions.

This was bad. This was very bad.

XXXXX

When the attack started, Fleur had almost reached Gringotts. As Death Eaters had joined the fray, Fleur had joined a few wizards in repelling them. Moments later though reinforcements came from within the bank. A number of goblins armed with pikes marched out onto the front steps. In the middle of them was Brokgut.

"Fleur, tell people that Gringotts is a safe haven," said Brokgut.

Fleur nodded. Goblin neutrality meant that they couldn't take part in the battle except to offer shelter to bystanders. Even the Death Eaters would have to be crazy to attack Gringotts, though. The Goblins might appear to only be carrying pikes, but those pikes were very enchanted. In ways that would confound even wizards.

Fleur saw a child, probably a first or second year muggleborn running down towards Knockturn Alley. He barely managed to miss being hit by a nasty looking curse. Fleur disabled his attacker with a quick stunner then ran over to the boy.

"Not that way child!" she cried out, "Into the bank! It is safe."

The child nodded his thanks then ran towards Gringotts. Fleur moved up the alley. Many Death Eaters were down, but so were a lot of other people. Fleur passed the body of a muggle woman. She'd been gouged by a nasty curse that left multiple cuts all over her body. Fleur leaned over to check her pulse, but the woman was clearly dead. Fleur wondered if it had been that boy's mother. A muggle man was nearby, gasping for air, blood gurgling from his mouth.

Fleur didn't know many medical spells, but she tried what she could. But suddenly she had bigger problems when a Death Eater suddenly emerged from a nearby shop. He moved smoothly, but he hadn't seen Fleur yet.

Unfortunately, the sight of these two muggles had Fleur's blood up. And seeing this Death Eater walking around was too much for her. She launched a blistering assault on the man. He managed to block most of her attacks, but she did knock his hood off.

Fleur snarled when she saw him. "Severus Snape," she practically spat at him.

XXXXX

This attack had been a disaster, thought Harry. Many innocent people had been killed. But it was every bit as much of a disaster for Voldemort. Dozens of his men were down. He was going to lose a significant number of his men in this battle.

Harry, Hermione and Kingsley had met up with Ginny, Ron and Molly. Shortly afterwards Blaise and Seamus had joined the group, coming out of the Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"Six Death Eaters who won't be bothering anyone again," said Blaise grimly.

Kingsley shook his head disapprovingly, but it was self-defence. He couldn't exactly complain about it. Harry had been sticking to non-lethal spells, but he'd been fighting in the open streets with innocent bystanders all around. He probably would have done the same as Blaise if he'd had the opportunity.

"Looks like the area around Gringotts got hit the hardest," said Seamus, "I saw Fleur heading that way, so hopefully some people got out.

Quick reactions from wizards up and down the alley had kept the loss of life in other areas to a minimum but there had been losses. But when they got to Gringotts…

Corpses littered the street right outside Knockturn Alley. All adults, thank heavens. But one badly mangled body struggled to move.

"Fleur!" screamed Hermione, running towards her friend. Fleur was covered in spell gouges. One of her arms had been completely severed, and her whole body was covered in huge gashes. Harry didn't need to do any diagnostics. He could tell by looking at her what was going to happen.

"I tried," said Fleur, barely conscious, "I saved those I could, but then he… Dra… Snape… couldn't stop him."

"We'll get you help!" said Hermione frantically, "Just hang on! We can get healers."

"Take care of 'er 'Arry," said Fleur, "And Ginny, tell Bill that I love 'im."

"I… I will," said Ginny, her eyes filled with tears.

"NO!" screamed Hermione, "You can't die. You can't!"

"Oh, my friend, I would 'ave liked to see what you became," said Fleur. And then she closed her eyes for the last time.

Hermione let out a horrified shriek of rage, then threw her face into Fleur's hair as she began sobbing desperately. Harry knelt down beside her and put his hand on her back. After a moment Hermione pulled herself away from Fleur and buried her face in Harry's chest.

XXXXX

Snape had killed Fleur.

It was the only thing that Harry could think as he walked down the street, still dazed from what had happened. He was vaguely aware of Blaise following him, but wasn't really in any state to ask any questions. He made his way back to the bookstore. He had a vague idea of seeing whether the Case family was all right.

Ginny and Molly were with Hermione still. Hermione had managed to calm down a bit, but she was still a mess. But Harry had things that needed to be done. Hermione had told him to do them. So here he was, taking care of them.

Back at Flourish and Blotts, he saw the Case family peeking out from one of the windows. Cassie poked her head out of the door. "Is it over?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "The Death Eaters have retreated, those that could. This could have gone a lot worse." Harry's throat locked up after he said that. How could he have said that? It was true of course. But all he could think of was Fleur.

"Are you all right?" asked Carrie. Max and Amy had now followed her out, and others from inside the building followed them.

"Yeah, I… a friend of mine didn't make it," said Harry.

"Maybe you should take a break," said Max.

"That is a very good idea," said Blaise.

"I have to make sure everyone is all right," said Harry.

"You already did that Harry," said Blaise, "You're in shock right now. You need to take it easy. Running yourself to death won't bring Fleur back."

Suddenly a rush of Aurors poured into the Alley. Not that there was any point. It was all over. It had been over for almost fifteen minutes. Then Harry narrowed his eyes. Fudge was with them. Had Fudge delayed the main Auror response so he could make an entrance?

Fudge also saw Harry. "Harry, what is the situation? We came as soon as we could."

From the looks on the Aurors faces, Harry could tell that was a lie. He pulled his temper up short. Snapping on Fudge wasn't going to get Harry anything right now.

"We drove them off," said Harry, "Things weren't bad down here, lots of people fought back immediately. Down near Knockturn Alley though, things were rough. A bunch of people died. Fleur died."

"Fleur Delacour!" said Fudge, seeming shocked, "That's horrible! An international incident. Oh, and I know she was your friend Harry. I am so sorry." Was he really shocked? Or was he just feigning it?

"This is what we get," said Harry.

"Excuse me?" asked Fudge.

"We, magical society as a whole, let the disease of pureblood supremacism fester after the fall of Voldemort," said Harry, "And this is what we get. And you helped bring this about. We could be better than this. We should be better than this. But we aren't. And I'm sick of making excuses."

And Harry stormed off. He knew he probably had angered Fudge. But he didn't care. He didn't care about any of it right now.

"Harry," said Blaise, "Let's get Hermione and get you home."

"Bill," said Harry, "Someone has to tell Bill."

"Molly and Ginny will handle it," said Blaise, "But you are in no fit state for anything. Come on, let's get Hermione home."

Harry nodded. It did sound like a good idea.

XXXXX

That evening, Harry sat alone on the lawn behind his home. Hermione was asleep. He'd given her a light sleeping draught. She needed it. She was still so messed up. She was going to need him in the coming days. Fleur had been very special to Hermione, a friend who had helped her at a very important part of her life. Her death had devastated Hermione.

"How are you doing Harry?" came a voice. It was Blaise.

"I'm… as well as can be expected," said Harry.

"Well if you'd said you were okay I'd have smacked you," said Blaise, "because you aren't."

Harry nodded. He knew that. Fleur's death had hit him hard. But what to do?

"You know it's okay to mourn her," said Blaise, "She was your friend. You don't have to keep it all bottled inside."

"Hermione needs…" started Harry.

"Hermione isn't here," said Blaise, "Just me. And you can cry your eyes out if you want, I don't give a damn. Believe me. I've spent all summer thinking about this sort of thing."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"I was trying to be tough, trying to take everything on my shoulders," said Blaise, "Danny was right, I was out of my depth. In my quest to stop my mother, I was becoming her. And I didn't see it. That's what makes us different from Voldemort and his true believers. Our capacity to care and love. It's what makes us better. And once I understood it, I was able to grieve. You need to grieve. It doesn't make you weak. It makes you strong."

"I don't… I have no idea where to go from here," said Harry, "I just... " And that was when he finally lost control. Harry began to sob uncontrollably. And Blaise put his arm around Harry's shoulders and pulled him close.

"That's right," said Blaise, "That's right. Let it out."

XXXXX

**August 26th, 1997**

Narcissa Malfoy seldom felt guilty for her role in helping the Dark Lord. She did believe in Pureblood Superiority. But then something like this happened. The story in the Prophet had been horrific. A child losing both of his parents. A teenage girl tortured and left babbling in the middle of the street. What had happened to the poor Delacour girl. Narcissa suddenly felt as if she was on the wrong side of things.

And the worst part was that the attack was essentially a failure. It had been repulsed so easily! So many of Clarise's men taken into captivity or killed. Almost forty of her men no longer able to serve. The entire cause looked rather grim at the moment. Oh sure, they'd killed a few mudbloods and muggles, but it didn't matter. Because the whole thing had just hardened everyone's resolve.

As she sat at the table looking across at Snape. Draco hadn't said much about the raid, but he and Snape had been arguing about something. Snape was clearly the Dark Lord's favourite right now. Draco had been with the raid as well. He'd killed those two muggle parents at least. How had she raised him so wrong that he could do that and look so confident.

"Our losses were grave," said Clarise, "But I have just recently come to an agreement with some of my counterparts from Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece. We will soon be able to hire men from those countries. For cheap. Or for free if we can get them enough spoils."

"Have we made any progress on taking the Ministry?" asked the Dark Lord.

"I have made progress, my Lord," said Nott, who was now standing, "I have found a new agent. One who will soon return to the highest levels of power within the Ministry."

"Who is it?" asked Rookwood, sneering.

Nott waved his wand, and a woman entered. A very toad-like woman.

"I trust we all remember Dolores Umbridge?" said Nott.

Narcissa's blood went cold.

**Author's Note:** So this is going to be a long one.

Fleur wasn't intended to die in this chapter (or at all) until I was close to finished writing chapter 49. Originally I was intending to kill Max Case. I decided against this because A. I had just introduced Max, so no one would care that much about him and B. This would undermine the fact that Harry had largely 'fixed' Slytherin. Amy as a character basically doesn't appear again, but it was important that the story not imply that somehow she gets punished for being sorted into Slytherin. Harry had made Slytherin safe for muggleborns and any plot point that undercut this had to go.

At the same time, Fleur wasn't originally supposed to be in chapter 50. Ginny was originally supposed to move into Potter Manor when she left the Burrow, not Shell Cottage. But Chapter 49 was originally supposed to have her at odds with her mother, but instead Molly took Ginny's side, which led to Molly sending Ginny to live at Shell Cottage. Which led to Fleur bringing them to Diagon.

I still needed someone to die, but it had to be someone significant, but who I wouldn't _need_ later. This left me with three options of approximately similar importance: Sirius, Fleur and Seamus. Seamus was immediately out, because I had long ago decided I wasn't going to fall prey to the "kill your gays" trope. Without going into detail, there are reasons that I am very reluctant to kill Sirius at this point in the story. So Sirius got to teach Transfiguration, but Fleur really got the short end of the stick.

The reason I needed to kill someone important is that I needed Harry to be at odds with Fudge again. The whole end of the story needs Harry to be so raw that he couldn't contain his anger at Fudge's political apathy anymore. This was only necessary because Harry had sort of made up with Fudge in fifth year, something that was only able to happen because I didn't kill Sirius in third year. It's crazy, you make one change in a story and it affects so much in terms of where your story can go.

I actually have a lot more to say about my fanfic writing going forward from here, but I don't want this to go on much longer. So I will be posting a topic on my forum about my publishing schedule and my upcoming fics.

Next Time: Seventh Year begins, and Draco shows how well he knows Harry. Also, the Order grows a spine.


	51. Unlikely Allies

**Content Warning:**

Character Death, Disturbing (implied) Sexual Content.

**Chapter 51: Unlikely Allies**

**August 27th, 1997**

Dolores Umbridge was in her element once again.

Oh, things were different of course. Percy had become even more indispensable to Fudge. That would have to be dealt with. Indeed Percy himself needed a comeuppance. Nothing lethal, at least until the Dark Lord took over, the boy had just been serving his minister. Umbridge could admit that she hadn't adapted well once Fudge shifted course, but her rage at Potter and the Greengrass girl had blinded her. Though she wondered if Percy would just sit by when Umbridge went after his sister. He might. If so, perhaps she would hold off on his reckoning.

Also, Fudge no longer listened to any of the Death Eaters. Bryant Greengrass had his ear, but he was the only major pureblood figure to do so. Greengrass was an open opponent of the Dark Lord of course, but Umbridge had detected some frustration from the man. He was clearly a pawn of Potter, and he just as clearly didn't like it. He'd prove useful right up until the Dark Lord took over for real.

The best thing was that Fudge was once again annoyed at Harry Potter. Potter had angered him with his impromptu moralizing right after the attack on Diagon Alley. The fact that Potter was right just made it worse. With even slightly less support for the supremacist cause, the Death Eaters would have withered after the fortunes of the most powerful of them were destroyed.

Potter's ire had leaked into the Prophet however. It was by this point an open secret that Harry owned the Daily Prophet. And with the Prophet calling for reforms, Fudge looked especially bad. Fudge was livid of course.

Umbridge was willing to play second fiddle to Fudge for a little while. He served a purpose. But soon he wouldn't, and then the Dark Lord had promised her that she would be Minister for Magic. And she'd put all the mudbloods in their place.

Oh, but that could wait. Because she had her first meeting with the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. And Snape had assured her, it was going to go well. So long as she stuck to the script.

"Come in, Dolores," said Dumbledore as he welcomed her into his office.

"You've been spending more time here of late," said Dolores.

"A byproduct of my new situation," said Dumbledore, "My focus remains on the downfall of Voldemort."

"Of course," said Dolores smoothly.

"So, what brings you here Dolores," asked Dumbledore.

"I am here to discuss what we are going to do about Harry Potter," said Umbridge, "He embarrassed the minister you know."

Umbridge had to be careful here. Snape informed her that while he had dosed Dumbledore with some potions that would keep him mildly befuddled, his intellect and will were prodigious. On top of that, Snape had been forced to dilute his potions by mixing them in Dumbledore's tea. It wouldn't do to mention what Harry actually said to Fudge. It might be enough to break him out of the potion induced stupor he was currently in. In that case he would almost immediately realize that Snape had played him. It was a delicate balance.

"Potter has become worrisome," admitted Dumbledore.

"Well, maybe we can reign him in a bit," said Umbridge. That was another thing Snape had said. If she so much as hinted that they intended to kill Potter, Dumbledore would unfailingly turn on her.

But she could thread this needle. She had to.

XXXXX

**September 1st, 1997**

September 1st had come again, and Harry was ready to go to school for the last time. This time, he intended to finish what he had started six years ago. Still, he had to admit, part of him wanted to stay. He felt that he could offer more as part of the war. But surely Voldemort's forces had to be near exhaustion. Harry shook his head. He'd just have to keep an eye out. Until Nagini came out of hiding, Harry had limited options for finishing things off.

One thing he was also worried about was Malfoy. Harry had seen him as the boy had boarded the train. Draco couldn't hurt Harry, but he might be able to hurt people around him. Harry had alerted Headmistress McGonagall of this possibility. Hopefully the fact that Harry wasn't staying in the Slytherin common room anymore would keep things calm.

Hermione was in her element. She'd made up packets for each of the prefects, and had them all labeled and placed on a seat in the prefect's compartment. It was so like her. But it made sense. Harry wondered if Flitwick would think Hermione had overreached her authority. It didn't matter. Overreach or not, the prefects would probably do what they were asked. Those that weren't in the Army respected Harry and Hermione anyway, and those in the Army would obey them in any event.

The prefects filtered in. Harry waved to Daphne and Blaise when they came in. They both gave Harry wry smiles. Before long all the prefects had gathered. The train hadn't even set out yet.

"All right," said Hermione, "as you all can see I gave you labelled packets full of things to go over.

Of course none of them had noticed. It took a few moments for everyone to transfer each packet to the person who was named on it. Hermione looked moderately annoyed, which became worse when the train suddenly lurched into motion.

"So these packets have copies of most of the school rules that will be relevant to you," said Hermione, "Obviously you should memorize those…"

"Not happening," said Blaise, "I'll just ask a teacher if I'm unsure."

"That is also an acceptable way to determine whether behavior is against the rules," said Hermione, giving Blaise the stink eye.

"There's more in the packet though," said Harry, "We wrote out some tips for how to deal with certain situations. One thing we mean to emphasize, blood status shaming or bigotry of any type will be dealt with immediately and harshly."

"Good," said Ginny.

"This is a priority for us," said Hermione, "And we want to make it a priority for prefects from here on out. So the packet has a lot of ways to deal with and diffuse situations, and positive ways to deal with people who express pureblood rhetoric."

"The most important thing is that it doesn't go unchallenged," said Daphne.

"We have a patrol schedule for the train already made up," said Harry, "And Susan? Ernie? We need to speak to you both. We have a special job for you two."

The two Hufflepuffs nodded. Harry waited until all the other prefects had read their assignments and left.

"We aren't on the assignment list," said Ernie.

"I suppose that means you want us to watch Malfoy?" asked Susan.

The Ministry had decided against pressing charges against Malfoy or Snape. Amelia had expressed interest in pursuing charges, but Fudge had refused to allow it to go further, saying that the Wizengamot would never convict on the word of muggles alone. At least Snape had an arrest order out for the killing of Fleur Delacour. But he had disappeared.

Hermione nodded. "Malfoy's dangerous. He's a seventh year, so it has to be a seventh year, but it can't be us. If we start following Malfoy… well he won't react well to that. Same for a Gryffindor or one of the Slytherins. However, he doesn't know whether the two of you were part of the plan that killed his father, so he probably won't react exceptionally violently to you following him."

"If you could provoke him into violence, couldn't you get him kicked out of school?" asked Ernie.

"Possibly," said Harry, "But other people might get hurt. Unfortunately, McGonagall wouldn't even hear of not allowing him back into school, not without charges. But he is dangerous. So keep an eye on him. If he does anything wrong I want to know about it."

"If you catch him trying to recruit Death Eaters, that we can get him thrown out of school for," said Hermione, "But we haven't managed to do it yet."

Ernie and Susan nodded. Draco was skilled enough that he could be a very dangerous opponent, but Harry had confidence in Ernie and Susan. They'd keep Malfoy under wraps.

XXXXX

Upon arriving at school, Harry immediately sought out Bill Weasley. Harry hadn't seen him since Fleur's death; Bill had gone to France for her funeral and Harry hadn't been able to make it. He found Bill just outside the Great Hall.

"Hello Professor Weasley," said Harry, "How are you handling things?"

Bill nodded to Harry. "I'll admit, it's still raw. It isn't real yet, if you understand what I mean. I'll see something and I'll say to myself that I need to tell Fleur, only to remember that she's gone. I've had a lot of support from the rest of the staff though. Mum of course, but Sirius and Pomona have been very helpful as well."

"Well, if you want to talk feel free to speak to me," said Harry.

"That goes for me as well," said Hermione, who had just walked up, "We were both friends with Fleur, so we would be only too glad to help you."

Bill nodded gratefully.

Harry and Hermione made their way into the Great Hall where they saw Sirius at the head table, speaking to McGonagall. Harry waved, and Sirius waved back with a huge smile as Harry walked up to the table.

"So this is what you've been up to?" asked Harry, "Professor Black, what is the world coming to?"

"I asked the same question myself," said McGonagall wryly.

"Hey, I am a very skilled Transfiguration expert," said Sirius, "And I know all the tricks! No students will be pulling the wool over my eyes."

"But will they be getting punished for trying?" asked Harry.

"Of course not!" said Sirius, "Lying to teachers is a Hogwarts tradition!"

"Oh Merlin," said McGonagall, putting her head in her hand.

"I'm kidding, of course," said Sirius, shooting a dirty look at Harry, "I should have known my godson would try to get me into trouble. It is well known that I can't resist making a joke."

Harry had turned to Professor McGonagall. "The train ride was relatively uneventful. But I had Ernie and Susan watching Malfoy. It looks like he's more or less completely become a loner. The only person who seems to be able to spend any time with him is Pansy."

"Do you think this means he is more likely to cause trouble?" asked McGonagall.

"Crabbe and Goyle weren't dependable, losing them wasn't a big loss for Draco " said Harry, "Draco is having a hard time recruiting people."

"I know you want me to expel Malfoy," said McGoangall, "But he has as much right to go to school here as anyone else until I have a legal reason to expel him."

"Just please keep an eye on him," said Harry, "He is very dangerous. He's still angry about the death of his father, and that could drive him to do stupid things. We know he's capable of cold-blooded murder."

McGonagall nodded. "I know you are concerned about the safety of the younger students, Harry, and I have taken some precautions. It's good that you are concerned about this as Head Boy. Just try not to harass Malfoy, please."

"I am staying as far away from Malfoy as my schedule permits," said Harry honestly, "If he goes off on anyone, it'll be me."

The sorting went off without a hitch. It was relatively uneventful, though another muggleborn was sorted into Slytherin, a young boy named Kevin. It was a good sign. Things had changed in the house of the snakes, hopefully forever.

XXXXX

Harry sunk into his bed, exhausted. Being Head Boy was going to be a lot of work. Flitwick had briefed all the prefects on their duties, and then had given more information to Harry and Hermione after all the other prefects had left. Fortunately, Flitwick had approved of Hermione's initiative in coming up with her packets. Flitwick at least was more inclined to take Malfoy seriously, he agreed with them that he was a danger and should have been expelled.

Hermione poked her head into Harry's bedroom. She was in her pajamas.

"You headed to bed?" she asked, "I actually wanted to talk for a second."

"Anytime," said Harry.

Hermione sat down on Harry's bed. "How are you doing? You've been doing an awful lot of comforting me these last few days, but Fleur was your friend too. I didn't mean to be neglectful…"

Harry waved her concern away. "You had your own grief to deal with, Blaise and I have been dealing with my grief separately."

"Well it is good you have had somebody to turn to," said Hermione, "Still, I've been soaking up your affection and not giving anything back. If you want me to, I'd be up for… something tonight."

Harry smiled. "That is a very kind offer," he said, "But it isn't what I need. Still…"

"Still?" inquired Hermione.

"Could you just hold me tonight?" Harry asked, "I just want to be close to someone."

Hermione smiled. "I'd be glad to," she said. She laid down on the bed and let Harry rest his head on her chest.

Harry sighed contentedly. "You make a good pillow," he said.

"You mean my boobs make a good pillow," Hermione teased, but there was no malice in her voice.

"Hmmmm," he murmured in agreement. Within moments he was fast asleep.

XXXXX

**September 2nd, 1997**

Nott sat in the common room, reading up on his Ancient Runes. It was quite late, and the common room was empty. It was only the second night back, and Nott was beginning to wonder if he could change roommates.

Ginny came into the common room, back from her Prefect rounds. Nott smirked. Her male counterpart had returned almost 45 minutes ago.

Ginny saw his smirk as she glanced at him. "What are you doing up?" she asked suspiciously.

"Malfoy has Pansy over," said Nott, "so I decided to do some studying for a while."

"Oh," said Ginny, "maybe I should do something about that."

"Isn't that a bit hypocritical of you?" asked Nott, "You're 45 minutes late. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you were with Justin."

"That's none of your business," said Ginny with a blush.

"I never said it was," said Nott, "but that also means that Malfoy and Pansy's tryst is none of your business either."

"Fair enough," said Ginny.

Nott smiled at her admission. It was a rare victory for him with her. He really was telling the truth. He didn't have any designs on Ginny anymore. But that didn't mean he was attracted to just anyone. He honestly didn't know anyone he was interested in right now.

"I, well I wanted to say something last year, but I couldn't find the words," said Nott, "but this summer was terrible. My father seemed to think that what Professor Snape did to you was a joke. All the Death Eaters do. And then he came to our house the day after he killed Fleur. I couldn't even look him in the eye."

"And?" asked Ginny impatiently.

"I just want you to know, Draco might think what happened was a joke, but I think that not only did Snape violate you and Luna, he violated the trust and privacy of every Slytherin by what he did. As Head of Slytherin House he had a duty to protect you and instead he exploited you, and that was a betrayal of all of us."

Nott exhaled sharply. It had felt strangely good to say that.

Ginny stood still for a moment. Then, she gave Nott a nod. It wasn't exactly warm, but it was civil.

"Thanks," said Ginny, "I'll admit that actually bothers me more than anything else. Snape perving on me is creepy on a personal level. But it was the fact that he was our teacher that really made it uncomfortable."

"Well, I'm glad you don't have to deal with that anymore," said Nott.

"If Snape had been coming back to school here he wouldn't have killed Fleur," said Ginny.

"Do not blame yourself for what Snape did," said Nott, "that will always be beyond your control."

"Good point," said Ginny, "I'm going to head for bed. You should do so as well."

Nott nodded. He figured he'd given Malfoy over an hour.

He walked back to his room and knocked. "Come in," he heard Malfoy say.

Nott walked back into his room. Pansy was still there. She was lying in bed next to Malfoy and she was naked. She wasn't exactly covering up either. Nott averted his eyes from her.

"Hey Theo," said Pansy with a laugh.

"You don't have to be shy Theodore," said Malfoy, "Pansy doesn't mind if you look at her, do you Pansy?"

"Uh-uh," confirmed Pansy as she shifted, giving Nott a rather… inappropriate view. He kept looking away. Pansy wasn't completely unattractive, but Nott was very, very not into this. It rather vaguely made him want to vomit actually.

"Actually, if you want to use her, you're welcome to do so. Pansy doesn't mind, do you?" Malfoy was sneering. It was clear that Pansy's father had ordered Pansy to do whatever Malfoy had said.

"Nope," said Pansy in a voice that very much said that she did mind that. The urge to vomit got stronger.

"Thanks, but I'll pass," said Nott, "In fact, I'm out of here."

Nott suppressed a shudder. How had he missed how twisted Malfoy had become? He went over and knocked on the door to Blaise's room. Blaise opened the door groggily.

"I need to move in with you," said Nott.

"Why should I let you move in here?" asked Blaise.

"I cannot take the way Malfoy treats Pansy anymore," said Nott, "He just offered to let me 'use' her."

Blaise shivered at hearing that. "Okay, that's fucked up. And I'm sorry that you had to deal with that," said Blaise, "You can move in."

"The way Malfoy treats her is disgusting," said Nott, "and she can't complain because her father could disown her."

"Fucking Death Eaters," said Blaise vehemently, "they ruin everything."

Nott was starting to agree.

XXXXX

**September 4th, 1997**

When Harry found out what Nott had seen Malfoy do, he'd immediately reported it to Professor Sinistra. She hadn't been impressed by Harry's concern. Sometimes Harry felt like he was yelling at a brick wall. Couldn't they see? Malfoy was dangerous! Harry felt a pang of guilt about that; Lucius Malfoy's death had almost certainly not helped matters.

Harry wasn't sure Nott had made the right decision in changing rooms. But he had to admit that if Pansy was in danger from Malfoy, Nott probably was as well. Harry suspected that Malfoy was up to something, though hopefully his dysfunctional relationship with Pansy wouldn't enter into it.

In any case, Harry had a meeting with Colin, and he was late. Apparently, Colin had some concerns about the security at Hogwarts. The IUC was apparently very concerned about the fact that there was no easy way to evacuate the school if it came under attack. Which was a topic that Harry had put some thought into.

"The problem is that all we can really do is send people through the Floo," Colin was saying to Hermione as Harry arrived, "But after what happened with Umbridge, some people suspect that the ministry might not be secure."

"Hell, if you give Fudge the wrong idea he can turn on you in an instant," said Harry. It wasn't a rhetorical statement. Fudge had begun to clamor against Harry quietly in the Wizengamot. Percy had made it clear the Umbridge was behind this, and she was working with Dumbledore. This was concerning.

"Voldemort won't attack the school unless he knows the Ministry won't intervene," said Hermione, "which means the Floo would be unsafe to use. At least it normally would be."

"What does that mean?" asked Colin.

"The Ministry only tracks registered Floo destinations," explained Harry, "Which makes sense! Individual Floos in the network don't have the power to just send you wherever you want. They have to connect to the network."

"But Hogwarts has dozens of Floos," said Hermione, "working in concert, they _could _send you to any fireplace in Britain. Including one that isn't on the grid."

"So if we had a safehouse, we could evacuate to there…" mused Colin.

Harry grinned, "Funny thing, I happen to have an underground base with an unregistered floo. With four of them in fact. They _were_ on the Network, but I had them taken off."

"Won't that expose your home to being discovered?" asked Colin.

Harry shrugged. "Eventually maybe. But it's currently under an anti-apparition ward. No one will find it easily."

"As long as no one leaves the wards area they won't be able to apparate back there later," said Hermione, "as you can only apparate to a place you've already been."

"So the Headmistress has approved this?" asked Colin.

"Not exactly…," admitted Harry.

"You're just going to do it without asking permission, aren't you?" said Colin with a wry smile.

"It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission," said Harry.

"Oh, this is a colossally bad idea," said Colin, "but yeah, I can get the club officers of the IUC to go along with it. Along with everyone in the army… yeah we can make this plan work."

"Hopefully we won't need it," said Hermione.

XXXXX

**October 31st, 1997**

The note came to Harry on Halloween. That should have warned him that something was wrong. Well, maybe it did. The note was simple.

_Harry,_

_I need help. Draco is starting to scare me. Meet me outside the greenhouses at 1:00 PM. Come alone. We will only have a few minutes before he comes looking for me, so we'll have to be quick._

_Pansy_

Okay, Harry had to admit that it was suspicious. Yet it could be legitimate. Harry really did believe that Pansy was in danger. Yet it could also be a trap. But if this was a trap by Draco, why wasn't it trying to lure him off school grounds? Harry knew that Draco couldn't hurt him, but that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous. So in the end, Harry decided to go to the meeting, but he asked Hermione and Ginny to tag along under the invisibility cloak. They'd stay a respectful distance away, but would be able to jump in if there was a problem.

As Harry approached Pansy, he immediately knew it was a setup. She was nervous, yes, but her attitude showed her to be scared of Harry, not someone else showing up.

Harry sighed. "Draco, you can step out now," said Harry, "I'm really disappointed Pansy, this was a very feeble trap."

"Not as feeble as you think, Potter," said Draco, appearing out of nowhere and pointing his wand at Harry.

"I can dodge your spells Malfoy," said Harry contemptuously.

"Well, I'll be throwing killing curses," said Malfoy, "and you might notice that behind you the third year Hufflepuffs are all talking to each other."

"Fuck," said Harry as he understood the trap. There weren't many loose rocks or anything he could use to block Malfoy's attacks. He also couldn't dodge, or he risked Malfoy's spells hitting the Hufflepuffs. He hoped Hermione had heard this… otherwise it was going to be nasty.

Draco began hurling killing curses. Harry quickly began intercepting them with small rocks and objects around him, but Draco had chosen his battlefield well. There was precious little to use here. Suddenly, there was a massive sound of earth tearing from behind Harry. He smiled as Hermione summoned a huge wall of earth behind him. On the plus side, it meant Draco couldn't threaten the Hufflepuffs anymore. Unfortunately Hermione and Ginny were also on the other side of that wall. It would take them precious moments to get around it.

Suddenly Draco grabbed Pansy by the back of the neck and put his wand to her head. But Pansy's reaction to this was telling. She was smiling. Draco had anticipated that his plan might fail, and Pansy had agreed to help him escape. But the look in Draco's eyes…

Harry gasped as he suddenly understood what was happening. Draco knew him better than he had thought! He'd always known that it would come to this. This whole charade was so that Pansy wouldn't struggle.

"Draco," said Harry softly and urgently, "You can go. I won't stop you. Just don't hurt her."

"Oh Potter, always trying to be the hero. Even to those who don't really like you," Draco's face was completely contemptuous, "Think Pansy will join you little harem if you can save her from the big bad Malfoy? Not likely."

"I freely admit that if you free Pansy it will be entirely your doing, Malfoy," said Harry, "I'm not going to try to stop you from getting away. Why would I? Just let her go, and I'll let you go. You know I'll keep my word."

"Of course, because you're so honorable," said Draco, "LIKE WHEN YOU KILLED MY FATHER!"

"Pansy didn't kill your father," said Harry trying to hide his fear.

"Like I give a fuck!" screamed Draco, "I just want to hurt you. And nothing will hurt you like failing to save someone. Even if that someone is an enemy."

Pansy's eyes suddenly went wide as she realized this wasn't going the way she had been told it would. "Why aren't you running? The whole plan was to…"

"_Depulso_!" roared Malfoy, propelling Pansy towards Harry. Harry desperately tried to move her out of the way, but she was still under the power of Malfoy's spell. He merely arrested her movement.

"_Confringo!_" screamed Malfoy, hurling a blasting curse right at Pansy. Harry heard spells coming in from his right as Ginny and Hermione arrived and tried to move Pansy. But it was too late.

Pansy Parkinson just exploded in front of Harry, showering him with her insides.

"MALFOY!" he screamed incoherently as he ran forward, but Draco was already moving away. A broom had leapt into his hands and he had mounted it, flying away dexterously, dodging the spells that Harry and his friends hurled after him. Within moments, he was gone.

"Keep those Hufflepuffs on the other side of that wall!" Harry roared at Ginny. She nodded at him curtly. She probably didn't like being yelled at, but she knew he wasn't angry at her.

"I'll get McGonagall," said Hermione, "And then I will be right back Harry. Just stay here!" Hermione sprinted towards the castle.

Harry sank to the ground next to Pansy's remains. They were unrecognizable. "Oh, I'm so sorry Pansy, I'm so sorry," he muttered to himself. Once again, he'd failed. And another person had paid the price.

XXXXX

Harry sat on the sofa in the sitting room he shared with Hermione. He had to admit that his memory of how he'd arrived here was a bit fuzzy. He vaguely remembered a trip to the prefects' bath, which made sense as he was no longer covered in blood. He was dressed in a large comfortable robe. He didn't deserve it. This small comfort was too good for him.

He heard the sound of the door closing. He turned his head to see Headmistress McGonagall. She immediately held up a hand to make sure he stayed seated, and sat down in a chair diagonal from him.

"You were right about Draco," said McGonagall, "I had come to see him as a pathetic figure. I didn't quite believe that he was capable of such barbarism. I should have listened to you. You did your job, which was to inform me and your head of house of a threat that you saw. We let you down."

"Professor Sinistra? How is she?" asked Harry.

"Devastated," said McGongall, "but she agrees with me."

"It's my fault," said Harry, "It is my fault that Lucius died. If he hadn't…"

"Lucius Malfoy would certainly have killed you if you had not turned the tables on him," said McGonagall, "While I am not convinced that killing him was wise, it was justified."

"We lured him there," said Harry before he realized what McGonagall had just said, "Wait, how did you know…"

"That you, Miss Granger, and Miss Weasley are the Triumvirate?" McGonagall smiled mysteriously, "well I am the Headmistress of Hogwarts. I have my ways of finding things out."

"Wait, you made Hermione and myself Head Girl and Boy knowing this?" asked Harry.

"Let me be clear, the reason you did what you did was not because you had become hopelessly corrupted, you killed those Death Eaters because no one else was doing what needed to be done," said McGonagall, "Yes, I think it was a mistake, but it was a mistake you made as a child, without any advice from any adults. And what did you do afterwards? Did you continue hunting down and killing Death Eaters in cold blood? No. You took a look at the path this was sending you down and changed course. You understood it to be a mistake and moved forward, trying to do better. And you have. That is the sort of decision making that is perfect for my Head Boy and Girl."

"The truth is, I have not done right by you," admitted McGonagall, "I abandoned you to Slytherin. And I will admit, you rose to the challenge. But I could have done more for you. I knew something was up with Snape ever since he reacted to you and Ginny holding hands in Diagon Alley. And I did nothing."

Harry said nothing. And he remembered. The very first day he'd spent in the magical world. Meeting Hermione. Meeting Ginny. She'd been mortified when she'd learned she'd told Harry his parents had been murdered. And he'd taken her hand. _And the first time that Snape saw us, we were holding hands!_

To Snape, it must have looked like James Potter and Lily Evans. Holding hands. Could it be…

Harry shook his head. That was not what was bothering him today.

"The truth was that I couldn't believe that Draco would actually harm Pansy," said Harry, "Not until we were standing there. He'd made love to her. I could never do that to someone I'd been that close to. Never."

"Despite the fact that you have Lord Voldemort's memories, you still can't really comprehend evil," said McGonagall with a sad smile, "Oh you can predict every evil thing _he_ will do, but you can't apply his standards to anyone else."

"Kind of sad, huh?" said Harry with a shake of his head, "I'd ask how you knew that, but I already know the answer."

"No Mr. Potter," said McGonagall, "sad is the last thing I would call it. It is a blessing. And so is the fact that you mourn for one of your enemies. I have a question for you. Would you rather kill Draco, or bring him to face justice for his crimes?"

Harry closed his eyes as he realized what McGonagall was saying. "I… wow, even I'm surprised at what I'm thinking now."

"You did everything you could to save Pansy's life," said McGonagall, "and you still want to save Draco's, if possible. So please, do not blame yourself. This is not your responsibility. It was ours. The time may come, and you may have no choice but to kill Draco, or Snape, or Voldemort. But I know this - that I trust that whatever you do, it will be what you think is right. And you will not fail us."

And with that, McGonagall stood and left, leaving Harry to contemplate what he had just heard. Yet somehow, Harry felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He hadn't noticed it, but it had been building there ever since the ambush in the Department of Mysteries. And the death of every ally since then had added to it.

But Harry could no longer bear that weight alone. But maybe he shouldn't have to. Maybe, just maybe, he had more allies than he had known.

XXXXX

**November 2nd, 1997**

Molly Weasley felt uneasy, and not for the first time. Everything about this seemed wrong. Still, she'd discussed things with Mad-Eye and Kinglsley, and they agreed with her. Now they were going to do what they had to do, and to hell with the consequences. Still, it made her sad.

Kingsley was there now, as was Moody. They'd decided to meet at the Hog's Head, as it meant that Aberforth would be there as well. Molly had no doubts as to whose side he would take.

Albus was exactly on time, walking into the room exactly at the time he had said he was going to.

"Good afternoon Molly, Alastor. I haven't seen either of you in some time. And you are looking well today Kingsley."

"We're all fine Albus," said Moody impatiently, "But you've got some explaining to do."

"I've heard a rumour that you're helping Umbridge turn Fudge against Harry," said Kingsley, "I can't quite believe it, but I thought I'd ask you, just in case."

"Harry is becoming dangerous," said Dumbledore, "His single mindedness killed Pansy Parkinson…"

"Who told you that?" demanded Molly.

"Severus," admitted Dumbledore.

"Well, he's wrong," said Molly, "Harry told Malfoy he was free to go. He begged him not to kill her. I don't know if Snape is lying to you or not, but I bet you Draco didn't tell the Death Eaters the truth in any case."

"And that's the problem," said Moody, "You keep taking Snape's word over anyone elses. And he's proven himself untrustworthy, what with his behavior towards the Weasley Girl."

"Weasley Girl?" asked Molly, her tone amused.

"No one here owes your daughter more than I do," said Moody apologetically, "but I was trying to be impersonal."

"Simply put, none of us trust Snape anymore," said Kingsley.

"I do though," said Dumbledore, "and since I am in charge, that is what counts. If you don't like it, you are free to leave the Order."

Molly looked at Moody and Kingsley. They both nodded.

"We were actually elected to speak for the rest of the Order for that exact purpose," said Molly, "We'll all continue working to stop You-Know-Who, and we'll work with you again once you are willing to listen to reason. But until then, well, you and Snape _are_ the Order."

And she walked out, Moody and Kingsley on her heels.

XXXXX

**November 8th, 1997**

Harry would have liked to say that Pansy's death had cast a pall over the school, but that wouldn't quite be accurate. Pansy hadn't been well liked, the only friend she'd had was Millie. Millie was a mess, and Tracey had asked her if she wanted to reschedule the Quidditch match. But she didn't want to. Quidditch was probably the one thing that could distract her from her grief. Tracey had understood.

In fact, she had been spending a lot of time with the Slytherin Keeper. Harry wondered about that. It was almost like there was some sort of tension between Tracey and Daphne.

Still, for the Slytherins, the Gryffindor match was a solemn occasion. For most of them this would be the last match they ever played against Gryffindor. And all of them were at least unsettled by Pansy's death, though Harry and Millie were by far the most upset.

The game itself was a tough one. Ron's team was working on all cylinders now, and they were a tough team to beat. Still, Ginny was a better Chaser than anyone on the Gryffindor team, while Blaise and Nott were now very clearly the best beaters in the school. They almost were approaching the Weasley twins in their coordination now. And Tracey was an amazing captain.

In the end, it was Harry who won everything. Slytherin was 20 points down when Harry caught the snitch after a brutal chase alongside Colin Creevey. And with that catch he knew that he'd just assured his place in the halls of Slytherin glory.

As the Slytherins celebrated and the Gryffindors bemoaned the results. Harry saw Ron fly over to Tracey. He whispered something in her ear. Suddenly, the two of them were kissing rather passionately in the air. Little cheers and whoops came from the crowd. Harry grinned.

Suddenly, he saw Daphne sitting in the stands. Her expression was like ice.

_Oh, I hope this isn't going to be a problem,_ thought Harry.

XXXXX

**November 9th, 1997**

The next day Blaise met Harry outside the Great Hall before breakfast.

"Tracey is moving into Millicent's room from now on," said Blaise seriously, "Tracey and Daphne had an awful row last night."

"Dammit, I knew it!" said Harry sadly, "I should have said something to Daphne. She must have opened her mouth about Ron."

"Daphne tried to play the 'friends don't date friends exes' card," agreed Blaise, "Tracey replied that the only reason the Daphne dated Ron first was because Tracey deliberately didn't go after Ron because she gave Daphne precedence due to her social status. Which, Tracey probably did. Tracey feels that this is just the latest way that Daphne has dominated their friendship due to her being a pureblood. Daphne really didn't want to hear that."

"So they aren't speaking to each other?" asked Harry.

"They aren't speaking to each other," confirmed Blaise.

_Fantastic,_ thought Harry, _just fucking fantastic_.

**Author's Note:** So I'll admit, I've been piling pain on Harry recently. Every death in the last 3 chapters has been personal to him. Harry has been blaming himself for everything that went wrong. But the truth is that this responsibility should never have been Harry's. Prior to this Harry hadn't really been an adult. McGonagall taking responsibility for not being there for Harry is a big step for him. And of course, now Harry is an adult, so he will be reponsible for the decisions he makes from here on out. That being said, the consequences of some of those earlier failures are going to continue to rebound.

All that being said, I'm done torturing Harry. Now I'm torturing Daphne for the next few chapters. I've known this explosion between Tracey and Daphne was coming for a long time, but what I wasn't certain of was what role it would play in the story. Ultimately the role is minor, but critical. It helps propel the build to the stories final climax. We aren't building to the climax of this story quite yet though. We still have one BIG complication to introduce first.

One last point in reference to Chapter 49 that has been clarified now. One comment asked why they didn't make a bigger deal about the marriage contract to Dumbledore and Molly. Well Dumbledore and Molly were _forced _into signing the marriage contract. And as I revealed in this chapter, Snape has been giving them diluted doses in their tea. This means the potions' holds have never been very strong, and if Harry had confronted Molly or not stormed out of his conversations with Dumbledore they might have beaten them. Molly actually did break out of her potion haze a long time ago because of the way Harry and Ginny had basically been taunting her, and she knew that what she had done was indefensible, which was why she turned against the idea so easily. Ginny isn't ready to talk about it, and Harry forgave Molly the moment he realized she was acting under duress. Ginny has forgiven her mother too, but it is still very traumatic for her so it isn't just a matter of forgiveness there. Molly and Ginny are going to have issues in their relationship for the rest of their lives, which later chapters are going to touch on.

In fact, that whole plotline was designed to be a reversal of the standard Potions Princess Ginny trope. Instead of Ginny having Molly brew a potion that would be designed to make Harry fall in love with Ginny, a potion is used on Molly to force Ginny and Harry into a marriage contract, destroying any chance they will have a relationship. So no I didn't change anything from my original idea. And if you are looking for a dramatic confrontation between Molly and Ginny, I'm sorry it isn't going to happen. This is a story about people fucking up and learning to deal with the consequnces, not a story were people have big cathartic blow ups.

Ugh, and I meant this one to be short too.

Next time: Fudge makes a play against Harry, Harry kidnaps the entire student body of Hogwarts (or, more correctly, rescues them), and Sirius and Bill go Snape hunting, which has an unexpected outcome.


	52. Fudge's Gambit

**Chapter 52: Fudge's Gambit**

**November 10th, 1997**

Hermione had tried to mediate the gulf between her two friends, only to discover it might be unbridgeable. The problem wasn't Ron. In fact Harry had told Ron in no uncertain terms that trying to help Tracey out in that department would be a disaster. The truth was that no one had really understood just how much Tracey had resented the way Daphne had treated her. This had just been the flashpoint.

Hermione knew that Daphne hadn't meant to do it, of course. But it didn't really matter what she had meant to do. The fact was that for years Daphne and Tracey's relationship had been based on a dynamic straight out of magical society's class struggle. And Tracey was fed up with it.

Luckily, Tracey wasn't forcing anyone to take sides. She didn't care that anyone else spent time with Daphne, she just didn't want to do it herself. Daphne, on the other hand, was completely shocked by what had happened. She kept trying to apologize to Tracey, but she kept trying to apologize for being jealous of her and Ron. Which was exactly the wrong thing to do! Tracey didn't actually mind that Daphne was jealous, what she minded was Daphne's sense of entitlement, casting Ron away at one moment and only getting upset when someone else went after him. When Tracey went after him.

It made Hermione's head hurt. Tracey had an absolute right to be mad about this, but Hermione wondered if she hadn't gone a bit too far. For all Daphne's faults, she had never shown an unwillingness to change when confronted with her own privilege. As far as Hermione could tell Tracey had never called Daphne out on her behavior. Hermione wondered if this could have been avoided if she had just confronted Daphne earlier.

Ginny had understood, of course. But she was from a poor family, so of course she would. Explaining this to Daphne was more fraught. If Daphne came to this conclusion on her own it would be a powerful message to Tracey that Daphne cared about and understood her. Hermione doubted it would happen though. Daphne had just a little too much spoiled rich girl left in her.

Hermione didn't know what to do. All she could do was hope that they sorted it out.

XXXXX

**November, 15th 1997**

Sirius made his way into Hogsmeade keeping an eye out for trouble. There shouldn't be any really. None of Clarise Zabini's men had been seen in the area for months now, Danny had clearly done a good job clearing them out. Still, Sirius had to be careful. He was undoubtedly high on Voldemort's hit list.

The Hog's Head was Old Danny's unofficial meeting place in Scotland. He wasn't here very often, but he was here tonight. And Bill Weasley was coming here. Sirius knew what he wanted. He didn't even disapprove, exactly. But Harry had given him strict instructions.

Sure enough, Bill was in the bar. He looked like he hadn't managed to speak to Danny yet. Well that made sense.

"Sirius!" said a surprised Bill, "What are you doing here?"

"I am also looking for Danny," said Sirius, "but unlike you, I have instructions."

"What does that mean?" asked Bill.

"I know you want to kill Snape," said Sirius, "And believe me, I'm sympathetic to that cause. But Harry wants Snape alive. He can go on trial for all he's done afterwards, but he put Ginny and Harry through hell, and they both want answers."

"As long as he pays," said Bill.

"Oh, trust me, I want him to pay almost as much as you do," said Sirius, "But neither of us is up to the task. I hate to admit it, but Snape is out of our league. Maybe if I hadn't been forced into a stint in Azkaban I'd equal him now, but as things are Snape would eat me alive. He'd do the same to you, at least alone."

"You volunteering to help?" asked Bill.

"Maybe," said Sirius, "If you encounter Draco Malfoy, by the way, Harry's orders are to defend yourself with all necessary force. Harry wants him brought in alive if possible, it's true, but he specified that no one is to put themselves in harms way to do it. If he threatens you or anyone else, kill him. That young man is both capable of and willing to kill, and for very little reason."

Bill turned towards the men posted at the foot of the stairs. "How long until Danny sees us?" he inquired.

"Oh, it'll only be a moment," said the guard in a sarcastic tone which gave Sirius no doubt that Danny intended to blow them off.

"Ah, my friend must have misspoken. We're here representing Harry Potter," said Sirius, "I am Sirius Black."

The guards both gave each other a startled look. And within moments one of them headed upstairs. Shortly afterwards, Bill and Sirius were both ushered upstairs.

Danny was sitting at the table in one of the rooms. Sirius had never met him before, but he had heard plenty about him. He wasn't a man to be trifled with.

"So, what do my allies in the battle against Voldemort need?" asked Danny.

"We're looking to reel in Severus Snape," said Sirius.

"Ah, I heard about what he did to your fiance, Mr. Weasley," said Danny, "My condolences. So I trust you want help finding him?"

Sirius nodded. "He's a tricky one, and he's proven dangerous to us before. Harry wants him removed from the board. Clarise Zabini also needs to go, but Harry doesn't want to step on your toes."

"Kind of him," said Danny, "Well I'll admit it, I'm not up to date on Snape's movements. Still, I do have people watching for him, so I can probably help you out here."

"We can pay…" started Bill but Danny waved him off.

"Dealing with Snape is helpful to me as well," said Danny, "and I have to admit, I am curious as to what he's been up to. In any case, I have a bit of a grudge against anyone who's been taking advantage of young girls. I used to neuter men for less."

"If you want, we could arrange for you to have a meeting with Snape after we catch him," said Bill agreeably.

Danny laughed. "A tempting offer. But those days are long gone. I'll get you everything I can find about Snape. We may not know where he lives, but I do think we have a lead on where he is getting potions ingredients."

Sirius grinned. This would seem to have been a good idea after all.

XXXXX

**November 17th, 1997**

Percy watched as Dolores Umbridge continued her latest rant against Harry Potter. She had been pushing for decisive action against him ever since she'd come back. But apparently she thought she had a winning strategy with blaming Pansy Parkinson's death on Harry.

Percy had to admit, at first glance it could be made to look like Harry had been more involved in Pansy's death than he was. But this was way beyond that. She seemed to be suggesting that Harry was the one who killed Pansy!

"And let us be clear, Mr. Potter was obscured from sight by the wall of earth his girlfriend summoned. Can we be sure he was merely a victim here? Consider his story! The idea that Draco Malfoy would kill his girlfriend just because it would hurt Harry Potter is ridiculous!"

Umbridge finished her tirade with a rather emphatic placing of her hands on her hips. It emphasized how toadlike she was in Percy's opinion.

"Have you brought these concerns to Amelia?" asked Percy. He was actually rather divided here. His sister had witnessed the incident, so there was no doubt in Percy's mind that it had gone down exactly as Harry had said. But bringing that up might be counterproductive. He needed to appear neutral and disinterested. So he had to play this very carefully.

"Amelia has refused to reopen the investigation," said Umbridge.

"Then I am afraid my hands are tied," said Fudge, "Believe me Dolores, if we had anything solid to take down Harry Potter, I'd be the first to celebrate. But until we do things are tricky. I need Amelia to sign off on an arrest warrant."

"Not necessarily," said Umbridge, "The Wizengamot could do it."

"But they won't," said Fudge, now sounding annoyed.

But Percy had followed her line of thought. "She means after the fact," he said, suddenly understanding what was happening here, "She thinks we should have aurors arrest Potter, immediately put him on trial and have the Wizengamot legalize what we did afterwards." Percy was actually impressed by the audacity of the plan. It wouldn't work, but it was incredibly brazen.

"Dumbledore would never allow that," said Fudge, "I do wish I had managed to drive him out of the Chief Warlock's seat."

Umbridge grinned. "Actually, Dumbledore has already agreed to help. With the Chief Warlock on our side, we'll be able to control the debate. Potter will be ours!"

"Hmmm," said Fudge, suddenly considering this course of action.

"That does make a difference," said Percy, "I still suggest caution though. A single misstep in a plan like this could undo us. If we're going to do this, and I would suggest that we not, we have to have every eventuality planned for."

"A good point," acknowledged Umbridge, "I will draft up a plan of action and have it ready for you by the end of the week."

"Good," said Fudge.

After the meeting, Fudge turned to Percy. "You think Umbridge is getting ahead of things here?" he asked.

"Possibly," said Percy, "Just be careful, Minister. Her hatred of Harry Potter isn't entirely rational. Her plan may or may not be good, but I'm not sure that this won't backfire."

Fudge nodded. "Point taken," he said simply.

Percy suddenly realized that this was a perfect opportunity for him to finally do something he'd meant to do for some time.

"Listen, I think things are getting hectic again," said Percy, "and I'm wondering how much we can trust Amelia, all things considered."

"It is a worry," admitted Fudge.

"So, I had a little failsafe made here," said Percy. He handed the Minister a coin.

"Anything you say while holding this coin will be relayed directly to me," said Percy, "And it will let me know if something happens to you while you are using it, just in case."

Fudge nodded, his face wearing a grateful smile. "Thank you Percy, I hope I never need it," he said.

Percy nodded. But he knew Fudge's moods. Fudge was now determined to go after Harry. So Harry would need to find some way to beat this.

Percy was already planning out his letter.

XXXXX

**November 18th, 1997**

Ginny wanted to say the information that Fudge was going to try to illegally arrest Harry was a shock, but honestly, she couldn't. It was exactly in character for him. Still, it was the sort of news that had a tendency to put her whole day off.

And that was before she saw Nott heading towards her. She really didn't want to deal with him right now. To all observers it did look like he'd stopped pursuing her, but Ginny was aware that appearances could be deceptive. Nott had been raised in a Death Eater family, a rich and powerful family of privilege. He wasn't used to not getting his way. And he'd betrayed his family for her. She wasn't stupid, he'd done it for her, not for any cause, though she admitted he might have developed some sympathy for the cause in the process. Ginny wasn't sure that he had received the message that no matter what he did, she wasn't interested in him.

Still Ginny couldn't very well ignore him. Much as Harry had tried to protect her by warning him away from her, Ginny knew that she had to interact with him. They needed Nott, and his information. And what he wanted was clearly Ginny, possibly without him fully realizing it himself anymore. She wasn't going to jump into bed with him, but she could at least be civil. But she wasn't going to pretend that there was any hope for them either.

"Hey Ginny, can I talk with you?" Nott asked. His voice sounded casual. Good. If he had seemed agitated, Ginny would have said no. She didn't need some desperate declaration of love right now.

"Sure Theo," said Ginny.

"So I've been thinking a lot about what you and Harry told me, about me having unrealistic expectations about you. And with what happened with Malfoy I've been looking at my behavior more carefully," Nott paused uncomfortably, "I just want to say that I'm sorry. I kind of was treating you like an object. I was acting like I was entitled to you, and I was wrong."

Well, that was the last thing she expected him to say. "Thank you Theo," said Ginny, "that's a good perspective to have."

"The way Malfoy treated Pansy, well, it was terrifying to me," admitted Nott, "That could have been me! All she was to him was a tool to slake his lust, and when he didn't have any more use for her he discarded her in the most brutal way possible. But that is how pureblood men of a certain status are brought up, to see everything in terms of how it strengthens them or their bloodlines. It could have been me. And that is _terrifying._"

"Well it isn't you," said Ginny, "You are better than Malfoy has become, that is for sure."

"Thanks," said Nott, "it means a lot to hear you say that."

Ginny sighed internally. For one moment she had thought that Nott was giving up the chase. She should have known better.

XXXXX

**November 19th, 1997**

"He hasn't given up," said Ginny as she lay on her side on top of the blankets she and Justin were using as a cushion. They were in a corner of one of the greenhouses. Justin had been helping out Professor Sprout recently, and he had cleared the spot out just for this.

"Nott?" asked Justin, "Well you _are _quite a catch." And then Justin rather tenderly kissed her neck. It sent a thrill through Ginny, and she almost dropped the subject right then and there.

"He was so close to being over me though," said Ginny.

"Well, maybe he is close," said Justin, "Yes, this could be a continuation of his creepy fixation on you. But it could also be a coping strategy."

"He's clearly still thinking if things between us don't work out that maybe he has a shot with me," said Ginny.

"Yeah, but Nott gave up everything for you: his family, his heritage. The moment they find out what he has done to betray them, he loses all of that," Justin shook his head, "It has to be for something, but he hasn't found that something yet. If we end up defeating the Death Eaters he'll probably say it is that. But until then, all he has is the terrible reason he did it in the first place. But he has to know it isn't going to happen. You aren't going to be his. So he puts you in the 'maybe if' category, knowing it won't happen. He can't give you up entirely until he finds something else to give his actions meaning. But pining over you is destructive. So he puts you in the back of his mind. It's a good move for him as long as he isn't obsessing over you, because it helps him move away from pureblood supremacism."

Ginny gave a quiet 'hmph.' She hoped he was right.

Suddenly Justin's hand was on her side. It slid up under her arm, right next to her breast. She sighed. Justin had been notoriously shy about getting physical ever since their run in with her mother last winter.

"Justin, please just grab it," she said, "I don't mind. I want you to."

"Oh, all right," said Justin, moving his hand to a much more agreeable spot. He held her for a moment there, then moved his hand down to the hem of her shirt. Sliding his hand under her shirt, he moved it back up to her breast. She wasn't wearing a bra.

"Oh, that is very nice…" she started to say before she looked up to see her mother giving them an odd look.

Justin seemed to freeze, his hand still groping Ginny. "Professor Weasley!" he said fearfully.

Molly sighed. "Next time find a better hiding place. This one stinks," she said before turning away and leaving them, though not before pointedly looking at the place where Justin's hand was clearing bulging through Ginny's shirt.

Justin relaxed. Ginny realized that far from letting go of her, he'd actually been squeezing her all through the encounter. She began to laugh. Justin soon joined in when she explained her mirth. Shortly afterwards, they were of course going at it far more seriously. Ginny was just glad that Justin still had his pants on when her mother walked in.

XXXXX

**November 20th, 1997**

"Well what do you intend to do about it?" asked McGonagall. Harry and Hermione were closeted with the Headmistress as well as the Deputy Headmaster. Harry had just finished going over Percy's letter to Harry.

"I suppose I will have to leave beforehand," said Harry.

"But we don't know when they will come to get you," said Flitwick.

"If they don't have a legal warrant, we could deny them entry," said McGonagall.

"If they don't have a legal warrant they will force their way in," said Hermione, "They won't care about the niceties."

"They either want me under their control where they can potion me into a stupor and I can't defend myself, or they want me on the run," said Harry.

"If Harry is not able to effectively represent himself at the trial, Dumbledore can force the proceedings in directions that keeps Harry's allies on the Wizengamot away from questioning the legality of his arrest," said Hermione, "If only Dumbledore wasn't in on this."

"We might be able to swing that actually," said Sirius as he led Bill and Molly into the room.

"Do you have news?" asked Harry.

"Danny thinks he found where Snape is buying his potion ingredients. It is in Spinner's End, where Snape grew up. We know where his old house is. The Ministry checked it out, but there are indications that Snape has returned since. So we may have his location. We also have a list of the ingredients he is buying," said Bill.

"He has the reagents necessary to create a number of mind altering potions, including one that creates a confusing effect, leaving the recipient open to suggestion," said Molly, "I agree with you that he is using this on Albus. I believe he also has used these potions on me, the Grangers, and possibly at one point the Headmistress. He also could have brewed potions to make the recipient extremely hostile to everything a particular person told him."

"Can you counteract the process?" asked McGonagall.

"Yes," said Molly, "Both potions have a specific antidote. I will try to arrange a meeting with Albus shortly. If we can get him back on our side I would breathe easier."

"This would mean that Fudge's little gambit would backfire horribly!" said Flitwick, "So long as Dumbledore is Chief Warlock…"

"We could really turn the tables, but only if I'm not drugged out of my mind to say whatever Fudge wants," said Harry, "so I have to escape."

"But that means the Aurors will break through the wards while the children are here!" said Flitwick, "That will leave them vulnerable to Death Eaters! It will take days to get the wards back up."

McGonagall narrowed her eyes. "Then we evacuate the school," she said decisively.

"What?!" yelled everyone in the room at once.

"Harry and Hermione have a plan for evacuating the school, so we can evacuate until the wards are back up," said McGonagall, "I do have the authority to place the students under the care of the Head Boy and Girl in an emergency."

Harry wasn't even fazed by the fact that McGonagall knew their secret plan. He just expected it now.

"How would we feed them?" wondered Hermione.

"The Hogwarts house elves!" said Harry, "They could ferry food from Hogwarts."

"They would be glad to help you," said McGonagall, "you're both very popular with the house elves."

"Then that is what we will do," said Harry, "assuming you agree, of course Headmistress, I didn't mean to…"

McGonagall just laughed. "You've taken well to being a leader, Potter. Just do try to remember I am still in charge of Hogwarts, won't you?"

Harry laughed along with everyone else.

XXXXX

**December 2nd, 1997**

It was Cedric who broke the news. On December 2nd a message came from the intern in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"Amelia knows what is happening, but she has agreed to not step in," said Hermione, "It wouldn't do any good anyway. The moment Fudge decided to use an invalid warrant he was committed to scorched earth. He'd fire her in a moment, and to hell with the consequences."

"Then we will prepare to meet our visitors," said McGonagall, "Tell the IUC to prepare to evacuate."

XXXXX

McGonagall walked down to the Main Gate alone. There was no point in putting anyone else's neck on the line. However as she reached the Entrance Hall she saw Theodore Nott standing around.

"Mr. Nott, you should be in your house right now," she said.

Nott shook his head. "Nah, I can't go to Harry's place. My father would try to use me to lead the Death Eaters there. So Harry and I staged a fight where he 'refused' to allow me to go to his safehouse."

Nott smiled, "Should earn me some Death Eater credibility to be honest," he admitted.

"So why are you here then?" asked McGonagall.

"I'm of age," insisted Nott, "I want to see the party."

"Very well," said McGonagall grudgingly. She couldn't deny that he was right. He was of age.

She continued on her way to the gate. Hagrid was there, and outside were at least ten Aurors, led by Rufus Scrimgoeur. More were probably hidden somewhere. McGonagall nodded to Hagrid and he opened the gate so that McGonagall could stride out.

"What brings so many Aurors to Hogwarts?" asked McGonagall, "Is there a problem?"

"We have an arrest warrant for Harry Potter," said Scrimgoeur.

"That is extremely serious!" said McGonagall sadly, "What did he do?"

"I can't talk about that," said Scrimgoeur, "Just let me at him."

"As soon as you show me a warrant," said McGonagall.

Scrimgoeur pulled out an official looking document. But it wasn't signed by Amelia. Which meant it wasn't valid.

"I am sorry, but this warrant is not actually valid," said McGonagall, "It doesn't have Amelia's signature on it."

"You have a responsibility to cooperate with the Aurors…" began Scrimgoeur.

"...in the execution of your legal duties," finished McGonagall, "That warrant is not legal. Therefore I will not admit you into Hogwarts."

"So you are not complying with my warrant?" asked Scrimgoeur.

For a moment, McGonagall felt sorry for Scrimgoeur. "Rufus," she began gently, "Fudge is going to lose this. That forgery will guarantee it. He's done. Don't take yourself down with him."

"If you will not hand Potter over, we will come in and take him by force," said Scrimgoeur, though he looked uneasy.

"I will defend every single student in this school to my last breath," said McGonagall, "I will not allow you entry."

And she took one leap backwards behind the gate. With a clang the gate slammed shut. Flitwick ran up beside her.

"What now?" asked the Deputy Headmaster.

"Now we wait for…" started McGonagall but she was interrupted by a boom from the gate. The Aurors were trying to break in!

"The school is under attack!" shouted McGonagall urgently, "Filius, give the order to evacuate the school!"

The order was actually ready. All it took was one sweep of Flitwick's wand and in all four houses students began filing into the Floo.

XXXXX

Tracey Davis stood guard outside the Slytherin common room with Millie. Funny thing was that they were the only Seventh Year Slytherins (aside from Nott) available to keep watch. Daphne and Blaise were overseeing the evacuation of the students, while Harry and Hermione had gone ahead to the safehouse to provide direction to the younger students.

Astoria came out of the common room.

"What are you doing here?" asked Tracey, "Fifth years will be going soon."

"Daphne told me I could keep watch with you," said Astoria, "She's worried about you two alone out here. We're the only house that has this few seventh years to keep watch. And given that Slytherin is likely to be the Aurors' main target…"

"So she sends an underage girl," said Tracey acidly.

"Tracey," said Millie in an annoyed voice, "Astoria is her sister. She trusts her. She would have come herself, but you _know_ why she didn't."

"I…" started Tracey then she stopped herself. Millie had very much appreciated how much time Tracey had spent with her since Pansy's death. But she had insisted that Tracey needed to patch things up with Daphne. Tracey had been fighting that. After all Daphne had never really even tried to change the way she'd treated Tracey.

"You understand that Daphne didn't realize she was doing anything wrong," said Astoria quietly, "She was, but that was the way she was raised. She didn't know any better. She is sorry, you know. You're her best friend, and she loves you. She'd never willingly hurt you."

"Well then, why doesn't she…" Tracey started, but she shut herself up before she finished that thought. Daphne had tried to apologise. Repeatedly. Just for the wrong thing. If Tracey had told her what was going on she would have apologised ages ago.

Tracey shook her head. Time to think on that problem in a moment. She had to get out of this one now.

Ginny came out of the common room. "Astoria, you need to go through now, I'll hold the rear," she said. That made Tracey a bit more confident.

Tracey gave Ginny a shrewd look. "Did you send Astoria out here?" she asked.

"Maybe," said Ginny, "That's long enough. Most of the other Sixth Years are gonna be through soon. Let's head in and get out of here. The door will hold them off that long."

Tracey nodded. Well, at least Slytherin was evacuated!

XXXXX

Nott sat in the Entrance Hall watching. It was calm for the moment. But it wouldn't be for long. All the teachers had gathered in the hall. Except Molly. That was strange, thought Nott. Still, the Hogwarts wards weren't designed to keep out determined intruders for long. At least, not without augmentation. Nott was actually surprised that it had taken the aurors this long. But he supposed that Scrimgoeur had only been able to bring Aurors who didn't mind facing Amelia's wrath. So not the brightest of the bunch.

Flitwick suddenly stood straight up. "I have just been notified by the seventh year prefects that the school evacuation is complete," he said with a smile.

Which meant the seventh year prefects were flooing out as they spoke. It had been well done, Nott had to admit.

Suddenly, there was a shudder as something exploded outside. The Aurors were in and the wards were now down. Nott felt the ability to apparate return to him. He couldn't believe how dumb this was. He couldn't believe how dumb Scrimgoeur was!

Scrimgoeur marched into the Entrance Hall.

"Where's Potter?" he demanded.

"Gone," said McGonagall, "as are the rest of the students."

"There's a student right there!" said Scrimgoeur, pointing at Nott.

"I'm just here because I wouldn't agree to not give away the location of Potter's secret safehouse," said Nott, "Aside from a couple of Slytherin sixth years, I'm the only student left."

"We weren't after the other students," said Scrimgoeur.

"Of course you weren't, " said McGonagall, "But they could have gotten caught in the middle. Plus, you've just destroyed the Hogwarts defenses, the school won't be safe for the students for weeks. "

"But I was ordered to get Potter!" insisted Scrimgoeur.

"Too bad," said Flitwick, "he's gone."

"But why did you evacuate the entire school?" asked one of the Aurors.

"Don't you get it? Hogwarts is vulnerable to attack now! You destroyed the wards getting in here," said Nott derisively, "Congratulations, if they hadn't evacuated every child in Magical Britain would be completely open to Death Eater attacks, thanks to you."

XXXXX

"Thank you for coming, Albus," said Molly Weasley as she poured him some tea. Both of them were at the Burrow, as there wasn't much reason for Molly to stay at Hogwarts right now, with all the students evacuating. And ot wouldn'thave been the best scene for this. "I just didn't want to leave things as they were."

"I understand," said Dumbledore, "Have you come around on Harry?"

Molly bobbed her head from side to side noncommittally as she poured her tea. "Not so much. But I think there is something we failed to account for."

"Oh?" asked Dumbledore as he sipped his tea.

"Well we have had tea like this more than once before," said Molly, "Of course Severus brewed that tea. During the incident with the Chamber of Secrets. And right before we signed that stupid marriage contract."

"I remember," said Dumbledore truthfully.

"And did Severus give tea to the Grangers when he convinced them to take Hermione to Australia?" asked Molly

"He.. he did," said Dumbeldore

"In fact, I believe he's made you tea every time he's told you not to trust Harry Potter," said Molly.

"I…" started Dumbledore, "that is correct." Horror had begun to dawn on his face.

"Did you know that a confusion and suggestion potion leaves the user with a lingering sense that they don't want to tell anyone what they did under the potion?" asked Molly, "So even after the potion wears off, the person affected still wants to cover it up."

Molly sipped her tea again, "Unless you drink the antidote I placed in your drink, that is."

Dumbledore's eyes went wide. But he wasn't angry at Molly.

"Confusion and suggestion potions?" asked Dumbledore, "Snape was feeding them to me? That means… oh Merlin, what have I done!"

Molly smiled. Her plan appeared to have worked. She fervently hoped that Dumbledore was back on their side.

XXXXX

**December 3rd, 1997**

Narcissa ran back into the dining room in Malfoy Manor. Nott Jr.'s imminent arrival had Draco upset, and Narcissa wasn't sure what was going to happen. She suspected that Draco hadn't been entirely honest about Pansy's death. Most of the Death Eaters were there, plus Nott Jr.

Draco had only just returned himself. His little stunt had forced everyone out of Malfoy Manor again. Draco himself had gone into hiding. Everyone was livid at Draco for nearly blowing their cover, everyone but the Dark Lord. He'd enjoyed the story of how Draco had defied Potter. Everyone had only returned here once Dolores had assured them that Amelia was done searching Malfoy Manor.

Nott Jr. was already giving Draco a suspicious look as he talked to his father. That didn't bode well. Narcissa knew they'd had a falling out. She wasn't sure what it was about though. But Nott had given that look when Draco had mentioned Potter's attack on him at Hogwarts.

Gilbert Parkinson was there as well. He was barely able to contain his fury against Draco. Narcissa couldn't blame him. Draco was responsible for her death in a way, though Draco's story indicated that Potter was more responsible for that than Draco.

"Done sucking up to Potter then?" mocked Draco. Not a good start, Narcissa knew. There was no reason to antagonize Nott. The Dark Lord grinned. He liked his minions snapping at each other.

"It's called espionage," said Nott, "you could have done some, but it was more important that you make half-baked attempts to kill Harry Potter. "

The Dark Lord's grin grew vicious. He liked this exchange.

"Is that why you turned your back on me?" demanded Draco.

"I switched rooms because you tried to offer Pansy to me for sexual favours, and I couldn't stomach the way you were treating her," said Nott, "A proper pureblood girl being used in the ways you were using her? Abominable. And then look at what happened to her."

"That was Potter's fault!" insisted Draco.

A spasm of rage passed over Nott's face. He took several moments to calm himself. When he finally spoke, his voice was calm and collected, but his eyes burned.

"Potter begged you not to kill her," said Nott, "If you had let her go, he would have let you go. You killed her solely because you knew it would upset Potter. Here's a question Draco, if I had stayed as your roommate, would you have killed me too? Or wouldn't it have been me in place of Pansy Parkinson? But you definitely killed Pansy, and you did it to piss off Potter."

Nott paused as everyone looked on in disgust, aside from the Dark Lord who was every bit as interested as he was before. He _liked_ the excessive violence. Gilbert, on the other hand, was shaking with rage.

"And you know what the best thing is?" asked Nott dramatically, "It worked! If Potter runs across you again he will kill you. And you aren't a match for him Draco. When you killed Pansy, you signed your own death warrant."

The room exploded into shouts as everyone tried to talk at once. And the Dark Lord started to laugh.

That was the moment that Narcissa Malfoy decided to leave. Her son was what he was. There was no going back for him now. Now she had to think of her own survival.

XXXXX

Harry groaned as he looked over the lists Hermione had made. Getting everything set up had been a huge hassle. They'd set up sleeping spaces for all the students, and a latrine. Now Harry was watching as several other of age students constructed showers. Though where they were going to get the water from was a good question. Ernie assured Harry that he could deal with it though.

Hermione's lists were useful, but Harry knew that they would need more than just organization to pull this off. Initially Harry had worried that he would have to keep a close eye on the younger students. He had worried that if any of them used magic it would set off the Trace. Harry had actually also worried about even overage students setting off the underage student's Traces, but apparently this was considered a magic rich environment, so the Trace automatically deactivated when students entered it.

"I'll take over here," said Daphne, "You have a visitor," she pointed behind her. Albus Dumbledore was standing awkwardly near the gate.

Harry grinned. Apparently Molly had done her job. He waved Dumbledore over, while he started over towards the old man.

"Harry," started Dumbledore repentantly, "I am so sorry about my behavior."

"Molly told me what happened," said Harry, "It wasn't entirely your fault. Still, you made my life damned difficult."

"I know, I should have listened to you before," said Dumbledore, "Well, I am listening now."

"What is Fudge's full plan?" asked Harry.

Dumbledore quickly explained how Fudge planned to railroad Harry but none of that was new information. Percy had been very thorough.

There was one detail that intrigued Harry though. "So Umbridge has been the middle man for all of this?"

"It is a bit suspicious, isn't it?" agreed Dumbledore.

"This is so stupid though!" protested Harry, "What is her game? It's almost like she knew you were drugged."

Both Harry and Dumbledore stood silent for a moment as the reality of what Harry had said sunk in.

"So Dolores is working with the Death Eaters," guessed Dumbledore.

Harry wondered. He had a suspicion about Snape and why he might do something like this independent of the Death Eaters. But Harry suspected that Dumbledore was correct and that Snape had at least coordinated with Umbridge, even if he had his own goals.

"I suppose Riddle could be trying to topple Fudge," mused Harry, "but I don't see how that helps him. The most likely person to succeed Fudge is Amelia Bones. Scrimgoeur might have had a shot, but he's going to be tainted by his attempt to arrest me."

"It is possible that he has something else planned," guessed Dumbledore.

"I suppose Bryant might make a run at being Minister," mused Harry

"Harry, I don't wish to be overly critical," began Dumbledore, "but I do not trust Bryant Greengrass. He is not his daughter. He has been supportive of you solely for her sake, but once Fudge is out of office, it is likely that he will try to assert his independence. During the last war he did not take sides. He has been visibly annoyed with some of the actions you've pushed him into."

"He's right, Harry," said Daphne, looking up from counting the building materials that were going to make up the showerhouse, "my father is very annoyed with you. He won't actively attack you, but if he has a chance to do something you'd hate, he will."

"So some stupid petty law against muggleborns?" asked Harry

"I don't know, he isn't talking to me about it," said Daphne.

Harry turned back to Dumbledore. "We're going to have to act as if an attack on the Ministry is imminent then," said Harry, "even if we have no idea what it might be."

Dumbledore nodded.

Harry sighed. "Look, Professor, thank you for coming by. We really did need to get on the same wavelength. There is still a lot we need to discuss. But it will have to wait until we've replaced Fudge."

"Why didn't you destroy Fudge in your Fifth Year, Harry? You had enough to take him down," asked Dumbledore.

"I thought that keeping Fudge in would make people hungrier for real reform," said Harry, "That was a mistake. We get people to embrace reform by showing them it works, not by allowing a puppet like Fudge to run roughshod over them. But I was thinking like a Slytherin rather than thinking about what would be best for everyone."

"You needed guidance," said Dumbledore, "I should have provided it."

"No use moaning about it now," said Harry, "but this time we'll be taking Fudge down. And hopefully Riddle will follow soon after."

**Author's Note:** I thought about it and I realized that this is one of two chapters left, not counting the epilogue, that doesn't have a character die in it. So enjoy the respite. Mind you, most of the really significant character deaths are already accounted for, deaths from here on out are more plot based.

On the the matter of what Draco did in the previous chapter, I agree that I wasn't clear about what was going on. Why he burned himself is something I am going to go into later, but it isn't a secret. He just hates Harry so much that he will do anything, and I mean anything to keep hurting him. I did rewrite some things in this chapter just to make it clear: he did massively inconvenience the Death Eaters. The good question is "Why doesn't Voldemort care more?"

On the matter of the fight on the other hand, I have two points to bring up. Specifically, First Year Blaise Zabini vs. Barnabas Parkinson and Luna Lovegood vs Bellatrix Lestrange. Combat in this story is very punishing to people who don't take it seriously or get over confident. Harry walked into the situation with Pansy and Draco overconfident and disaster was the result.

Next Time: Harry's plan works flawlessly. Too bad that is exactly what Umbridge wants.


	53. Plots Within Plots

**Content Warning:** Character Deaths, Disturbing Imagery/Sexual references

**Chapter 53: Plots Within Plots**

**December 20th, 1997**

Narcissa Malfoy moved quietly as she stacked her things inside her bag. It had an undetectable extension charm on it, yet despite that, Narcissa was packing light. No need to draw attention to what she was doing. She just needed to leave, and quietly.

Still, she had one thing left to do. As terrible as things were, she had to say goodbye to Draco. She couldn't just leave him with no explanation. And so she made her way to his bedroom.

As she made her way through the house, she noted the movement of the Death Eaters who were there. Today was the day they made their move. It was also the day the Wizengamot was meeting to discuss Harry Potter. Those two things were not coincidental. However, it did provide a distraction for Narcissa. No one would be paying any attention to her today.

Draco was sitting at his desk when Narcissa entered his room. He was reading something, Narcissa couldn't see what. He stood when she entered, whether as a sign of respect or to hide what he'd been reading she couldn't say. It didn't matter. There was no way that Draco could disappoint her more than what he had done to Pansy.

"So you are assigned to one of the groups today," said Narcissa, trying not to sound upset.

"I am," said Draco, "But I will be guarding our retreat. Not an important role."

"It is a very important role," said Narcissa, "The last time we sent people into the Ministry in force… well we remember what happened."

Draco's eyes went hard. "Yes we do," he said angrily.

"I am leaving," said Narcissa, "I will be gone soon, likely before you leave. I only stayed for your benefit, but now that you are of age… well you've made your choices. Obviously, I am leaving you almost everything. The house, what is left of the money. I only have enough to last me a few weeks, but it will be enough. I have a few old friends who will put me up for a while. But I can no longer stay here, where everything reminds me of what I have lost."

Draco seemed floored by this admission. "I see," he said his voice stunned.

"I do love you, dear," said Narcissa, "but I cannot stay here any longer."

Draco nodded. And Narcissa decided not to string this out any longer. She headed back to her room. She still had to finish packing.

XXXXX

Kingsley Shacklebolt led the contingent of Aurors assigned to Hogsmeade Station. Today was the day that the students from Hogwarts were scheduled to take the train back to London. Scrimgoeur had believed that the students would not show up, but Amelia knew better. Kingsley was one of the few Aurors to know that Amelia was working directly with Potter. Of course now that Harry was on speaking terms with Dumbledore again, it was very likely that the reformed Order of the Phoenix would begin cooperating with her as well.

Sure enough, right on schedule the carriages arrived from Hogwarts, pulled by Thestrals. This would be a bitter blow to Fudge's proceedings today. Certainly, Kingsley knew that some of the students hadn't come back, including most of the seventh year students. But Kingsley wasn't here to babysit 'of age' witches and wizards. Those who had not arrived were of course part of Potters army.

Kingsley had his orders. Time to get everyone loaded, then head back to the Ministry. Today was going to be an interesting day.

XXXXX

Amelia smiled as Kingsley's Lynx Patronus faded away. She hadn't been in doubt of what would happen today. Harry had said that the students of Hogwarts would take the Hogwarts Express back home. This would cripple any attempt by Fudge to use the evacuation of Hogwarts against Harry.

Amelia forwarded this information on in two separate memos to Dumbledore and Bryant Greengrass. She didn't see fit to inform Fudge though. Let him look like a fool in front of the Wizengamot!

XXXXX

Narcissa strode out of her bedroom decisively. She had her enchanted bag over her shoulder. It was now or never. In mere minutes the Wizengamot meeting would begin and all the other Senior Death Eaters would be gathered waiting for confirmation that the plan was on. So right now Narcissa had a window, one she was not going to miss.

Since everyone on patrol now would be junior to her, she would have the authority to tell anyone she met to mind their own business. Even at the edge of the estate she believed she could credibly state that she was on some assignment. But she cursed the fact that she had placed the anti-apparition wards on the property. It had made her escape more complicated.

What was more inconvenient was the fact that when she reached the doors she found them being guarded by men who were checking for passes. That was odd. By luck she arrived behind another person who had no idea what was going on, so she'd heard the explanation with no need to incriminate herself.

This was trouble. Narcissa knew that the Dark Lord was nothing if not thorough, so there was no use trying a different door. She could jump out a window, but that would probably attract unwanted attention. That left one option, the secret tunnel. She was hesitant to use it, especially given that getting out was considerably harder than she had anticipated. Maybe she should wait for a better opportunity. But no, she had said her goodbyes. The time was now.

Narcissa had never used the tunnel, but she knew it existed. She made her way back into the heart of the Manor, using the old servant passages to avoid being seen. Even then she nearly ran into the Carrows. But she made it to the kitchens undetected, and quickly descended into the wine cellar.

In the very back of the wine cellar, Narcissa came to a wall. Placing her wand on the wall, she waited for five seconds. The wall opened for her. It wouldn't work for anyone who was not a member of the Malfoy family. She cast a quick Lumos charm and headed in.

A short tunnel led to a guardroom. Two halls branched out from here. Down one hall was a line of four prison cells, the original purpose of this place. Narcissa didn't know why the medieval Malfoys needed a prison, but at some point they had. The other hall was more recent. It had been cut as an escape tunnel.

The tunnel was longer than Narcisaa had expected. But that made sense. It would have to lead outside the wards, and there was a large hill behind the Malfoy estate. By necessity, the entire hill was inside the wards. Otherwise, it would be a perfect place to attack the Manor from. In fact the original castle had been built on top of the hill, but that was destroyed in the English Civil War, and with the advent of the Statue of Secrecy, the Malfoys had built their new Manor in the less conspicuous valley below. That being said, only the exterior wards extended over the hill. A determined enemy could still fly or walk people to the top of the hill if they really wanted to attack Malfoy Manor

She finally came to the end, a cleverly disguised stone door from the outside. It led to a secluded ravine on the other side of the hill. She grabbed the handle for the door and pushed as she extinguished her Lumos charm. The door swung open.

And Narcissa found herself looking into the eyes of the Dark Lord.

With a single wave of his wand, Narcissa was against the wall of the ravine. The Dark Lord was not alone. Snape and Rookwood were there, as well as…

"You did well, Draco," said the Dark Lord approvingly, "I will admit that I did not believe you. But you have truly shown me that your loyalty to me is absolute. I commend you."

"Thank you, my Lord," said Draco, his eyes burning with what Narcissa could only call madness.

"And you Narcissa!" said the Dark Lord, turning back to her, his eyes baleful, "I am very disappointed in you. Yet I must shoulder some of the blame. I knew you had delicate sensibilities, and that you would likely not be able to stomach what would be necessary for victory! I promoted you against the advice of many other advisors. And your son has done me a service. You may yet be of some use to me. So I will not kill you."

Narcissa breathed a sigh of relief.

"But I'm afraid that the rest of your life is going to be very unpleasant," said Voldemort, "Beyond your wildest imaginings. I don't have time to show you what I have in mind properly though, so this will have to suffice for now. _Crucio!_"

Narcissa screamed in agony as the cruciatus curse wracked her body. But truly, that was nothing compared to the knowledge that her son had betrayed her.

XXXXX

Bryant Greengrass made his way into the courtroom where the Wizengamot was meeting, his hands clutching his notes. He probably wouldn't need them, but it never hurt to be sure. Fudge was about to step on his own dick today though, so Bryant wasn't exactly worried.

Bryant was more annoyed that Harry had forced him into this position than anything. He wanted to finally break this alliance between himself and Potter, but as long as Daphne and Astoria were among Harry's allies and Fudge was Minister he couldn't. Once Fudge was gone and replaced with someone less hostile to Harry Bryant could return to his natural politics. The life debt his daughter owed Potter was quite inconvenient. Otherwise he'd just have cut a deal to turn on Potter in exchange for clemency for his daughters.

Potter had been smart enough to not show up today. If he had, Fudge would have filled him full of who knows how many potions. In fact, Bryant had to admit that Harry had handled himself well. Indeed, he liked the boy. It was a shame he was on the wrong side of the pureblood supremacy divide.

Fudge entered the Chamber with Umbridge and Percy in tow. Bryant had decided he'd keep that secret, regardless of anything else. Technically, no one had told him that Percy Weasley was Harry Potter's spy in the Minister's office, but it was pretty obvious. Bryant had nothing against Percy. And Bryant actually respected the way Percy had toed the line all this time. No, he wouldn't give up Percy's true loyalty, even if it might have benefited him slightly.

Fudge seemed put out by something. Bryant suspected he'd been waiting for a report on Hogwarts from Amelia. That was one thing he was never going to get. The moment he'd refused to even submit his warrant for Potter's arrest to Amelia was the moment she'd turned against him. No, Amelia just wasn't talking to Fudge, and Fudge resented it. He was going to resent it more in a moment, but that wasn't going to mean much for long.

Fudge quickly called the meeting to order and everyone found their seats. Fudge settled into that self satisfied smirk. Oh, how Bryant hated it.

"I have called you all together today to deal with an urgent issue," said Fudge, "I have had an arrest warrant issued for Harry Potter. We have evidence that he is planning to overthrow the Ministry and may have committed murder. This has grown more serious as he has apparently abducted the rest of the students of Hogwarts."

A murmur went through the chamber. Most of the people here probably had heard that the students of Hogwarts had boarded the train. Fudge had just shown himself to be dangerously out of the loop.

"What abduction?" demanded Bryant as he stood.

"This so-called evacuation was really just a cover for Potter to abduct the entire school-age population of Britain," said Fudge, "Look at the proof. Have the children been returned yet?"

"Yes, they have," said Bryant with a vicious smile, "They are on the Hogwarts Express now, aside from a handful of students who volunteered to stay at the school and help fix the wards."

Fudge seemed taken aback at this. He shot Amelia a dirty look, but Amelia pretended she didn't see it. No one was going to sympathize with Fudge over this, not after he'd kept Amelia out of the loop on Potter.

"And why do they need help at Hogwarts?" asked Bryant angrily, "They need help to restore the wards which were brought down by your Aurors, while they were executing an illegal arrest on Harry Potter. And they failed, I might add. This is just one incompetence after another!"

Fudge whirled to face Dumbledore. His face was angry. But Dumbledore just shook his head. And with that, Fudge realized that his gambit had failed.

"I move that we officially defer to the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as to the status of the arrest warrant for Mr. Potter," said Bryant.

Dumbledore called the vote, and Fudge didn't even object. It passed overwhelmingly.

"I further move that the Wizengamot go into recess until tomorrow," said Bryant, "All the various factions need to consult with each other, in light of what Minister Fudge has done, and decide whether Minister Fudge needs to be removed or not."

Again, the vote was overwhelming. Even the Death Eaters like Nott were against Fudge. Which meant Fudge was toast. Bryant grinned. He'd have to meet with the purebloods now. Maybe they'd find someone better than Amelia. But the first step towards being free of Fudge had been taken.

If only Bryant was free to handle things as he wished.

XXXXX

One moment Malfoy Manor had been absolutely full of Death Eaters and mercenaries that Clarise Zabini had brought in to bolster their numbers, and the next moment Nott had found himself practically alone. Something was definitely up today. Nott wanted to warn Harry that something was up, but he had to admit that he didn't know how. He didn't trust the floo and he didn't know how to summon a patronus. Stupid oversight on his part. He could send an owl, but that would take too much time. No, he could only hope Harry knew what was going on.

Still, Nott was concerned. He had heard a rumor that something was wrong with Narcissa Malfoy, but he didn't have much to go on. One person had suggested that she had tried to run away. Nott wasn't sure he believed that. Still it was true that he couldn't find her anywhere. He considered this for a moment. Something was up, but he wasn't sure he should get involved.

In the end, his decency won out over his good sense. He had to know, and finding out might give him some useful intel on Voldemort. But where was Narcissa? The only places she might be that he hadn't checked were her bedchamber and the bedchamber assigned to Voldemort.

And she wasn't in her own bedchamber. That room had been ransacked quite thoroughly. That gave credence to the idea that Narcissa had been caught doing something she shouldn't have. It was almost enough to make Nott back off. Almost.

Still, Nott wasn't exactly eager to break into Voldemort's bedchamber. If he was caught, it would be the end of him. Still, the main group left in the Manor was a guard led by the Carrows, and they were manning the perimeter. Nott wondered if the Dark Lord might actually be arrogant enough to believe that no one would dare try and enter his bedchamber.

Yet when he reached the door to the room, he was still surprised that it actually was unguarded. Worried even more, Nott turned the knob on the door and opened it. He quickly ducked into the room so no one would see him. But he was unprepared for what he found.

The room was a fairly well appointed room, though it wasn't incredibly large. But it had one glaring oddity. And that oddity was a completely naked Narcissa Malfoy, suspended by her tied hands from the ceiling. Her eyes were closed. Every so often, one of her muscles would twitch, a remnant of extreme cruciatus exposure. But apparently the Dark Lord had grown bored with the cruciatus, and there were large welts all over her body.

"Mrs. Malfoy!" Nott almost cried out, horrified.

Narcissa opened her eyes. "What are you doing here?" she demanded weakly.

"I heard you were in trouble, so I was trying to find you!" said Nott, "Are you all right? He didn't… I mean…"

Nott's ears went red as he stumbled over his questions. How did you ask the naked mother of a former friend whether she'd been sexually assaulted?

"Do I look fine?" asked Narcissa sarcastically before she shook her head firmly.

"I'm sorry, you don't deserve that," said Narcissa more kindly, "He has hurt me, but he didn't… do... anything. He is too good at torture to make that mistake."

"Mistake?" asked Nott, unable to process what Narcissa was saying.

"No offense Theo, but I am pretty sure that this is a conversation you don't want to have with me," said Narcissa dryly, "suffice to say different types of torture work better or worse on different people. He wants me degraded, but in a way where I am treated like I ak utterly unimportant."

Nott gulped as he understood her meaning. He hadn't meant to go to such a personal place. It was at that point that he realized he'd been staring at Narcissa's nude form this entire time. He forced himself to close his eyes. He heard what almost sounded like a laugh come from Narcissa.

"We need to get you out of here!" said Nott.

"Don't be silly," said Narcissa, "it's far too dangerous for you to try to rescue me. Even if you could get me out of here, we'd just be fugitives! Where could we go?"

"Potter would protect us," said Nott with certainty.

Narcissa sighed. "I've no doubt he'd try. But then you would be of no use to him as a spy, would you?"

Nott's eyes opened in shock. "You know?" he demanded.

Narcissa laughed. "I didn't, but I do now. Still it's the only thing that makes sense, you being here."

"I can't just leave you here!" protested Nott looking Narcissa right in the eyes.

Suddenly Narcissa's eyes went soft. "Oh, you poor boy," she said sadly, "I know you blame yourself for what happened to Pansy. But I am here because of choices I made. And I will not be responsible for your destruction. Here is what is going to happen. I will tell you all of the Dark Lord's plans that I was privy to. Then you will leave, and say nothing of this. If the Dark Lord ever asks you why you broke into his room, you will tell him that you broke in to gawk at me naked. He won't kill you for that, he might even be amused by it. But you must do exactly what I say!"

Nott looked at Narcissa helplessly. Finally he nodded. What else could he do?

XXXXX

Narcissa watched as Nott closed the door behind him. She'd given him as much information on the Dark Lord's plans as she could. She hoped Potter could make use of it. It was her only real hope.

She shook her head thinking of the way Nott had initially been staring at her. She had to remind herself that he was only seventeen. He was still very inexperienced, and it was only natural that he'd stared at her. And he had managed to be embarrassed at what he'd done, once he'd noticed.

Still, she was impressed by his resolve. And she realized that she had been forced to pick a side. And in her position, there was really only one side to take. So she would bide her time, and look to give the Dark Lord advice that would take him down.

XXXXX

There really wasn't anything Fudge could do. Percy didn't really want to upset the man more than he already was, but that was the truth. Politically, he was done. And that was that.

"It was Dolores," said Fudge quietly.

"Hmm?" asked Percy.

"Dolores betrayed me," said Fudge, "She knew this would backfire on me. This was her revenge."

"I suppose that could be true," said Percy, trying to sound dubious, "though she was always a better bureaucrat than a politician."

"True," admitted Fudge, "but she said Dumbledore was on her side. Either she trusted Dumbledore with no assurances and he was lying…"

"Doesn't sound like her," agreed Percy.

"Or she always intended for this to fail," finished Fudge.

"She knew you were angry at Potter after he chewed you out in Diagon Alley," noted Percy, "and let's be honest. You don't react well when you get surprised. She may have used that."

"That is true," said Fudge, "and she's always pushed me towards goals she supports. I'll give you this much credit, you may have been Potter's spy in my office, but you always gave me good advice."

"What? I'm not…" started Percy, but Fudge just raised one hand.

"Of course you're a spy," said Fudge, "your sister is one of his best friends, and rumour has it a fellow member of the Triumvirate. And you do care what your family thinks of you, despite your protestations. I've known you were a spy since June, at least. But I don't hold it against you."

"You don't?" asked Percy nervously.

"It's just politics, and as I said, you always gave me good advice," said Fudge, "You kept trying to keep me on Potter's good side. If I had listened to you I would still have a healthy political career."

Percy didn't know what to say to that.

"But I don't," said Fudge, "I'm done. Even now the various factions in the Wizengamot are plotting who will replace me. Well, I'm not needed for that. I'm headed home."

"Very well sir," said Percy, "Anything you need me to do?"

"Deliver this to Amelia Bones," said Fudge, pulling out a rolled up piece of paper, "It is an apology of sorts, and it may help her out in the coming days if the appointment of a new Minister for Magic goes sour."

"I will take it immediately," said Percy, taking the paper

"Good man," said Fudge.

Percy turned around and marched out of Fudge's office. It was a strange feeling. He'd come to have very complicated feelings about Fudge as Minister. This made things worse.

He walked into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Things were all slightly abuzz here. Amelia still had things on some sort of alert.

"I have a letter from the Minister for Madam Bones," said Percy as he approached Bones' secretary. He was quickly ushered in.

"Is he resigning?" asked Bones.

"Probably not," said Percy, "he isn't going to fight things though. He wanted me to give you this."

He handed Amelia the letter. Amelia snorted as she read it.

"He just gave me full hiring and firing power over the DMLE, including sub-department heads," said Amelia with a wry grin, "Scrimgoeur's gone, I can tell you that right now. I guess this is Fudge's way of apologizing to me."

"That's what he said," started Percy as something in his pocket started to vibrate violently. Initially, Percy was confused. Then he realized that it was the device that monitored Minister Fudge's emergency beacon. The same one that Percy had given him. And then suddenly the device stopped. But if Fudge had simply stopped grabbing it, it would have faded out, not just cut off. Which meant…

"The Minister for Magic just sent me a message," said Percy, "But it cut off. Which would only happen if he died while trying to contact me."

"Wait, so are you saying Fudge just _died?_" demanded Amelia, "Where was he?"

"Home, I'd guess," said Percy.

Amelia stood up. "His floo has unrestricted access to most of the Ministry."

"Wait, that means…" began Percy.

Amelia put her wand to her neck. "Attention to the staff and visitors of the Ministry of Magic. We have a security breach. We ask everyone to step away from any unsecured floo, and shelter in a room without an unsecured floo. All security personnel report to your emergency positions."

"It means they can attack virtually any public area and a good number of the private areas in the Ministry," said Amelia as she pulled the wand from her neck.

Percy was suddenly very concerned about what was coming.

XXXXX

Harry wasn't taking any chances. He'd had the entire Army standing ready all day. And even though the Wizengamot meeting had ended, Harry wasn't yet ready to stand down. And Hermione and Ginny agreed with him.

Ernie, however, did not.

"When are we going to be standing down?" he asked anxiously.

"When I say so," said Harry shortly.

"Harry's right, mate," said Ron, "We don't know exactly what Voldemort is planning, so we don't know when would be best for him to attack."

Harry noticed that Ron had started using Riddle's adopted name. He'd actually been doing it for some time. It made sense. Harry had embarrassed him enough times that he'd lost a lot of his ability to terrify Harry's people.

Which wasn't necessarily a good thing, Harry realized. Tom Riddle was an incredibly dangerous man. His Army did not need to get casual about facing him.

"Come on, it isn't happening," said Ernie.

"We don't know that," said Hermione.

"Once we start making assumptions about what will definitely and definitely not happen, we are just opening ourselves up to attack," said Ginny.

"But it's been over four hours…" started Ernie but at that moment a glowing weasel hopped into the room. Both Ginny and Ron leapt to their feet in excitement and disbelief.

"No way!" said Ginny, "It can't be!"

"What is it?" asked Hermione.

"Dad's Patronus was a Weasel," said Ron.

The Patronus stipped in front of Harry. Percy's voice came out, to Ron and Ginny's disappointment.

"Fudge is dead, and the Death Eaters are about to attack the Ministry," said Percy's Patronus, "We need you."

Harry picked up his mask. "We're on our way," he said.

XXXXX

Rookwood leapt out of the floo into the empty office. It was an out of the way, unused room in the back of the Wizengamot office area. Several other Death Eaters had leapt out and more followed Rookwood. The next person through was in fact Snape.

Rookwood scowled. He didn't trust these foreign mercenaries, but with manpower so low they'd had no choice but to use them. There were too few actual Death Eaters here today.

"Are you sure Draco is up to his job?" asked Rookwood.

"He'll keep the door open," assured Snape, "We have to move quickly. The Ministry seems to be on the alert."

Rookwood had noticed that as well. Probably Fudge had some hidden way to get a message out. It didn't matter. No one was going to figure out where they were hitting today, not before it was too late.

XXXXX

Cedric and Kingsley were both trying very hard to remain quiet. As they'd been making their way to the main office of the DMLE, they'd nearly run straight into the Death Eater attackers. They'd managed to disillusion themselves, and had hidden themselves in a nearby office.

Cedric had to admit, he didn't feel very capable of taking on a Death Eater right now. He was just an intern. Still, he was capable of defending himself, and he would do so if attacked.

"What the hell are the Death Eaters doing back here?" wondered Kingsley quietly.

"We're not that far from the DMLE," said Cedric.

"But this is a bad direction to attack it from," argued Kingsley, "The problem is that there is only one approach to the DMLE from here, unless you take the stairs to another floor I suppose."

"They could be trying to take one of the staircases down I suppose, that would mean having only one access point up here would be ideal," said Cedric.

"Yeah, it does make more sense if they're trying to keep us out," said Kingsley, "And the back staircase makes sense. There's nothing else back here except…"

Both men looked at each other at the same moment as they realized what was happening.

"The Wizengamot Offices!" they both shouted as they rushed out the door, now heedless of the danger. Kingsley began to pursue the Death Eaters, while Cedric headed for help.

Cedric ran towards the access to the DMLE. Luckily, there was no one guarding it, just a hastily erected barrier of magic. He quickly blew that apart and ran forward, only to run into Percy and Amelia Bones leading the rest of the Aurors.

"They're after the Wizengamot!" screamed Cedric.

Amelia's eyes went wide and she began to run, as did everyone else. They pushed forward, but didn't run into any resistance. They quickly reached Kingsley, who had taken down a Death Eater. Or what was dressed as a Death Eater, but was clearly a foreign ruffian, complete with gang tattoos in Cyrillic.

Cedric followed Amelia, who marched right up to the room that the Progressive members of the Wizengamot had been meeting in. The door was open. And as Cedric looked in he saw bodies. He could identify the mangled remains of MacMillan, Elphias Doge, Griselda Marchbanks, and others. He heard a moan, only to see a battered Augusta Longbottom reaching for help. And there were others. So many others.

"FUCK!" screamed Amelia as she slammed her fist into the wall.

"They won't stay on this level," said Percy.

Cedric was puzzled. "There are other Wizengamot members to kill," objected Cedric.

"They don't care," said Percy sadly, "They killed everyone they needed to right here."

Cedric's eyes widened as he realized Percy was right.

"Amelia, stay behind," said Percy.

"Like hell I will!" roared Amelia.

"Their goal must be to decapitate the ministry," said Percy, "You are the only person alive who has the authority to resist whatever is about to happen next. You must _remain_ alive no matter what."

Amelia glared daggers at Percy, but nodded. "Kingsley, lead the rest to the stairs. They'll be headed for the Department of Mysteries. They need something there. Hopefully you'll get some help down there."

"Right," said Kingsley.

"Cedric, help me with Augusta!" shouted Amelia as the Aurors began to leave, "Percy, get to Floo Control and shut down the floos. We are getting the bastards who did this."

Cedric ran over to start helping the long, arduous task of keeping Augusta Longbottom alive.

XXXXX

Rookwood led the men through the staircase. Going all the way to the Department of Mysteries was a bit of a trip. But as far as the Dark Lord was concerned, this was the most important part of the battle. They had to get this book which told them how to stabilize the Dark Lord. They had to! The Dark Lord was very specific, Rookwood would get this book or die trying.

But when he reached the level he was forced to duck by a hail of spells. One of his men wasn't so lucky and took a cutter to the face. People in masks and robes were defending the Department of Mysteries! It was the Army of the Triumvirate!

"We must fall back to the last level before the DMLE cuts us off and we get trapped in this staircase," said Snape.

"I have to get the book," said Rookwood, "He'll kill me otherwise. Attack!" And Rookwood charged out.

Alone.

Not a single one of the foreigners came after him. And as the spells hit him, Rookwood thought he heard Snape growling, "Damn you, Rookwood!"

XXXXX

Percy made his way into the Floo office. "Shut down the outgoing Floo!" he roared.

The Floo department witches and wizards all looked at each other and nodded. Quickly casting spells at the huge fireplaces that controlled the Floo Network.

"We can't," said one of the witches suddenly.

"Why not?" asked Percy.

"Because there is currently an open Floo connection to the outside," said the witch, "Until it closes we can't do anything."

"Where is it open to?" asked Percy, but he was sure he knew the answer.

XXXXX

Draco Malfoy stood in Fudge's mansion, his wand pointed at the fireplace. As long as he held this spell, the floo would remain open. But he hoped they hurried. This was very simple, but very tiring.

Moments later men began jumping through the floo, led by Snape, who was carrying a badly injured Rookwood. He'd been hit by multiple cutting charms.

"Well done Draco," said Snape, "The mission went a bit badly at the end, but other than that, everything went smoothly."

Draco grinned. They'd just taught the Blood Traitors a lesson they'd never get over.

XXXXX

Harry looked out over the devastation in the Wizengamot offices. Ernie was weeping next to the body of his grandfather, while other members of the Triumvirate were standing guard. Aside from Amelia, only Cedric, Percy and Kingsley were there of the Ministry personnel.

"This… this was a blow," said Harry numbly.

"You couldn't have predicted this Harry," said Hermione, "Everything pointed to you being the real target of Voldemort's plan."

"I know," said Harry, "It's still devastating."

"What happens now?" aked Ginny.

"The Wizengamot will have to meet," said Amelia, "Luckily, once the Wizengamot goes back into session the Chief Warlock will be able to start the process of choosing new members almost immediately. The remaining Wizengamot members will appoint a temporary Minister, and we'll try to recover from this outrage."

"That's not what will happen," said Percy.

Everyone looked at him.

"This was Umbridge's plan all along," said Percy, "Kill the Minister, kill the Progressives, then what, wait for the Wizengamot to make Amelia Minister? No. She has a plan."

"You think Umbridge is working for the Death Eaters?" asked Harry, though he privately suspected as much.

"We have no way to know that," said Hermione.

Harry shook his head. He really didn't know what to do here.

XXXXX

Bryant was in shock. How long had he worked with all those people? And now they were dead. It disturbed him. It wasn't Amelia's fault though. Fudge had gotten lazy with his own personal security. It was the only thing that made sense.

He sighed. And now they'd have to fix this mess. The Wizengamot had a long road ahead of them.

There was a knock on his office door.

"Come in," said Bryant. To his surprise, Dolores Umbridge walked in.

"A tragic day," said Dolores, "A truly tragic day."

"Yes," said Bryant sadly.

"Still we must move on with a new Minister," said Dolores, "An acting Minister must be appointed."

"Amelia will finally get to be Minister I guess," said Bryant.

"Why her?" asked Umbridge, "It could be you."

"Not likely," said Bryant, "we'll have to recruit more Wizengamot members before we can get a permanent Acting Minister. Dumbledore will only allow us to appoint a temporary one."

Umbridge grinned, "And so the Progressives will emerge out of this more powerful than ever."

"That's the way it goes," said Bryant.

"Of course, the Wizengamot doesn't even have to be in session to appoint a temporary Interim Minister," said Umbridge.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Bryant.

"As the most senior member of Fudge's government, if the Wizengamot doesn't meet, I could fill in for him until it does meet," said Umbridge, "And then we can take control. I have an idea."

"What sort of idea?" asked Bryant.

"A plan to make sure that proper purebloods continue to run the Wizengamot," said Umbridge, "A plan that will make you Minister for Magic."

Bryant's mind initially rebelled against the idea. But suddenly he realized that this was his chance! This was his chance to escape from the heel of Potter.

"If you agree to not move against my daughters or hurt Potter, I might be able to support it," said Bryant.

Umbridge smiled. "Oh, I won't lay a finger on Potter," said Umbridge. Somehow that made Bryant uneasy. But not uneasy enough to not go through with this.

XXXXX

**December 21st, 1997**

The news that Umbridge had claimed the title of Minister, and the Wizengamot had dismissed itself, effectively legitimizing her, hit Harry and the Army of the Triumvirate like a sack of bricks.

"What is your father doing?" Harry demanded.

"Don't blame Daphne for what her father did," said Tracey, "He's betrayed her as much as he's betrayed us."

"I wasn't blaming Daphne," said Harry, "But we need to know what Bryant Greengrass is thinking right now."

"He's thinking he found a way to put the purebloods back on top, that's what he's thinking," said Astoria.

Things got worse the next day when Harry got a letter from Nott. Reading it, he called the Army together again.

"Theodore Nott just sent me this letter," said Harry, "It confirms our worst fears. Dolores Umbridge is working for Tom Riddle. Lord Voldemort controls the Minister for Magic."

**Author's Note:** And so the true plot was revealed - to eliminate all opposition on the Wizengamot and give control of the Ministry to Umbridge. However Umbridge's plan wasn't 100% effective. Umbridge actually probably intended Dumbledore to go down with Fudge, and his last minute rescue spared him that. She also intended to have full control over the DMLE, but Fudge was just aware enough to give Amelia free reign. So the DMLE is at least partially free of Umbridge. Still, this is a huge defeat for Harry, and a sign that Voldemort has begun to adapt his strategies to take into account that the Triumvirate knows how he thinks. Of course Voldemort doesn't know that Nott has all of Voldemort's plans.

So I have been getting a lot of reviews commenting on how short most of the horcrux destruction scenes are. I want to address this because it is an area that I think is really about the way I designed this story and has impacted the way I will be writing future stories. So the reason none of the horcrux destruction scenes have epic mind battles with horcruxes is simple: I didn't want to have to write seven separate mind battles. Or rather, I didn't have enough ideas for seven separate mind battles. So yes, the scenes are a bit disappointing. That being said, I learned my lesson here. I just wrote what I think is a very good chapter of Harriet Potter that has Harriet mentally confronting a horcrux and the result is frankly far better than I had hoped. I sort of want to publish it right now, but I have a whole other part to publish before I even get to that part.

There is a lot of feedback on this story it may seem like I am dismissing or not engaging with, but I have been considering how to use it to make future stories better. Because I started posting The Twisted Path after I had finished writing it, I haven't really been able to change much about the overall story. Twisted Path is absolutely a story that bends over backwards to maintain the essential morality of the original Harry Potter books, sometimes to it's own detriment. The big addition is my tendency to focus on mental health issues.

Anyway, from here on out we are building towards the climax of the story. Only three more chapters until the battle of Hogwarts and six more chapters total (seven if you count the epilogue).

Next Time: Harry Potter responds to Umbridge's takeover by preparing to take an action he would previously have seen as unthinkable, while Umbridge tries to solidify her position at the Ministry. Also the girls of Slytherin give Harry a hard time, one last time.


	54. Umbridge in Charge

**Chapter 54: Umbridge in Charge**

**December 21st, 1997**

Percy was punctual to his meeting with Acting Minister for Magic Umbridge. He suspected he was about to be fired, but something was off about Umbridge's demeanor. Surely even if Fudge hadn't told her that he was Harry's spy, Snape had.

Yet when Umbridge sat him down in a friendly manner, he suspected she didn't know at all. Which was confusing, but Percy wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"So we've had some bad blood, haven't we Percy," started Umbridge.

"I don't see it that way," said Percy, "My job was to protect Minister Fudge, and I did so. I would do so for any Minister I was working for."

Umbridge smiled warmly. "Yes, yes, that is what I thought. Your sister was always careful to stay out of my way at Hogwarts."

"I gave her that advice," said Percy carefully, "she seemed happy to follow it. My sister is a bit… secretive though. She rarely explains herself to me."

Umbridge nodded. "A colleague of mine says you are the black sheep of the Weasley family."

That had to be Snape's doing. So Snape was lying to his fellow Death Eaters. Interesting. And Umbridge was now trying to recruit him.

"A bit, I had a bit of a row with my Mum a while back," admitted Percy, omitting their reconciliation.

"Well if you show me the loyalty you showed Fudge, especially when family is concerned, you will do very well. If you still want the job that is."

Translation: she at least knows a little of what Ginny has been up to. But she is also certain I'm not involved.

Still, his path was clear. "I would be delighted," said Percy, committing himself to another stint as Harry Potter's spy in the Minister's office.

XXXXX

**January 5th, 1998**

The news that Percy had managed to retain his position in the Ministry had been a slight silver lining to Harry and his friends. Amelia firing Rufus Scrimgoeur had also been quite fun. But on the whole, Harry had to admit that things had gone rather poorly for them recently.

The Army of the Triumvirate had lent their wands to the project of getting the Hogwarts school wards back up, and it had been done and done well. The school was even more secure than before. And given what was coming, Harry was glad about that.

Nott had been practically inconsolable about his inability to rescue Narcissa Malfoy. Harry and Ginny had both reassured him that Narcissa had forced him to leave for his own protection, and she had been right to do so. Especially given the treasure trove of knowledge that Narcissa had given Nott.

"The key to it all is my mother," said Blaise, "She basically is the only one who can get Voldemort more manpower. If my Mum goes away, so does pretty much Voldemort's entire force."

"The real danger will be if Umbridge manages to stay in power until the end of the school year," said Harry, "Then she'll be able to ensure that Voldemort is able to capture Hogwarts. Once that happens the two of them will be able to squeeze Magical Britain until it falls to the both of them."

The plan was actually simple. Umbridge's tenure as Interim Minister would expire at the end of the next Wizengamot meeting, so it was in her interest to postpone that meeting as long as possible. Umbridge would fake a crisis of some sort, and when that happened and everyone was distracted, Voldemort would attack Hogwarts. Once he'd taken the castle, he'd hole up in it, summoning the purebloods for an open rebellion. Umbridge could use the crisis to get appointed as Acting Minister, but would then be ineffectual, making sure no one could take back the school. As such, she'd have a harsh political crackdown, after which Amelia would be dealt with and the Death Eaterization of the Ministry would begin.

But it would all fall apart if Amelia kept blocking Umbridge's plans. Which so far she had. Still, Voldemort had managed to work himself into a position which Harry had hoped he was far past, a position where he was close to getting his hands on the reigns of power.

The fact was that Umbridge couldn't fire Amelia, which angered her to no end. She was only the Interim Minister which was on a timer and required the Wizengamot to approve her decisions, not the Acting Minister who would serve out Fudge's term. Umbridge wanted total control, and the DMLE refused to bend to her. It was going to be an entertaining battle between the two of them.

But it was also incredibly fortuitous that Fudge had, as his last act, given Amelia the right to fire anyone under her. And she'd used that power. She'd fired Scrimgoeur and appointed Kingsley Shacklebolt as Head Auror. Umbridge had been furious, and she'd revoked Amelia's power to fire people, or at least tried to. But it did no good. Amelia was already completely in control of her department, and she wasn't giving up that power, no matter what.

Harry had considered leaving Hogwarts and going on the offensive. But Amelia wouldn't agree to it. She would only act once Umbridge stuck out her neck far enough to get it chopped off cleanly. And Harry understood. The Wizengamot, by not calling itself into session, was tacitly approving of Umbridge's administration. Amelia wanted to stay on their good side. But even she was beginning to see the truth.

If Harry moved against Umbridge when the Wizengamot was not in session, they would gather elsewhere and remove Amelia and declare the Triumvirate traitors. Which meant that he would need to deal with the Wizengamot either before or at the same time as Umbridge. Suddenly the reason Riddle had chosen to have Fudge self destruct had become obvious to Harry. Removing a Minister was one of the few things that would get the Wizengamot in their separate groups for an extended period of time. But even the full Wizengamot didn't meet outside of meetings very often.

The Wizengamot was now part of the problem. Which meant that dealing with them would be a very simple thing indeed. But one fraught with peril if not handled correctly. And Harry knew exactly what would be needed there.

XXXXX

**February 4th, 1998**

One other good thing that had come of this fiasco was that Tracey and Daphne had finally put aside their differences. Tracey had moved back in with Daphne to make sure she was all right, given her father's betrayal. At some point, the two of them had had a heart to heart.

And there was no way around it, Bryant Greengrasses betrayal had devastated Daphne. She had honestly thought that she had been getting through to him. The fact that she hadn't, and he had done this, it had nearly broken her. Luckily, Tracey and Millie had both worked hard to help her recover. And she largely had, though it took a few weeks once school started.

Astoria, on the other hand, seemed to take it in stride. She had a much better grip on who her father was apparently. Astoria was the one who had insisted that the two of them break all contact with their father. Astoria still wrote to her mother on occasion, but she had threatened to stop even doing that when her mother had tried to get her to write to her father. Astoria had let her mother know in no uncertain terms that she should be grateful for what she had been given, and that attempting to put them in contact with their father would be a bad idea that would result in all letters ceasing. She also said that she would be living with her sister once school ended this year.

Harry admired Astoria. She really had come a long way from the girl who had a crush on Draco Malfoy. He almost wished that she had had her older sister's interest in politics. Merlin, Harry could use two of them for sure. But Daphne's skills would have to be enough.

But Harry hadn't told Daphne what he needed her for, so one day Harry, Hermione and Ginny had invited Daphne to speak with them in the Head Boy and Girl's sitting room.

"You asked me to come?" asked Daphne.

"We have an issue that we need to discuss with you," said Hermione, "I won't lie, we're going to be asking a lot of you. But events have forced our hand."

Harry was standing and pacing. He didn't want to do this. But they had no choice.

"Umbridge's assumption of the title of Minister for Magic was an illegal coup," said Harry, "I spoke to Amelia, and she agrees. Which means that the entire state apparatus which is supporting her is illegal. This includes the Wizengamot, at least as it is currently formulated."

"I agree," said Daphne, "aside from Augusta Longbottom, who is still in St. Mungo's, the entire Wizengamot as it currently exists is illegitimate."

"We are going to have to overthrow it," said Harry.

"I agree with that as well," said Daphne.

"You understand that the Triumvirate cannot assume the role of leadership, correct?" asked Ginny, "If we did so it would be disastrous. We need someone whom all sides can consider trusting to take up the role of Minister for Magic."

"Amelia would be the best bet," said Daphne.

"She can't," said Harry, "she's going to have to betray the Ministry and overthrow the Wizengamot. We cannot establish a precedent of that being an activity that allows the head of the DMLE to become the Minister for Magic, otherwise every head of the DMLE will be doing it."

"You know, that's true," said Daphne thoughtfully.

"I need someone I can trust," said Harry, "someone who will be acceptable to purebloods, while not giving a damn what they think. Someone who knows politics. I need you, Daphne."

Daphne's jaw dropped.

XXXXX

**February 7th, 1998**

A few days later the news got even grimmer.

"Danny O'Keefe is dead," said Blaise without preamble as he entered the Head Students' sitting room.

"Dammit," said Harry sadly.

"Was it the Death Eaters or Umbridge?" asked Hermione.

"It was Umbridge. She's setting up a secret militia group of her own, using Ministry resources," said Blaise, "It's still a secret, she doesn't want the DMLE getting wind of it yet. But she sicced them on the Irish underground."

"Where does that put us?" asked Harry.

"Danny's been succeeded by a guy named Conner Murphy," said Blaise, "He's cautious by nature. My mother isn't in any position to be striking back right now, but Conner isn't going to be trying to take control of the English Underworld anytime soon."

"Well, maybe that's not such a bad thing," said Hermione, "Do we really want all of Britain's magical underworld unified once this is all over? Not that I'm saying that it is good that Danny died."

"That's probably true," said Blaise, "but it does mean that the Death Eaters will have a little less to worry about."

"Are you okay?" asked Harry.

Blaise nodded. "Danny was… well, not a good man, but he was kind to me. I'll miss him, but he kind of had this coming. He did a lot for the cause though. This will make Umbridge's attempt to do things in the shadows easier."

Harry wasn't sure what to feel, aside from being pressured from all sides. He felt that all the time now.

XXXXX

**February 10th, 1998**

Umbridge went public with her Magical Security Force, as she called it, mere days later. She put it in charge of all aspects of her own security, and gave it control of several secure areas in the Ministry of Magic. Rufus Scrimgoeur was revealed to be the head of this new Security Force. Amelia was outraged, but there was nothing she could do aside from forcibly removing them from the Ministry. Amelia would probably win that fight, but it would have repercussions later most likely.

But Umbridge finally had an enforcement arm, even if it was one that had no official power. And Amelia had made it clear, if this group tried to arrest anyone, she'd haul them in herself. Still, everyone had to admit that Umbridge was slowly solidifying her position.

XXXXX

**February 13th, 1998**

Narcissa Malfoy was not having a good time.

Voldemort had a positively vicious streak, and finding new ways to embarrass, humiliate or hurt her seemed to be his pleasure. Clarise Zabini seemed to be moderately upset at the way Narcissa was forced to do everything naked, and Draco wasn't even able to look at her. Well, Narcissa supposed she was naked. Funny how quickly you could get used to something like that.

She wasn't the only person on Voldemort's shit list. Rookwood had been told to get the book that would tell them how to fix Voldemort's soul or die trying, and he was still alive, having merely lost an arm. Voldemort begrudgingly admitted that Rookwood had _tried_ to die getting the book, but it was only Snape's intervention that had saved him. And now Snape was the favourite again. Of course.

Despite constantly being tortured, Narcissa wasn't doing that badly though. Part of it was that Voldemort was quite angry about how the attack on the Ministry had turned out. So he'd ignored her for some time, other than using her as a personal decoration in his room while he slept at least. Narcissa was determined to do something about that. She had only one goal at this point, and it was going to be hard to achieve if she spent most of her time hanging from a chain.

She spent what time she wasn't on the chain in the kitchens washing dishes or cleaning various rooms in the Manor. She'd not been harassed by Voldemort, but some of the hired wands Clarise had brought in had copped a feel. Luckily for Narcissa almost everyone thought that Voldemort was 'using' her, and that made them hesitant to go any further.

As Voldemort chained her up again one evening, she decided to make a move. "You know," she said, "it wasn't about you, or your ideals."

Voldemort nearly slapped her, but held back. "What are you talking about?" he asked dangerously.

"I didn't try to run away because I didn't believe in you," said Narcissa, "It was because of Draco. I hated what he was becoming. He killed Pansy, a decent pureblood girl. I'm his mother. I know why you haven't punished him, but it still was unbearable for me to watch."

"And that is how you excuse your betrayal," breathed Voldemort as he was suddenly right in front of her. This was the most dangerous moment.

"I never, ever would have betrayed you," said Narcissa, "I just wanted to get away. Not from you, but from Draco. If Draco had been able to return to school I could have coped just fine."

"And what makes you say this now?" said Voldemort, "why just come up with this? Are you trying to get me to be lenient."

"I deserve my punishment for abandoning you," said Narcissa, "but you _need_ me. Rookwood is intelligent, but he isn't quite grounded. Parkinson is starting to hate you because you let Draco kill his daughter. Nott is loyal, but he's too wrapped up working with Umbridge right now. And Snape only cares about that red headed bitch. I am the only person who is thinking clearly right now. Even Clarise is distracted by what happened to her son."

"So I should just forgive and forget then?" said Voldemort, but his voice sounded amused rather than angry.

"I'm not that naive," said Narcissa, "I am well aware of how far I have to go to make things up to you."

Voldemort seemed to consider this. Finally he sat down, his eyes now furrowed. "You think I don't see all this clearly?"

"I think that your… condition has you concerned about other things," said Narcissa, "the others don't understand how close Potter has pushed you to the brink mentally by destroying your horcruxes. But I see it! And I can help you. If only by keeping you apprised of how the others are positioning themselves."

Suddenly Voldemort smiled, which was the scariest thing Narcissa had ever seen. His smile contained no genuine happiness, no humanity. Just hunger. "Bellatrix once offered the same thing to me," said Voldemort, "of course, she was a bit lost after spending so long in Azkaban. But she was surprisingly effective."

"My sister was very special," said Narcissa, "her loss has hurt me more than anything else."

Suddenly Voldemort was eyeing Narcissa up and down, his eyes resting on all of her most womanly features. "You know, I never realized it, but there is a bit of a resemblance between you, in the face and body," said Voldemort, "perhaps there is another service that you could provide me that your sister did on occasion."

Internally Narcissa was repulsed. But she didn't hesitate. That would mean death. "I'd be honoured, my Lord," she said trying to sound eager.

Voldemort released her chains, and she fell to the floor. She managed to keep her feet, but quickly fell to her knees in front of Voldemort. Much as she hated this, she'd finally been given her chance.

And she wasn't going to waste it. Even if it meant she had to have sex with the man she hated.

XXXXX

**February, 21st 1998**

The Ravenclaw team was all new this year. Cho had been the last of the old team, and now they were fielding two new beaters as well as a brilliant new chaser. They were very close to being very good. Their seeker was also quite good, thought Harry. She was a second year named Carrie Elder. Her flying skills were second to none, but she was a bit overeager.

In truth, Harry realized that the Ravenclaws were coming together nicely. They still weren't quite used to being a team, but that seemed to be changing. They were playing much better against Slytherin than they had against Hufflepuff.

However, one thing they didn't have yet was a decent keeper, and that held the Ravenclaws back. The truth was that in terms of talent, the chasers and beaters on Ravenclaw were better than the Slytherins. But the Slytherin team knew each other well, had finally settled into a rhythm, and absolutely tore through the Ravenclaw defense.

As a result, they began racking up the score, even though the rough skills of the teams weren't that disparate. Tracey had an amazing game, scoring ten goals all by herself. And in the end, Harry tipped the balance as his greater experience allowed him to fake out Carrie and claim the snitch.

Gryffindor won against Hufflepuff, but it was a narrow thing. Harry guessed that it was Ron's leadership keeping them afloat more than anything. Hufflepuff was legitimately good this year, and Ravenclaw was getting there. Harry suspected that the next few years would belong to those two houses. And that was fine with him.

XXXXX

**March 3rd, 1998**

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather I wait outside?" Harry asked for the third time.

"You can't very well try to help me if you don't take part in examining me," said Astoria testily, "For Merlin's sake, it's just my underwear."

Harry and Hermione had both learned a lot from their time working under Madam Pomfrey, so much so that they had decided to bring her in on what they were doing with Astoria. Madam Pomfrey had been horrified that they had tried treating her at first, but when they explained what they were doing she had become very interested.

The only problem was that Astoria had to take her outer clothes off to be properly examined, and that made Harry just a bit uncomfortable.

"Listen Harry, I am perfectly content for you to examine me," said Astoria, "It is a bit sweet that it makes you so uncomfortable, but please get over it. I don't need you treating me as if I was fragile."

"Her mother has given you permission as well, Harry," said Madam Pomfrey, "But it is a good thing to be conscientious about a patient's privacy, especially minors."

Harry nodded in acquiescence. He quickly began running his wand over her body. Slowly an image of her began to form.

"Remarkable," said Madam Pomfrey, "Her magical energy is almost completely normal."

"In theory, we could slowly drain away the curse using a similar spell, perhaps even built into the same amulet," said Hermione, "Of course the blood curse would still be on the Greengrass family. The next daughter who isn't heir would still get it."

"Removing the curse entirely would require true soul healing," said Harry.

"That curse draining spell sounds dangerous," said Madam Pomfrey.

"That's why we haven't done anything about it yet," said Hermione, "Making sure Astoria was full on magical power was completely safe, but we need to know a lot more about curses before we will try anything more."

"So one of you is going to get healer training, while the other trains as a curse breaker?" asked Astoria.

"Maybe," said Hermione, "We were thinking Harry would train as a healer."

"I'm not bad at it," admitted Harry.

"I am actually considering doing something a bit different," said Hermione.

"Oh?" asked Madam Pomfrey.

"She wants to take the courses for being a Mind Healer," said Harry, "then combine that with muggle psychiatry." They'd only recently been able to discuss this. Hermione had been worried that Harry wouldn't understand. Hermione wanted to do something for her career on her own. Harry did understand. They needed their own lives, even more so once they were married.

"That would also be incredibly useful," said Madam Pomfrey.

Harry cast another spell on Astoria. This showed her general physical energy level.

"Incredible," said Pomfrey, "she's got the energy of a normal 15 year old girl."

"That's all we need," said Harry, turning his head away. Astoria threw on her robes, and a few minutes later was gone.

XXXXX

**April 24th, 1998**

By the time April was coming to a close, Harry was getting impatient. Daphne had refused to give him a yes or no to him when he'd told her that he needed her to be Minister for Magic. He'd understood at the time, but the time when they would be taking action was less than two months out at this point. He needed her on board.

So that was how he found himself in the Slytherin common room making his way into the seventh-year corridor. He knocked on Daphne's door, as he looked over at the room he had once shared with Hermione. Time moved on, he thought, no point in being maudlin about it.

"Who is it?" asked Daphne through the door.

"It's Harry," he said.

Daphne opened the door. She was wearing a large thick bathrobe, and her hair was wet. "Come on in," she said.

Harry stepped in. Tracey was there, laying across her bed on her stomach wearing jeans and a t-shirt. She was studying.

"I could have waited for you to get dressed," said Harry.

Daphne shrugged. "I wasn't planning on getting dressed. If you are distracted…"

"Astoria said you were getting a bit prudish," said Tracey, her eyes shining mischievously.

"I'm fine," said Harry, "so long as the robe stays on. I did want to talk to you about that… offer I made you Daphne." He looked at Tracey as if to ask if she knew what was going on.

Daphne shook her head. "Hey Tracey, can you give us a moment? Secret Army business."

"Yes, sir!" said Tracey, with no hint of sarcasm. She knew the drill.

Once Tracey was gone Daphne sighed. "I'm sorry Harry, I should have talked to you ages ago. Hermione's been hounding me about it as well. I guess if you really need me to do this, I will. But I am worried. I'm going to need a lot of advice."

"And you'll have it," said Harry, "Both Amelia and Dumbledore will be there for you. Say what you will about Dumbledore, politically, he's reliable. As long as he isn't drugged."

"Crazy that we're talking about this," said Daphne, "Remember when you stayed over at my house and I had that huge crush on you? I always did go for the unattainable guys."

"Yeah," agreed Harry.

"Well, I just want you to know that I'm with you until the end, Harry," said Daphne.

"All good?" said Tracey, who had quickly poked her head into the room.

"Yeah, I'm done," said Harry.

Tracey walked back into the room. "Good, I need to study," she said.

Harry smiled and waved goodbye, closing the door behind him.

And he went over to the sixth year hall to speak to Ginny. But when he knocked on her door, only Luna answered. She was, thankfully, fully dressed.

"I'm sorry, Harry," said Luna, "now that I'm with Neville I can't answer the door for you naked. If you want to see me naked we'll have to do another couple's bath."

"Oh, well thanks for the explanation," said Harry with a slight grin, "I was looking for Ginny."

"She's not here," said Luna, "you know, if we do another couple's bath we should invite Ginny and Justin."

"Definitely," said Harry, "Do you know where she is?"

"I'm not sure, but I think she might be with Justin," said Luna, "I'm sorry that I couldn't be more help. Also, I've decided that Neville can't be allowed to change me like that. If I want to answer the door naked, then I will answer the door naked."

Harry briefly wondered how Luna's mind did that. "Well, good for you Luna," said Harry, "Do whatever makes you feel good."

Luna threw her arms around Harry's neck and kissed him on the lips. Luna did keep her mouth closed as she kissed Harry, but she let it go on perhaps a little too long before letting go. Then she spun around and closed the door.

Harry decided to give up looking for Ginny for now and headed back to the Head Boy's room. That was enough of that for one night! But when he entered the sitting room he heard Ginny's voice coming out of Hermione's room. Harry walked over to Hermione's door and knocked.

"Come in Harry," said Hermione. Harry opened the door to see both Ginny and Hermione there. They had clothes out on the bed and were clearly trying to decide something. All of the outfits were a bit… brief, in Harry's opinion.

"I'm helping Ginny decide what to wear for Justin on their next date," said Hermione.

Harry took a deep breath. "What is with today?" he wondered, "Daphne met with me only wearing a robe, Luna kissed me, and now this."

"Luna kissed you?" Hermione asked teasingly.

"I told her she should do whatever made her feel good," admitted Harry.

"You're lucky she didn't strip naked," said Ginny.

"She was of two minds as to whether that was permissible, given her relationship with Neville," admitted Harry.

"There would never be any confusion as to whether that would be permissible with my relationship with Justin," said Ginny.

"That's smart," said Harry.

"It is totally okay for me to do that," said Ginny as she pulled off her shirt.

"What are you doing?" asked Harry.

"Changing," said Ginny before she pulled off her slacks.

"Okay! I'm out!" said Harry as he marched over to his room.

About half an hour later, Hermione came into Harry's room, in _her_ underwear. Harry was lying on his bed reading. He put his book down as Hermione entered.

"Sorry about Ginny," said Hermione, "Some of the girls may have decided to start pushing your buttons. I think it may have been intentional."

"Hmph," said Harry, understanding but not wanting to sound too enthusiastic.

"I think you handled that very well," said Hermione, "in fact, I think you deserve a reward. Though I will admit, I am surprised you didn't watch Ginny for longer."

"Oh?" asked Harry, "Is it because you want me to compare the two of you? Because I think you have her beat in just about every department."

Hermione climbed on top of Harry. "You keep earning rewards tonight. I need to shut you up."

And that's when she started kissing him, and suddenly he wasn't thinking about anything else.

XXXXX

**April 25th, 1998**

"Okay, so _maybe _I owe you an apology for yesterday," Ginny said the next day, "I went a little too far."

"A little?" asked Harry as he threw his robes on over his clothes. Ginny just shrugged at him

"Hmmph," grunted Harry, "In any event, Daphne agreed to our plan. We need to get a meeting with Amelia and Dumbledore."

"Makes me wish I wasn't going to be in school next year," said Ginny, "Do you think they'll make me Quidditch Captain?"

"They're more likely to make you Head Girl," said Hermione, who came out of Harry's bedroom, fully dressed.

Ginny smirked. "Merlin! Don't they have a better option?"

Harry, Hermione and Ginny all walked down to breakfast. Daphne was waiting for them. She was holding a copy of the Prophet.

"Umbridge just announced blood purity standards for high office in the Ministry," said Daphne, "to be enforced by her Magical Security Force, of course."

"And Death Eaters attacked the homes of several prominent Muggleborn witches and wizards," said Ron who was sitting next to Tracey, his arm around her waist.

"Time to let the press off the leash then," said Harry, "I'll make sure the Prophet and all of its affiliates cover this. Luna…"

"If I know Daddy, he's already hard at work on a story for the next Quibbler," said Luna.

Harry nodded. It was time to take a more active role in this war again.

XXXXX

**May 1st, 1998**

Bryant Greengrass was a patient man, but he had assumed his daughters would get over their anger at him sooner than this. Still, he'd known that they would be angry. He'd been willing to endure a lengthy freezeout. But neither he nor his wife had heard _anything _from Daphne. Astoria had written a couple perfunctory letters to Philomena, but that was it.

But this last letter from Astoria was too much. She'd again said that she wouldn't be returning home after school this year, but would be moving in with her sister. She definitely didn't have permission for that. However, she would be 16. Traditionally, if 16 year old witches or wizards decided to run away from home, the Ministry didn't get involved, so long as they had a place to stay. Well, pureblood witches and wizards, at least.

Still, Bryant had a mind to stop it. Unfortunately he couldn't go to the Wizengamot, as it wasn't in session. He also couldn't go to Amelia, because there was no way Potter would let her arrest Astoria. Bryant was very wary of Umbridge's Magical Security Force. She hadn't discussed that with him, and it made him nervous. No, he'd have to do it himself. The problem was that Daphne might be skilled enough to prevent it.

"Honey, we have an invitation to dine with Augusta Longbottom," said Philomena, reading another letter, "or at least you do."

"So she's finally receiving visitors then?" asked Bryant, "Good! I wonder what she wants to talk about?"

XXXXX

**May 16th, 1998**

The final Quidditch match of Harry's career at Hogwarts was a disaster. The Hufflepuffs were good. Very good. Gryffindor had beaten them with an early snitch catch. The Ravenclaws had fallen to Hufflepuff early for the same reason. But Millie seemed to have no answer for the extremely good Hufflepuff chasers. It was a very long game, with both sides playing well, but when the score was 370 to 200, Harry realized they weren't pulling this one out. So, he caught the snitch. This kept Slytherin in the lead for the Quidditch Cup.

"It's all right, Millie," said Tracey in the postgame discussion, "You were great in our game with Ravenclaw. Everyone has an off day, and we're still ahead to win the Cup."

Millie nodded, but she was clearly not convinced.

"You all right, Millie?" Harry asked.

"Just a personal issue," said Millie, "My head wasn't in it today, that was all."

So Harry let it go. In retrospect, he _really_ shouldn't have.

**Author's Note:** Not a lot to say this time. Everyone is waiting for the right moment to jump. As things are, I'm now setting up the finale. And yes, there is a big battle at Hogwarts. One thing I do want to point out is that Harry's reluctance to lead is really beginning to show again. He never wanted to be in charge in the first place, and he is now looking for a way out. Harry has ambitions, like any good Slytherin, but political leadership is not among them. In fact, that is what I want the story to be about. Slytherin ambition should be about wanting to change the world for the better, not just politics and power plays.

So I have news! First, the last couple of weeks have been very fruitful. I wrote almost 3 chapters of Harriet Potter, as well as a first outline for Avatars and Archons. I actually did chapter counts on all my stories. Twisted Path is going to be 60 chapters long, counting the epilogue, that is definite. Harriet Potter is going to be approximately 120 chapters long in 10 parts though Harriet Potter chapters are generally shorter than Twisted Path Chapters. Killing Hermione will be about 18 chapters long or so, maybe 20 if I have to split a chapter or two. And Avatars and Archons is actually slated to be shorter than I expected, at 43 chapters long over 4 parts, including the epilogue.

Next Time: Harry and Hermione say their goodbyes to Hogwarts as students. Meanwhile Umbridge makes her move. And Snape makes a move of his own.


	55. Betrayals and Sacrifices

**Content Warning: Character Death**

**Chapter 55: Betrayals and Sacrifices**

**May 23rd, 1998**

Harry held the long awaited meeting in the Shrieking Shack late in May. Of course, he was there, along with Hermione, Ginny, Daphne, Blaise, Tracey, Ron, Neville, Ernie, Justin, Susan, Padma, Sue Li, Sirius and Bill. From the outside, Dumbledore, Amelia, Krum, and Gustav came.

"I am holding Umbridge in check," said Amelia, "Her magical Security Force doesn't have the numbers or training my people do, but I can't one hundred percent count on all of them. There are still a few Scrimgeour loyalists in the Aurors. Still, I think we'd win if we had to fight, though it would leave us vulnerable for a while."

"We don't want that confrontation while Riddle is still alive," said Ginny, "we either need to deal with them quietly and without fuss or we need to take down Riddle first."

"Tom Riddle is without a doubt the greatest threat," said Dumbledore, "but he is still protected by a horcrux. He cannot be killed."

"If we could lure Voldemort out we might have a chance," said Ron, "Sure, he probably keeps a close eye on Nagini at Malfoy Manor. But if we can lure him out, Harry could easily break in with Dobby's help and kill the snake."

"What if he takes the snake with him?" asked Bill.

"Even easier," said Ginny, "If Harry shows up Riddle will send Nagini somewhere 'safe' while he fights him. Then I sneak up from behind and destroy the last horcrux."

"He'll probably keep Nagini with him," said Harry, "he's vain enough to believe he can protect her, even in a pitched battle."

"So how do we lure him out?" asked Sirius.

"There is one way to lure him out that is guaranteed to work," said Blaise.

"Oh?" asked Dumbledore.

"Who is providing the bulk of his forces?" asked Blaise, "Either by using the criminals under her command or getting criminals from other countries, my mother is what is keeping the Death Eaters afloat. If we kidnap her, all that goes away within a matter of a few weeks. He will come after her almost immediately, if we publicise our location."

"That might work," said Amelia, "and of course we'd lay a trap for him. But will he see the trap?"

"He might suspect a trap," said Hermione, "but he is under the impression that we think all his horcruxes are gone. He won't think we're after Nagini."

"He'll try to spring the trap," said Harry, "and there are things we can do to make it look like we're desperate."

"But where do we take Madame Zabini?" asked Ernie, "Where could we lure them?"

"Hogwarts," said Sue Li and Susan Bones at the same time.

"We cannot place the students in danger," said Dumbledore adamantly.

"That's why we do it after school is out!" said Bill, suddenly understanding.

"It's the most defensible location in Magical Britain," agreed Ron, "Voldemort will believe that Hogwarts _is _the trap."

"But can we find Madame Zabini?" asked Krum.

"Yes," said Blaise, "we can. I can find her,"

"You sure, Blaise?" asked Daphne.

Blaise nodded.

"Are there any objections then?" asked Daphne.

Everyone shook their heads. Harry looked at Ginny, who nodded at him, and then Hermione, who just shrugged.

"That's the plan then," said Harry, "we'll take down Voldemort first, using Madame Zabini, then we'll deal with the Wizengamot."

"Oh!" said Padma suddenly, "there is one other thing we have to do!"

"What?" asked Hermione.

"We need to convince McGonagall to let us use Hogwarts," said Padma sheepishly.

A slow titter seemed to spread across the room, and soon enough everyone had started laughing. That was probably going to be the hardest part of all.

XXXXX

Narcissa had to admit that she preferred being tortured by Voldemort to having sex with him. He wasn't exactly a gentle lover, and when she was being tortured at least all her loathing was directed at him alone. Plus there was no real affection from him, she was just a glorified bed warmer as far as he was concerned. Her relationship with Lucius had hardly been passionate by any means, but it was downright sappy compared to this horror.

But that made her job easier. A talented Legilimens might meld minds with someone they were being intimate with. There was no intimacy between them. So there was no mind reading. Even better, Narcissa realized that much of his previous skill in legilimency was now lost to him. Whatever losing all those horcruxes had done to him, it was inhibiting his ability to use legilimency. Narcissa's not inconsiderable skill with Occlumency was more than enough to completely keep him out. And he didn't even realize it.

And it wasn't just Legilimency. His entire sense of the appropriate seemed to be gone. Anything that struck him as amusing or fun would now get you in his favor. He was still clever, but his unstable emotions were now in the driver's seat. Again, Narcissa blamed this on the destroyed horcruxes.

And so, she finally made her move, confident that Voldemort was no longer able to figure out what she was doing. She had just finished having sex with Voldemort and was acting very satisfied. Nagini was slithering around somewhere. A very clever way to make sure she wasn't trying anything.

"Mmm," she said, "Too bad that you are going to have to take the field soon."

"Only I will be able to deal with Potter and his women," said Voldemort. That was a cute conceit of Voldemort's, that the Weasley girl was also Potter's lover. Voldemort would probably have insisted on it if he was in Potter's place. It was positively deluded.

"Of course," said Narcissa, "What do you plan to do with Nagini?"

Voldemort seemed to freeze. "What do you mean?" he asked dangerously.

"What I mean is that ever since Harry destroyed your second-to-last horcrux, you've barely let her out of your sight," said Narcissa, "It's obvious to everyone in your inner circle that she's your final horcrux. So how do you plan to protect her when you leave?"

"Are you saying that your manor is not secure?" asked Voldemort, his voice still on the verge of murder.

"With you gone? Yes. My house is not safe if you are not here," said Narcissa, "remember, everything Dobby knows about this house, Potter knows. He could easily try to lure you out and attack your main base."

"Potter does not know I have another Horcrux," said Voldemort.

"And when he tries to kill your snake and he can't?" asked Narcissa, "I think he'll investigate, don't you? And with you not around who would stop him? He'd be able to recognize it close up, wouldn't he?"

Voldemort hissed. "A good point," he said.

"Let's face it," said Narcissa, "you are the only person who can protect Nagini."

Voldemort seemed to nod thoughtfully.

Narcissa smiled. It was all worth it, because she had just managed to convince Voldemort to expose his one weakness to Harry Potter. She hoped Nott had told Harry what she had told him, that Nagini is a horcrux. If he had, Voldemort's days were numbered.

XXXXX

Bryant Greengrass leaned back in Augusta Longbottom's sitting room. The food she had served had been very good, but so far she had declined to tell him what this was all about. He suspected she was unhappy about Umbridge. Well Bryant was unhappy about Umbridge. She had gone too far, especially with the Magical Security Force and the ban on muggleborns in the Ministry. Luckily the Wizengamot would be meeting at the end of the month. Umbridge had apparently found what she needed to convince the Wizengamot to ignore precedent and elect a pliable Minister as well as suitable new members for the Wizengamot.

Augusta walked back into the room. She had a bit of a limp, which apparently would be permanent. It was a miracle she'd survived. Bryant simply couldn't see the Wizengamot without her.

"I will cut right through the bullshit," said Augusta, "Prior to returning to government service last year, Dolores Umbridge was recruited as a Death Eater by Theodore Nott."

Bryant's stomach was suddenly very queasy. "Are you sure?" he asked, knowing it was probably futile.

"Nott Jr. confirmed it," Augusta said simply, "he's Potter's spy in the Death Eaters. Well he was. Potter considers it too dangerous to allow him to go back. When Harry mobilizes the Army of the Triumvirate at the end of the school year, he'll be with them."

"This means…" started Bryant, but Augusta interrupted him.

"It means that Dolores' takeover at the Ministry was a coup, and you, as well as what remains of the Wizengamot helped her," said Augusta.

No wonder Daphne and Astoria wanted nothing to do with him! Bryant had been well and truly played. And in doing so, he'd implicated the entire Wizengamot.

"Wha… does this mean that Potter… is he going to move against Umbridge?" he asked.

"I don't know his exact plans," said Augusta, "but you understand what this means right? What he has to do now?"

And Bryant nodded. Every member of the Wizengamot was complicit in this solely on the basis of the fact that they had not called themselves back into session. Which meant they'd have to be removed. This was all his fault.

"Potter didn't want me to tell you," said Augusta, "and he's smart not to. You betrayed him. But I know you would never do something that would put your daughters at risk. And if this fails, it's life in Azkaban for them."

"Potter has my support," said Greengrass. All thoughts of becoming Minister were now gone. He'd been stupid to trust Umbridge, and he'd only done so because of his stupid stubborn pride.

"Good," said Augusta, "Here's what we need to do…"

XXXXX

**May 24th, 1997**

The day before N.E. started, Harry was still upset with Augusta. She'd been specifically told not to include him. Bryant had put a Death Eater in power. And he hadn't even had good intentions doing it. Despite that, he had to admit Bryant would be useful. Maybe he could redeem himself a bit here. Maybe.

Harry's bigger concern in the immediate moment was Hermione. She was spending all her free time studying. With that, plus organizing for the Army, plus being Head Girl, well, she hadn't had much time for herself. She had tried to make time for Harry, but two nights ago she come over to his room and fallen asleep while he'd been doing things to her that he wouldn't have believed she could fall asleep during. She needed a break.

"Hermione," said Harry, "can I talk to you?"

Hermione looked up from her notes. "Yes Harry?"

"Tell me," said Harry, "do you or do you not have the memories of Tom Riddle and Rowena Ravenclaw in your head?"

"I do," said Hermione slowly.

"You are going to absolutely dominate your exams," said Harry, "you are prepared. You don't need to do this to yourself, especially as we're likely to go right from exams into the war."

In fact, the N.E. were administered starting one week prior to the O. , and their second week overlapped with the first week of O. . But the N.E.W.T exam hadn't actually run into the second week for almost 50 years. Simply put, there were far fewer students taking each exam, and the time afforded for the second week was just in case something went wrong.

"Is this about the other night, I am sorry I fell asleep Harry," said Hermione.

"That was just a symptom of the problem Hermione," disagreed Harry, "and that is the least of my concerns right now. You need a break."

"But things have changed since Riddle took the N.E.W.T! I need to…" Hermione protested.

"Okay, I see how this is going to be," said Harry, "Luckily, I am prepared. Daphne!"

Suddenly Daphne marched into the room, followed by Tracey, Luna and Ginny.

"You're coming with us," said Daphne.

"But I need to study!" protested Hermione.

"No you don't," said Tracey. And each of the girls grabbed one of Hermione's limbs and carried her away.

"Have fun girls," said Harry as they marched out of the room.

XXXXX

Hermione sank deeper into the water, letting the warm feeling wash over her. Yes, this was nice, and she had needed it. Daphne was sitting behind her, trying to get a knot out of Hermione's hair. Luna kept trying to get in a splash fight with Ginny, but Ginny was trying to have a conversation with Hermione.

"We should have invited Harry and Neville," said Luna, "They'd have played with me. And I'd see their cute bums."

"None of us have any objections to Harry and Neville being here," said Tracey, "But Daphne decided it wouldn't be fair if you and Hermione could have your boyfriends here, and I couldn't."

"Sorry Tracey, but I have no desire to see my brother's bollocks… again," said Ginny.

"It's better as a girl's night out anyway," said Hermione, who was not even slightly interested in hearing how Ginny had seen her brother's unmentionables the first time.

"We're here to relax Luna, not have a splash fight or ogle backsides," said Ginny.

"I suppose," said Luna.

"I do think I needed this," said Hermione.

"Damn right you do!" said Ginny, "Once we leave school, you're second in command of the Army of the Triumvirate. You need a clear head."

"Is that really going to matter?" said Hermione, "you and Harry are both going to be there to help me."

"You never know what is going to happen Hermione," said Daphne, "plan for the worst and all that."

"Especially since if Voldemort doesn't bring Nagini with him we'll have to split up," said Ginny.

"Hmmm," said Hermione, "let's not talk about that right now. What are you going to do after the war Tracey."

"I don't know," said Tracey, "I'd like to do Quidditch, but the problem is I'm not the greatest player."

"You're a fantastic player," said Ginny, "it's just only obvious once you're on a team that you know well. Your skills are in knowing exactly how to get the quaffle to the right person to score."

"Gwenog Jones was at the Ravenclaw game," said Luna, "I'm sure you're on the radar of other teams as well."

"Are you going to finish at Hogwarts Ginny?" asked Daphne.

"Probably," said the redhead, "It's annoying, but Luna will be alone if I don't. Plus maybe I'll get to be Head Girl or Quidditch Captain."

Hermione felt a rough pull on her head. "Got it!" said a very pleased Daphne, "Your hair should be temporarily tangle free."

"Time to get in then!" said Luna as she grabbed Daphne's arms and pulled her into the water.

Daphne spluttered as she came up. "One way of doing it," said Daphne with a laugh.

"Luna has a tendency to do things without asking," said Ginny, "Like kissing Harry."

"I just like to kiss my friends," said Luna.

"Nothing wrong with that," said Hermione.

"Do you want to kiss us?" asked Tracey.

"I wouldn't say no," said Luna, "I don't get what the big deal is. I like to kiss people I love. Is that so strange?"

"It isn't!" said Daphne. And suddenly she grabbed Luna by the head, leaned in, and started to snog her, really open mouth snog her. Finally, after several seconds Daphne pulled away.

"Well, Daphne and I are clearly on the same page," said Luna after a moment, "though I will admit I was surprised by the tongue."

"Listen Luna," said Daphne, "if I'm going to kiss one of my girlfriends, I'm going to do it right."

The other girls all laughed.

XXXXX

Harry was still sitting in the sitting room when Hermione came back.

"Have a good time?" he asked.

"I did, and I needed that," said Hermione, "I also realized that there is something else I want to do."

"Oh?" asked Harry.

"I want to go to bed. And I want you to make love to me, if that's all right."

Harry let his smile show on his face. "I'm always up for that."

"Good," said Hermione, "I really do need it. I want to be with you."

Harry had absolutely no objections to that.

XXXXX

**May 30th, 1998**

The N.E. weren't hard for Harry or Hermione. The lower number of students in each N.E.W.T. class meant that the practical exams took a third of the time that their O. had. Harry was just happy they were over and done with. And this weekend was the last bit of entertainment for the year, the last Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Harry did the math, and he realized that if Gryffindor won the match by over 200 points, they'd take the cup.

The truth was that today was it. Tomorrow the entire Army (sans Astoria, who was still a fifth year and had to take O. ) would pack up and leave. This match would be Harry's farewell to Hogwarts. McGonagall wouldn't be happy that the Head Boy and Girl were leaving before term ended, but she'd understand.

And the match turned out to be good. Gryffindor was a better team, but the Ravenclaws made them fight for every goal. Slowly but surely, the Gryffindors pulled ahead, first by 50, then by 100, and finally by 150 points.

Tracey seemed despondent. "If Gryffindor catches the snitch it's all over!" she cried out.

Eventually, Gryffindor had a 210 point lead. But at that moment Colin saw the snitch. He was far away from it but he lunged forward to close the distance. And Carrie, the Ravenclaw seeker, saw him. But she was headed the wrong way! Suddenly she pulled into a sharp inverted turn that made Harry's stomach want to flip and turned around faster than he could believe. She was accelerating, surging towards the snitch. And then she had it.

Gryffindor had won the match but lost the cup. The Slytherin stands erupted into cheers and celebrations as they realized they had won the Quidditch cup. Tracey threw her arms around Ginny and kissed her on the cheek and then did the same to Harry. They'd done it!

Suddenly, Ron was there, flying in from the pitch. He landed in the front of the Quidditch box and walked up to Tracey. Grabbing her face he gave her a long full kiss.

When he finally finished, he said, "Congratulations."

"Thanks," said a very red, very satisfied Tracey, "See you in 30 minutes?"

"Definitely," said Ron as he remounted his broom and flew back to his team.

"You okay Millie?" asked Nott, "you don't look all that happy."

"I am happy," said Millie, "I'm just relieved my poor play didn't cost us the cup. Oh, and I have something to show you Tracey."

"Should we all come see it?" asked Blaise.

"You'll all find out about it shortly," said Millie, "Tracey should see it first."

"All right," said Tracey, "lead on." And she followed Millie away.

Blaise shook his head as the two of them left. "Something is eating her," he said to Harry and Nott.

"Something is very wrong with Millie's aura Harry," said Luna, "she's incredibly tormented. I thought she was upset because of her poor play in the last match, but she still was off after we won the cup."

Something about this began to ring alarm bells in Harry's head. "Which way did they go?" he asked.

But they'd both completely disappeared in the crowd.

XXXXX

"Where are we going?" asked Tracey as they left the Quidditch box.

"It isn't far," said Millie, "just under the cover of trees."

"I have an appointment with Ron…" said Tracey, leaving the rest hanging.

"It won't take long," said Millie. There was something off about her voice.

Tracey shrugged. Millie had been acting weird for a while now. But as Millie led her into the edge of the Forest, she began to feel uneasy. Something was wrong.

"Are we off school grounds?" asked Tracey.

"Yes, you are," said a voice. Suddenly Tracey was face to face with Rufus Scrimgoeur and ten other wizards.

"I'm sorry," said Millie, her voice sounding tiny, "They threatened my parents."

"Bring them to the Ministry, directly to the courtroom holding cells," said Scrimgoeur, "Apparate directly. Do not let anyone outside Magical Security or Umbridge see them."

Tracey had been searched and her wand was taken from her. Millie had been similarly searched. Suddenly someone grabbed her rather roughly from behind. And then she felt the familiar squeeze of apparition.

XXXXX

When Ron said that Tracey had missed thier rendezvous, Ginny knew something was wrong.

"Get the Army searching for Tracey and Millie," Hermione said, "Harry and I will alert the teachers."

"All right, we need to search this school from top to bottom," said Ginny, "But I don't want _anyone_ leaving the school grounds. Do you understand Ron?" She gave her brother a pointed look.

"I get it, it's dangerous," said Ron.

"We need _someone_ to check the border," said Daphne, "if she was lured off school grounds…"

"I will do it," said Ginny, "because I can do it safely. Tracey was a skilled combatant, so if she did leave the school and she was taken, whoever did it is either skilled or numerous."

Everyone nodded at that. They all knew that Ginny could take care of herself. Except for Nott that was.

"Are you crazy? You're going out there alone?" he demanded.

"I am capable of defending myself," said Ginny, "if you follow me you will only get in my way."

"And you're just okay with this?" Nott yelled at Justin.

"She's got this," said Justin, stepping between Ginny and Nott, "Let it go and trust her."

Nott slumped his shoulders and stepped back. Ginny gave Justin a warm smile and headed on her way.

She had to admit, Nott's outburst was worrisome, but that could be dealt with later. She supposed that Nott still had a certain degree of protectiveness towards her, which wasn't necessarily bad so long as he could keep it in check.

She started in the section of forest closest to where the Quidditch pitch was. She quickly found marks in the dirt. She was no tracker, but she guessed that a number of people had been here for some amount of time. Had they been lying in wait?

Suddenly she heard a rustle from behind her. She turned around and drew her wand. "Who's there?" she yelled.

Nott walked out of the bushes. "Whoah, it's just me. It isn't safe for you to be out here alone."

Ginny suddenly was angry, angrier than she'd been in a while. "I am perfectly safe Theodore. I can take care of myself. You, however, cannot. You are at risk. You put me at risk. Get back to Hogwarts now!"

"What are you talking about?" demanded Nott. And Ginny remembered that Nott didn't know she had Riddle's memories. Which meant _of course_ he didn't think she was safe on her own.

But all of a sudden that didn't matter. Because Snape was standing there.

"Snape!" Ginny said through gritted teeth.

"Hello Lily," said Snape.

"I am NOT Lily Potter!" said Ginny emphatically.

"Don't be silly Lily, I know who you are," said Snape, "I've come to save you from Potter. I knew you'd come looking for your friend when Umbridge's goons took her. And now you're coming with me."

"Like hell I am," said Ginny. And she attacked. Snape managed to block her spells, but all his counter attacks were blocked with almost casual efficiency. Spell after spell, Ginny came closer to striking home at Snape while his spells kept falling further and further behind. She heard Nott gasp as he realized just how far ahead of a normal student her age she was.

But that gasp reminded Snape he was there. He moved like a fucking panther; suddenly rushing Nott and putting his wand to the young man's neck. Nott's wand was tucked cleanly behind Snape's ear.

"Drop your wand or he dies," said Snape.

Ginny could see Nott's eyes close as he realized what he had done. "Let him kill me," said Nott, "this is my fault, and I'll pay the price for it."

And that, of course, ensured that Ginny couldn't do that. For all her problems with Nott, he understood what a colossal idiot he had been.

"You fucking moron," she said, throwing away her wand, the Elder Wand, "as if I'd do that."

Snape threw Nott aside and lunged for Ginny. She tried to wandlessly summon her wand, but Snape deflected it as he grabbed Ginny. The wand landed at Nott's feet.

"NO!" screamed Ginny.

But it was too late, Nott had picked up the Elder Wand.

"_Sectumsempra_," said Snape. Blades of magic shot from his wand and struck Nott in the midsection, slicing him open. Nott grasped his stomach, trying to hold in his intestines.

"Stupid boy," said Snape, his face looking extremely upset as he apparated himself and Ginny away.

XXXXX

Nott knew he was going to die the moment that Snape apparated away with Ginny. It became inevitable. But he realised that he not only knew what had happened to Ginny, but what had happened to Tracey. Potter had to be informed. So Nott couldn't just lay down and die. But he wasn't going to make it back to school with his intestines hanging out.

So, taking Ginny's wand, he cauterized the bloody cut across his stomach. He knew that he had probably just destroyed what slim chance he had to survive. It didn't matter. He had to get back to school.

He stumbled out of the forest only to see Harry and Hermione leading the way towards the forest. McGonagall and the rest of the staff was behind them.

Nott stumbled forward until he was sure Harry could hear him.

"Snape has Ginny, Umbridge's goons have Tracey," said Nott with the last of his strength, "tell her I'm sorry…"

And then he fell forward, and knew nothing more.

XXXXX

As Nott fell forward Harry pulled out his wand and did a medical scan spell. And when he saw what was revealed he gasped.

"Get Madam Pomfrey!" shouted McGonagall.

"It doesn't matter," said Harry. "He was disemboweled, probably with a Sectumsempra, and he burned it all shut. He knew he was a dead man walking. And… he's dead."

Everyone hung their heads.

Harry had no idea what had happened. He had no idea how Snape had captured Ginny, or why it appeared that Millie had betrayed Tracey. But right now that didn't matter.

"Hermione," he said, "Summon the Army of the Triumvirate."

Hermione nodded and ran towards the school. Harry bent down and picked up Ginny's wand. The Elder Wand.

"Headmistress," said Harry, turning towards McGonagall, "my people and I, we have to leave. Now."

McGonagall just nodded. She couldn't deny him. Not after this.

Riddle had made his move first. Now it was time for Harry to make his move. He hoped Riddle liked it.

**Author's Note:** Some of you may notice that some of my chapter lengths have gone down recently. This is because in Chapter 51 I started basing this off of my _third_ outline. The third outline only covered Chapters 51-59, and was the way I compensated for all the plot threads I had added since I wrote the second outline. Actually, it covered 51-60, but I would later combine chapters 57 and 58 because there just wasn't as much to cover there as I had anticipated. The third outline more resembles my outline for Harriet Potter and the Guardians of Atlantis in structure, so it shouldn't be a surprise that I have shorter chapters. Twisted Path _generally _followed a strict structure of 2 school chapters, one holiday chapter, 2 more school chapters then summer break chapters. Harriet Potter is based more on theme and story structure. Strangely, following the Harriet Potter structure for seventh year actually made me follow the Twisted Path structure, which I had deliberately tried to avoid in my first and second outlines.

Anyway there isn't much to say about this chapter. But now that he's dead, I do want to talk about Nott. Nott is a bit of a contradiction. He is definitely creepy, especially in the earlier parts of his story when he is actively pursuing Ginny. I like to think that he _was_ getting over her. But the way he goes out does undercut that a little bit. I think, given that he doesn't know what Ginny's true capabilities are, that his worry that she is in danger are at least a little justified. Or maybe he's just being arrogant and thinks he can protect her. I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure what Nott's motivation is here. I will say that prior to my Narcissa Malfoy rewrite Nott didn't really spy on the Death Eaters for the AoT. His sole purpose in the story originally was for Snape to use him as leverage to get Ginny to put down her wand. Otherwise, there was no way Snape would be able to capture Ginny.

Next Time: A lot happens in the next chapter, so rather than try to give an inadequate summary, I'll just say that in the next chapter our heroes make their preparations for battle. Also, Daphne gets laid.


	56. The Path to Salvation

**Author's Note:** I want to start by saying I am so sorry about the hiatus! However recent events have made me step back and take a look at my involvement in the Harry Potter fandom. My beta reader Pixie, also expressed similar reservations. I am of course referring to J.K. Rowling's comments on transpeople, specifically transwomen. I _very __much_ disagree with Rowling on this and I believe transwomen are women. As such I took some time to evaluate what my response should be.

The first thing I want to assure you was that I always intended to finish Twisted Path through all of this. I am so close to the end of this story, I didn't want to leave people hanging. I just wasn't sure how I should do it. I do not want to publish something that leads to people buying things from Rowling. This statement is my compromise. I am ready to continue now, and Pixie has graciously agreed to continue betaing.

As for my other stories, I am still writing Harriet Potter, but you should not expect me to publish any more for a while. If I ever continue to publish fanfiction, I will have to publish it in a way that makes very clear my desire that it not inspire someone to support Rowling financially. Everything else is on hold as well. I am probably not done writing fanfiction, but until I get a better handle on things Twisted Path will be all I am sharing publically.

**Content Warning****:** Scenes of torture and mild sexual content. Warning for sexual assualt survivors: there are scenes of women being harrassed and groped by prison guards.

**Chap****ter 56: The Path to Salvation**

**May 30th, 1998**

Tracey felt herself pulled along down a cold corridor. She had been blindfolded, so she couldn't see where she was going. She'd been stripped down to her underwear, so there was nothing to protect her from the chill. And she had been fed something that she was pretty sure was drugged.

Suddenly, she was stopped roughly. That, she was getting used to. At least whoever this was wasn't using every chance to grope her. The first person who'd been pulling her around had been. She found herself being pushed to the side, into some room. The blindfold came off of her face roughly.

She was in a small cell. The stonework was familiar, from the lower levels of the Ministry. The person who had escorted her here was cutting her hands free now. It was a woman, though a man was leering at her from the doorway.

"What do you want from me?" Tracey asked in slurred speech. The guards did not reply, but the woman grabbed Tracey's bra and cut it off. Then the woman pulled off her knickers. The man continued to leer, but the woman pulled him out of the cell and closed and locked the door.

The cell was small. It had a bucket and a bed with a bare mattress. Suddenly Tracey felt a growing sense of horror. What _did_ they want? And what would they do to her?

It was only a few minutes later that the door opened again. Dolores Umbridge walked in, flanked by two male guards. Tracey refused to cover herself. She wanted to, but she wasn't about to give them the impression that she was bothered by this situation.

Umbridge seemed to see what she was thinking though. "How brave," said the toadlike woman gleefully, "but my guards are still getting an eyeful."

"Good for them," said Tracy through gritted teeth.

"This can all end," said Umbridge, "Just tell me about Potter."

"How about you fuck off, okay?" said Tracey defiantly.

Umbridge's eyes bulged. Tracey realized that she seemed surprised. She must have expected Travey to talk. Had she given Tracey Veritaserum? If she had, it wasn't working.

"We'll try again later," said Umbridge, storming out.

Travey had no idea how she had resisted the Veritaserum, but suddenly she felt far more powerful than she had moments before.

XXXXX

**May 31st, 1998**

Ginny opened her eyes to see morning light streaming into her eyes. The room she was in was well lit from a skylight. No other windows though. It looked like it was some sort of attic. She was lying in a bed, which had a thick blanket at the bottom. Where was she?

And then she remembered being taken by Snape. He'd called her Lily. That hadn't been creepy at all. Still, Ginny wasn't getting the sense that she was in danger here. She wondered if Nott had survived. The wound he'd received had looked lethal, but Ginny hadn't managed to get a good look at it.

She shook her head. She kept flitting from one topic to another, and she felt very odd. Snape must have given her something to make it hard to focus. Wandless casting required intense focus.

She was still dressed, which was a good sign. Ginny was beginning to suspect that Snape wasn't entirely sane anymore. She wondered what his justification would be. She hoped Tracey was all right.

_I need to get my head on straight._

Ginny tried taking deep breaths. It helped a little. Not enough, but a little.

And then Snape entered the room. He looked like… well he looked like himself. But he seemed less angry than he had before.

"You woke early," said Snape, "How do you like the skylight? I had it installed especially for you, Lily."

"I'm not Lily Potter," said Ginny angrily.

"Of course you aren't," said Snape, "you're Lily Evans. The first time I saw you, alongside Potter, I knew that you were Lily Evans reborn, and I finally would have my chance to save you."

"I was born two months before Lily Potter died," said Ginny, "I cannot be Lily reborn."

"You were a vessel, waiting for your true soul," said Snape, "You are Lily."

Well, this was awkward. She had actually wondered about this. It did make an insane sort of sense though. She wondered just how broken Snape actually was.

"The only danger I'm in is the danger you've put me in," said Ginny.

"The danger I saved you from was Potter," said Snape, "I saw the way you looked at him. But Potter is a terrible mistake. Being with him will destroy you!"

"I am not with Harry," said Ginny, "I'm with Justin. And Harry is engaged to Hermione."

"Then why were you engaged?" asked Snape.

And that was why he had put her into a marriage contract with Harry. It was to create the fake danger of her being about to marry him. He needed to see Harry as the threat to Ginny that he would save her from.

He was completely insane.

"It's pathetic," said Ginny, "a girl rejected you in school and you couldn't let her go, even after she made it clear that she preferred a better man."

"James Potter was not a better man," said Snape angrily, "and I did let you go. For years I'd been over you. And then… the Dark Lord said he was going to kill you. And it was my fault. I had to save you! And I failed. If you hadn't chosen Potter you never would have died. But it was my fault. I might have gotten over losing your heart, but I could never, ever get over letting you die. And now I have my chance to save you."

And suddenly Ginny just felt intense pity for this man. He was utterly, utterly lost. The fact that the side he had chosen in the war had killed his former best friend…

Ginny thought about what it would feel like for Harry to die in similar circumstances. It made her sick to her stomach just thinking about it. But there had to be more to this. There had to be.

"Tracey," said Ginny suddenly, "what happened to Tracey?"

"Umbridge's people took her," said Snape, "I didn't really care otherwise. Of course, I did make it harder on Umbridge. The Veritaserum I provided her was actually an extra strength Veritaserum antidote. By the time she finishes trying to use it on Tracey the girl will have enough immunity to last for a month."

"You don't want Riddle to win," realised Ginny.

"Of course not," insisted Snape, his eyes sincere, "He killed you."

"What do you want?" demanded Ginny, "Do you think I'm going to fall in love with you? Because it will not be happening."

"Of course not," agreed Snape, "I failed you. You won't be able to fall in love with me until Potter and The Dark Lord kill each other. Probably not even then."

Okay, Ginny had to admit that that was terrifying. She had to escape. Soon.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to be trying anything funny, if you're worried about that," said Snape, "You're just a houseguest until it is safe for you to leave. I'm here to protect you."

Snape drooped his head. "That's why I had to kill Nott. He kept coming after you, despite your objections. I will return you to your Justin after Potter dies, if that is what you want. As long as you are alive and happy."

Ginny tried to focus her magic, but it was still beyond her. She had to get out of this place!

XXXXX

Harry wasn't happy when Krum came in with the scouting report. Harry and Hermione, as well as Daphne, Ron and Blaise were meeting with Krum and Cedric, both of whom were sending reports from their respective stations.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked insistently.

"There is no doubt," said Krum sadly, "The location is under Umbridge's surveillance."

"So we need disguises," said Ron.

"Those are unlikely to work," said Harry, "pretty much nobody except for Snape goes to his house in Spinner's End. We'll have to do this stealthily. That means going under cover of night."

"We can't just leave Ginny in Snape's hands," insisted Ron.

"I know it's difficult Ron," said Harry, "I can't imagine what you are going through with both Ginny and Tracey missing. But if we don't move carefully Snape might move Ginny someplace that we don't know about or can't go to easily. We have to wait for nightfall."

Ron nodded, clearly not happy, but accepting Harry's logic.

"Any news on Tracey?" asked Daphne.

"Nothing concrete," said Cedric, "but Umbridge's people have total control over the courtroom level holding area. No one not in Umbridge's security group is allowed in. That includes Percy."

"Is Percy compromised?" asked Blaise.

"I don't think so," said Cedric, "it's more that Umbridge probably suspects that Percy won't let her hold people illegally in that fashion. It isn't a _minor_ violation of law."

"Freezing Percy out of sensitive matters makes sense, because Percy was on record as being anti-Voldemort," said Hermione, "No sense in accidentally giving him enough to put two and two together."

"Amelia could try to do an inspection of the judicial holding cells," said Cedric, "but that will probably start an all out battle for the Ministry."

Harry sat and looked at Hermione for a long time. Finally Hermione shook her head slightly, and Harry nodded in agreement sadly.

"We can't force the issue until we retake control of the Ministry," said Harry, "Believe me, I want to storm that jail right now. But doing so would compromise the security of the Ministry in an unacceptable way."

"That being said, it is now our top priority," said Hermione, "We're going to move Umbridge up on our to-do list, though we have to figure out exactly where to put her."

"We also have a bigger problem," said Blaise, "I've managed to discover that my mother is meeting one of her major contacts tonight, thanks to the Irish underworld. We have to take this chance to capture her."

"What!?" said Ron, "We can't put back the rescue operation!"

"We won't," said Hermione, "I'll just have to lead the raid to capture Clarise Zabini instead of Harry."

"Who vill be in charge here then?" asked Krum.

"Daphne," said Harry and Hermione simultaneously.

"Are you certain?" asked Krum, "I know Daphne is trustworthy, but is she up to the task?"

"Well they're making me Minister for Magic, so I'd better be," said Daphne, "and thanks for the vote of confidence."

Krum hung his head in apology. "I didn't mean to offend you. I was just surprised they vould trust someone so young who didn't have Voldemort's memories."

"I didn't have his memories when I was made a Triumvir," said Hermione.

"You vere by far the smartest witch at Hogwarts," said Krum, "No offense to Daphne, of course. I know you are also very intelligent. This is all so confusing though."

Daphne laughed. "Do you need a personal explanation?" she asked.

"I vould very much like a personal explanation," said Krum who frowned as soon as he said it. "Vait… I didn't mean…"

"Aaaah! So that's what you want," said Daphne with a smirk, "Funny way of getting it, insulting me."

"Please, I am very sorry," said Krum, "None of this has come out the way I intended at all. I have a tendency to stick my foot directly into my mouth!"

"Oh don't worry," said Daphne, "I can find far more interesting things to stick in your mouth."

XXXXX

"Harry," said the unmistakable voice of Justin. Harry stopped and turned to face the young man. He should have expected this.

"I want to go with you to save Ginny," said Justin.

"I'm sorry, but you can't," said Harry.

"I have the right," said Justin accusingly.

Harry shook his head. "If Hermione was available I'd take her, but she isn't, so I have to keep my team small, because we're sneaking in."

"You're taking Ron," Justin said in the same accusing tone.

"Because Blaise and Tracey aren't available," said Harry, "Ron is the best combatant in the group of people I absolutely trust that isn't committed to something else. My goal is for him to not have to fight at all, but if he does fight he'll be able to make good his escape. No offense Justin. You're a skilled wizard, but you aren't really a fighter."

Harry put his hand on Justin's shoulder. "I won't let anything happen to Ginny. I promise," Harry said softly.

Justin nodded. It would have to do.

XXXXX

"_Crucio_!" shouted Umbridge as once again pain wracked Tracey's body. It was horrible beyond anything Tracey could ever have imagined. For what seemed like hours the pain tortured her, savaging her senses, and then suddenly it stopped.

"So, what is Harry Potter planning?" asked Umbridge sweetly.

Tracey managed to slowly get control of her breathing as she calmed down. She had been strapped to the wall of her cell by some magical force, and had once again been stripped of her clothes. "I don't know," she lied, "He doesn't tell me his plans."

Umbridge had dosed her with even more Veritaserum that morning, and it hadn't worked. Tracey suspected someone had played Umbridge, but she wasn't exactly sure how. Of course, the result was that Umbridge was now trying to torture the information out of her.

Umbridge's eyes narrowed. "You know, you are remarkably resistant to interrogation," she said thoughtfully.

"Or maybe I'm just a dumb jock who Harry doesn't confide in," said Tracey.

Umbridge shook her head thoughtfully. "You forget, I used to be your teacher. I wasn't very good at it, but I was observant. You are hardly dumb. And I know Potter trusts you."

Suddenly a smile came across Umbridge's face. "You know what? I'll be right back."

With that Umbridge left the room. As soon as she left Tracey felt the constraints on her let go. She landed on her feet, but she stumbled across the room to where the thin ratty robe she'd been given was laying. Throwing it on, she then stumbled to the dirty mattress in the corner of the room. Umbridge would probably just strip her again when she got back, but it would at least be annoying for the older witch for a moment.

But when Umbridge returned, she wasn't alone. She had Millie with her. Tracey gasped as she realized that Millie had been stripped as well. Umbridge swept her wand at the wall, and suddenly Millie was locked to the wall the same as Tracey had been. Two men walked into the room behind Umbridge and stood between her and Tracey.

"I see you've dressed yourself," said Umbridge, "Good, there is clearly no reason to keep you naked. It isn't working. I'm just going to torture Millicent here for a while."

"She betrayed me," said Tracey.

"Oh, but how she fought it," said Umbridge, "She outright refused at first. But when I showed her that I could have her whole family killed… well she came around then!"

"You bitch!" snarled Tracey.

"No, no, that won't do at all," said Umbridge, "_Crucio_."

Suddenly Millie screamed as her body started spasming. Umbridge stopped the spell after mere seconds.

"Be polite," said Umbridge, "Or poor Millicent here will suffer for it. Now, what is Potter planning?"

"I don't know!" said Tracey, trying to figure some way out of this.

"_Crucio!_" said Umbridge, a vicious smile on her face. Millie screamed. This time the spell lasted almost twenty seconds.

Finally she relented. "It will get longer each time," said Umbridge, "Now tell me what Potter is planning.

And that's when it hit Tracey. "Wait! I wasn't lying about not knowing Harry's plan, but…"

"But?" asked Umbridge eagerly.

There was one thing that the Triumvirate had been sure about, and it was that Voldemort would try to hide the fact that they had his memories from as many people as possible. If people were aware that Harry Potter knew everything that Voldemort knew almost no one would be willing to serve him. But that almost certainly meant that Umbridge didn't know about it. Which meant that it was exactly the sort of thing she was looking for. But one small tweak would be necessary.

"Harry Potter has been able to stay ahead of You-Know-Who for one reason," said Tracey, "and that is Ginny Weasley. She absorbed the memories of a young You-Know-Who in her first year, and has absorbed more since. That's how Harry manages to stay ahead of him."

Umbridge grinned triumphantly. "So you are saying that one of Potter's closest advisors has You-Know-Who in her head?"

With a wave of her wand Millie fell to the floor, and Umbridge and her guards marched out. As Tracey ran over to help her friend she hoped Ginny was ready to defend herself, because Umbridge was coming after her!

XXXXX

Hermione looked out across the field in the dimming light. They were close to the coast here, she could hear the waves. Clarise Zabini was meeting a representative of the Polish magical underworld. It made sense that the meeting would be by the coast. Still, the whole thing was a bit public for Hermione's taste. They were due east of Hull in the Spurn National Nature Preserve. She didn't actually know much about this place. That bugged her. She should have looked it up before she left.

"Is this a normal place to have a meeting" asked Hermione.

"Yeah," said Blaise, "It's the typical place for the Poles. They've got all sorts of magic up in the area."

Blaise and Seamus were there, as well as Gustav and five of his men. Should be enough with Hermione there. Blaise might be an issue though.

"Please try not to cast in the direction of your mother, Blaise," asked Hermione.

"You think I would kill her," said Blaise, his voice sounding hurt.

"What I think is that your combat style is mostly big explosions, so yes, I think whatever your intentions, if you cast spells in her direction she's probably going to end up maimed or dead."

"Fair enough," said Blaise.

Suddenly Hermione saw a light in the distance. Two men with lit wands. They were approaching the site. The dark seemed to grow darker as the bright lights threw everything into contrast.

Soon there was an answering light. Another small group. Hermione could see Clarise Zabini as well as two big men walking by her side.

"Jack and Charlie Bolton," whispered Blaise in Hermione's ear, "Jack's big and dumb, but his brother can be a bit clever. They're both dangerous though."

Hermione nodded. "You and Seamus take out the Poles," she whispered back, "Gustav, you take out the Boltons. I've got Zabini."

Gustav nodded. Everyone quickly disillusioned themselves and they all began to silently move towards the meeting. Quietly Hermione imbued the small rune she was carrying with magic. No one within 40 metres of her would be able to apparate away.

They grew closer. They heard an argument going on.

"Is this the best he can send?" asked Clarise.

"If you had not lost so many men in failing to take over the Ministry it would not be a problem," said one of the Poles in heavily accented English, "But it seems to us that you are not ready to deliver on your promises. So you must give us something more concrete."

"We will have control of the Ministry by the end of the month," said Clarise, "and Hogwarts as well. We've had a few bumps, but we are in position for victory now."

Hermione was practically on top of them. She knew that all of her people had stopped about 10 metres from their targets. Normally spells would have alerted Clarise and her people of anyone coming this close, but Blaise had disabled all the wards that had been here when they had first arrived.

"You have said that before," said the other Pole.

Hermione whistled.

Seamus and Blaise immediately sent spells flying towards the two Poles. Both suddenly exploded in a flaming boom. Both of Clarise's bodyguards also went down, no less dead but with less explosions. And Hermione sent a disarm towards Clarise.

Clarise just barely managed to block the spell, but she made an immediate error. She tried to apparate away. Which was a moment in which she left herself vulnerable. Hermione disarmed her, Clarise's wand flying through the air into Hermione's hand.

Hermione pulled off her mask with her off hand while she kept her wand focused on Clarise. "Not bad for a mudblood, eh Clarise?" she asked with a grin.

"Granger," said Clarise, her eyes narrowing, "Paying back a petty grudge? I actually don't recall ever doing anything to you."

"You haven't," said Hermione, "But you made Blaise's life a living hell with your pureblood garbage. Maybe if you'd actually listened to your son instead of trying to reprogram him, you'd have managed to get out of this unscathed."

"My family bloodline..." started Clarise.

"Is going to end with me," said Blaise as he took off his mask and grabbed his mother's arm.

Hermione depowered the runestone, then sent the signal to Daphne on the set of coins she had set up just for thia mission. Ten seconds later all of them apparated directly into the specially prepared cell in the caves on Harry's property.

Daphne was sitting there with an arm around Krum's neck. She'd apparently been whispering something into his ear. But when she saw the task force disapparate she waved her wand, re-establishing the anti-apparition ward.

"You fools," said Clarise holding up her arm to display the Dark Mark that was magically tattooed there, "I'm a marked Death Eater now."

Hermione grinned. "This room is warded to prevent Voldemort from detecting your Dark Mark," she said, "He can't track you by your Mark, sorry."

"You'll have to take me out of here sometime," said Clarise, "and then he will come for me."

"True," said a smiling Blaise.

"We're counting on it," said Hermione with a joy that caused Clarise's self assured smirk to falter.

XXXXX

Ron wasn't sure what was going on. Harry had left to scout around under his invisibility cloak almost as soon as they'd arrived at Spinner's End, but now Ron could see multiple people joining the team watching Snape's house. He was pretty sure one of them was Scrimgoeur. That had to be bad. Harry needed to get back now!

As if on cue, Harry dropped his invisibility cloak next to Ron.

"I think I've found a way in," said Harry.

"Well you need to take it," said Ron, "I think Scrimgoeur just showed up, which probably means…"

"Umbridge is after Ginny," said Harry, "All right, don't fight the people from the Ministry, whatever happens. If they capture Ginny we'll have to let Amelia deal with it."

"Harry," said Ron warningly.

"Ginny will not thank you if you screw up our plan to take over the Ministry," said Harry, "In fact, the Ministry holding Ginny could be a godsend, IF we can get her into the custody of the DMLE. Keep a cool head. I'm going to go in."

And with that Harry put up his cloak again. And he was gone.

Ron swore, but he knew Harry was right. He'd stay out of it, whatever happened.

XXXXX

"You need to eat, Lily," said Snape.

"And take more of whatever is keeping me from using magic? No thanks," said Ginny. Snape had been very accommodating, all things considered, but Ginny was pretty sure he would keep drugging her. She could feel the haziness growing weaker. And she didn't want to know what drugs he might slip her. A love potion? She wouldn't put it past him once he realized she wasn't going to react in the way he wanted. It was dark out now, so Harry was probably on the way.

"I wish you could understand that this is for your own good," said Snape.

And that was when the skylight broke, and Harry suddenly appeared in the center of the room.

"Took you long enough, Potter," said Ginny.

"Yeah, yeah," said Harry, "The Ministry is about to attack here. I had to sneak in."

"YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER, POTTER!" screamed Snape, his eyes filled with rage and terror. Suddenly he rushed Harry, putting his head into Harry's midsection and forcing him back. Harry's back slammed into a window behind him and suddenly both Harry and Snape had fallen out through the window.

"Bloody hell," said Ginny.

She heard signs of a scuffle outside, but suddenly she heard loud signs from the opposite side of the house. The Ministry was here.

XXXXX

Harry sent two spells at Snape's head as the greasy man tried to pull away, but the man managed to dodge them. Harry tried to leap onto his feet, and he sort of managed it. It was hard with tiny shards of glass in his back.

"You will not have Lily!" Snape roared.

"Oh shit," said Harry as he realized how far gone Snape must be right now, "I don't have time for this."

He suddenly heard crashes from inside the house, which took his attention for one moment. That meant he suddenly had all the time in the world. The Ministry had Ginny. He turned back to Snape, but the man was apparating away.

Harry swore to himself. No, this wasn't good. He needed to contact Amelia immediately.

XXXXX

Ginny had been dragged into a cell and stripped naked. Honestly she was less than impressed. Nudity was a good way to break some people, but Umbridge had to know that Ginny was made of sterner stuff than that.

The sense of her magic was starting to come back as well. Ginny suddenly wondered if Umbridge was going to feed her any of that Veritaserum. If she did…

Ginny grinned at the thought. The antidote to Veritaserum had a mild magical purgative that would almost certainly clear up her magic problem.

Umbridge suddenly marched into the room, two male guards behind her. One of the guards openly leered at Ginny. Ginny decided she was going to hurt that one.

"Ah Miss Weasley," said Umbridge, "Such a pity you've ended up here. Your brother has been so helpful to me. Still, I must go where opportunity takes me. I am sorry to take Snape's plaything from him, but what must be must be."

"Hey, you just rescued me from Snape," said Ginny, "if you hadn't had me stripped naked I'd have thought you were my rescuer. If you want my cooperation you just needed to ask."

"Oh, but I need more assurances than that," said Umbridge, pulling out a vial.

"You want me to take Veritaserum?" asked Ginny, "I'm okay with that."

Umbridge seemed genuinely taken aback. "Well, here then," she said handing Ginny the vial.

And Ginny immediately put three drops of the potion on her tongue. And all of a sudden the block on her magic was gone.

"The sky is green," she said after a moment. And then she summoned Umbridge's wand.

The two guards went for their wands, but it was too late. Ginny snatched the wand from the air and hurled a spell at the guard who had been ogling her. His head was slammed against the wall of the cell and he fell unconscious. The other man tried to stun Ginny, but she dodged and summoned Umbridge. And then Ginny was holding Umbridge's wand into Umbridge's neck.

"Bring me Amelia Bones," said Ginny, "If anyone other than Amelia Bones walks through that door, Umbridge dies."

The guard stood stupidly, obviously trying to figure out how this naked witch had done this.

"Do as she says!" screamed Umbridge.

The guard fled the room.

XXXXX

Amelia was making her way down to the courtroom level as quickly as she could. The moment she'd received Harry's Patronus she'd known she had to move quickly. Luckily she was alone when the Patronus had come. Amelia wasn't sure her plan would work though. Honestly, she doubted she'd get into the cells at all.

Sure enough, Scrimgoeur stopped her right outside. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"I'm the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," she said, "and I'm inspecting the cells."

"No you aren't," said Scrimgoeur, "Minister's orders."

Amelia was about to respond when a very frightened looking guard ran out of the prison area. "The Weasley girl has taken the Minister hostage!" he shouted.

"What?" said Scrimgoeur angrily.

"She's taken the Minister hostage and said that she will kill her if anyone other than Amelia Bones comes in and…" The guard trailed off as he realized that Amelia was right there. Scrimgoeur looked like he was about to have a fit.

"It looks like you need my help Rufus," said Amelia pleasantly.

Rufus seemed to deflate a bit at that. "FINE," he said angrily. Amelia marched into the prison and went to the door the guard had indicated.

Amelia went in without hesitation. Ginny had been stripped, and was holding Umbridge's own wand to her neck. _Smart girl,_ thought Amelia. That had been some quick thinking.

"Ginevra Weasley," said Amelia, "Ginny, right? You need to let the Minister go."

"She's dangerous," said Umbridge, "she has the memories of You-Know-Who!"

"How did you know that!" raged Ginny. Amelia decided to take her cue from that.

"Really now?" said Amelia, "Now that _is _serious. I can't let you go Ginny, not now that I know that. But this doesn't have to end in violence."

"I don't want violence either," said Ginny, "But Umbridge isn't just holding me. She's holding Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode. They haven't done anything wrong. They have to be released."

"They are in protective custody," insisted Umbridge.

"Then they can be moved to homes owned by trusted wizards," said Amelia, "Millicent's parents can take care of her while Tracey can go to the home of Bryant Greengrass. Will that satisfy you?"

Umbridge's eyes grew wild, but she nodded, knowing her life was probably hanging on what her answer was.

"And Ginny will go into my custody at the DMLE," said Amelia.

"But…" said Umbridge.

"If Miss Weasley has You-Know-Who's memories she is incredibly dangerous," said Amelia, "We need to put her on trial. But it needs to be legal. You have seriously jeopardized our ability to try Miss Weasley here already."

Umbridge nodded. And after a moment, so did Ginny. Ginny dropped Umbridges wand.

"Find the girl some clothes," said Amelia to the guard outside.

"Oh," said Ginny, "Just so you know, that Vertiaserum you gave me? It's actually the antidote to Veritaserum."

Umbridge suddenly snarled as she realized she'd been tricked by Snape.

"Make sure Tracey and Millicent are released immediately," said Amelia, "You've already seriously jeopardized our ability to convict in the Wizengamot with your… tactics."

Umbridge nodded curtly. Little did she know it, but she'd pretty much sealed her own fate today.

XXXXX

**June 1st, 1998**

Tracey didn't know how much time had passed. It had been hours since they'd taken Millie out of her cell. Still, she had the feeling that something was happening. And that was confirmed when a guard opened her cell.

"Get dressed," said the guard, throwing the clothes she had come here in on the floor. Her school robes. Tracey quickly got dressed. Shortly afterwards a woman opened the door and told her to follow. Soon they were leading her out of the cells on the courtroom level of the Ministry.

It was very late, or more correctly very early, and there was hardly anyone around. But when they finally reached the main lobby Tracey's heart leapt. Bryant Greengrass was waiting there.

"Umbridge has agreed to release you into my custody," said Bryant, "We'll talk more at my home."

Bryant took her hand, and suddenly she was being apparated. When she opened her eyes she was suddenly mobbed as Ron threw his arms around her.

"Oh Merlin, I was so scared," said Ron.

"At least Umbridge is keeping her word," said the voice of Harry.

Tracey managed to get free of Ron, to see that Harry and Hermione were there as well as Ron and Bryant.

"Where's Ginny?" she asked, suddenly frightened.

"Umbridge has her," said Harry, "But she's agreed to turn her over to the DMLE."

"That's my fault," said Tracey sadly, "I told Umbridge that Ginny had Voldemort's memories."

Harry gave Hermione a sharp look. "Well that is interesting," said Harry, "and it explains a great many things. Maybe you should tell us the whole story?"

So Tracey did. When she told them how she had been humiliated she noticed that Bryant seemed to grow grim, Ron gripped her hand tightly, Harry's eyes grew flinty, while Hermione gave her a reassuring smile. She told them how the Veritaserum hadn't worked and how Umbridge had tortured her. And finally, she told them how Umbridge had tortured Millie, and how she had handled things.

After she was done, Tracey shook her head. "I'm so sorry," she said sadly.

Harry suddenly smiled at her. "You did well Tracey," Harry said warmly.

"What?" she asked, not believing what she was hearing. Surely she'd messed everything up.

"Thanks to your quick thinking, Ginny was arrested by Umbridge's people, which gave her the opportunity to capture Umbridge. Thanks to that you and Millie are now safe, and Ginny will soon be in DMLE custody," explained Hermione.

"And this has set up a perfect situation," said Harry, "An opportunity that we might never get again."

"What are you playing at Potter?" said Bryant.

"Victory, Bryant. Victory," said Harry.

"Daphne had to look after our base," said Hermione to Tracey, "She'll stop by to see you tomorrow."

"Next time I see Umbridge, it will be all I can do to stop myself from strangling her," said Bryant.

Tracey was surprised that he was acting this way. "I didn't know you'd react so strongly," she admitted.

"You are my daughter's best friend, and the daughter of my best friend," said Bryant, "Did you think you were just some acquaintance? You're like a daughter to me Tracey."

"Just don't actually strangle Umbridge," said Harry, "She needs a nice fair trial. The magical world needs to see her go down."

Bryant nodded.

"Would you like me to stay tonight?" asked Ron. Tracey felt herself blushing at the question, but she nodded.

"You're welcome to stay then," said Bryant.

"We need to get home," said Harry, "and spread the good news."

"My wand," said Tracey, "They didn't give it back."

"Oh!" said Bryant as he reached into a pocket of his robe. He pulled out Tracey's wand.

"Thanks for reminding me," he said.

And as Tracey grasped her wand, she felt her strength returning. Yes, this was a good feeling.

"Shall we go to bed?" asked Ron, "It's almost midnight."

Tracey nodded. Suddenly she wasn't nervous or anxious at all anymore. She'd been through a terrible ordeal, and come out knowing she could weather it. She could handle a night with her boyfriend.

Oh Merlin, could she handle it!

XXXXX

Daphne breathed a sigh of relief as she left Harry and Hermione's sitting room. Nothing had happened all night at the Potter residence, and now Tracey was safe. Harry had volunteered to stay so Daphne could go see Tracey, but Daphne had no intention of seeing her father yet. That being said, Daphne knew Tracey would be safe at her childhood home. Suddenly her heart felt lighter. She walked downstairs to get a butterbeer… no a Firewhiskey. That would hit the spot. But on her way down she ran into Krum.

"Tracey?" he asked.

"She's safe at my dad's place," said Daphne.

"Thank heavens," said Krum, "I know she and I vere never really a thing, but still I do care about her."

"Same here," said Daphne, "Want to get a drink?"

Krum ginned his agreement, and they headed into the kitchen to get Firewhiskey.

They'd been flirting all night. And somehow, it hadn't been awkward. It was like they were dancing around something. And as they drank firewhiskey together, Daphne realized that Krum had something she wanted. And she was well on her way to getting it.

"So, how about we head up to my room?" she asked Krum.

Krum suddenly seemed reticent. "I don't know. This is happening so fast…"

"Yes it is," said Daphne, "Because it has too. I don't have time. In days I'm either going to be in jail or running this country. I don't have time. Except now. These next few days I have nothing but time. And I would very much like to spend a not inconsiderable amount of that time with you. If you're willing."

"I have tried to avoid casual relationships vith my fans..." started Krum.

"I hate Quidditch," said Daphne, "I only put up with it because of my friends and my house. I am not a fan."

"In that case, lead the vay," said Krum with a wry smile.

And so Daphne did.

XXXXX

Ginny settled down in her cell in the DMLE. It was far more comfortable than the cell Umbridge had put her in, and she had clothing. A plus.

Amelia walked into the cell. "Well done yesterday," she said.

"To you as well," said Ginny, "You thought quickly."

"I also convinced Umbridge that your trial will require enhanced security," said Amelia with a grin.

"Oh boy," said Ginny.

"Your brother has convinced Umbridge that if you have Voldemort's memories, he no longer considers you a sister," said Amelia, "He was weaving a tale of how you came between him and your mother."

"Clever," said Ginny, feeling proud of her brother.

"He won't be able to visit you of course," said Amelia, "I'd smuggle in your boyfriend if I could, but it would be too likely to get found out."

"I assume my trial will be memorable?" asked Ginny.

"It'll be one of a kind," said Amelia.

Ginny smiled. As it should be.

XXXXX

Harry awoke the next day in a far better frame of mind than he had the day before. Before he'd gone to bed he'd sent a message to Molly Weasley to come see him when she had the chance. That was one of the last two pieces of the puzzle. If this worked… it was so elegant, it had to work!

"Sleep well?" asked Hermione, who was looking at him lovingly.

"Yeah," he said, "I did. You been up long?"

"About half an hour," said Hermione, "I was watching you sleep."

"I've done that to you a few times," said Harry.

Hermione nodded. "It is a nice way to spend a morning."

"I need a shower," said Harry as he stood up. He pulled off his clothes as he headed for the bathroom.

"Nice bum," said Hermione as he left the room. He didn't bother to close the door. If Hermione wanted to watch him she was welcome to. As far as he could tell she didn't. Well she didn't need to peek at him after all. If she wanted to see something all she had to do was ask.

When he finished his shower he returned to the bedroom, his lower half wrapped in a towel. Hermione was sitting on the bed, but she was in her underwear.

"What's this?" Harry asked.

"Time to let off some steam," said Hermione with a grin. She reached over and pulled off his towel, eying what was underneath appreciatively.

Harry laughed as he climbed onto the bed and lay down beside Hermione. He felt her reaching around him and grabbing his backside. He began to kiss her.

And that was when Molly Weasley walked into the room.

"Whoah!" said Harry as he threw the blankets over himself, "Umm, please knock!"

Molly had covered her eyes as best she could. "I am so sorry! I hadn't expected you to be doing… that. Not so early."

Harry managed to straighten out the blankets. "Well, okay. I'm covered now," said Harry. Molly uncovered her eyes.

"You needed to see me?" she asked.

"I thought you'd come at night," said Harry.

"During O.W.L. week it's actually easier for me to come earlier," said Molly, "Everyone's testing now."

Harry nodded. "Well, Ginny once mentioned that for your N.E.W.T. you did a special potion. A polysoul potion. A potion that lets you imitate another person's soul."

Molly looked surprised. "Why yes, I did. All you have to do is take Polyjuice Potion and perform a few steps. It's difficult to make, but not time consuming."

"Can you make some before Ginny's trial?" said Harry.

"It'll only take a couple of days if you have some polyjuice potion," said Molly, "Why do you need it?"

Harry laughed. "I need Magic itself to believe that I'm Tom Riddle for a short while. Don't worry, we have plenty of polyjuice potion."

Molly nodded. "Well, that can be arranged then."

Once Molly had left, Hermione turned to face Harry again. "Shall we continue?"

Harry sighed. "I am NOT in the mood right now. Not after that."

"Poor Harry," said Hermione as she gave him a very serious kiss.

Well maybe he was a little in the mood…

XXXXX

**June 4th, 1998**

Blaise only visited Clarise once. He walked into the area outside her cell and just stared at her. She supposed he had the right.

"What are they going to do with me after," she asked him.

"Put you on trial," he said, "You deserve it."

"Probably," admitted Clarise.

"Why couldn't you just accept what I was?" asked Blaise.

"I'm… I'm sorry Blaise," said Clarise. And she found she meant it.

"I'm sorry I sicced Crabbe and Goyle on you. And I'm sorry about your father," she continued.

"It doesn't change anything," insisted Blaise.

"No it doesn't" agreed Clarise.

"You owe a debt to society," said Blaise, "But you owe me more."

"What does that mean?" demanded Clarise.

"Just think long and hard about how you have treated me, and how I want to be treated," said Blaise, "When the Triumvirate has no further use for you… well let's not get ahead of ourselves."

And he left. Leaving a very confused Clarise Zabini.

XXXXX

**June 8th, 1998**

Hypernia Baxter was a Death Eater.

No one knew who she was. She'd only ever done one thing for the Dark Lord. She'd activated the Taboo for him the first time he'd come to power. And she'd covered her tracks so well that no one had known it was her.

And she was still in the same job at the Ministry, with the same opportunity. Waiting for someone to tell her to do her one true calling.

Still, she hadn't expected this.

"Excuse me?" she asked Percy Weasley.

"The time has come," he said, "Umbridge has received word. At midnight on the night before my sister's trial, you must reactivate it. It will be needed."

She couldn't believe it! She'd known Umbridge was a Death Eater, but not Percy. But here he was acknowledging her one true purpose. And why shouldn't she comply? It could only help the Dark Lord anyway.

Of course what Hypernia Baxter did not know was that she had been identified ages ago as a Death Eater. That she had remained here under surveillance. All she knew was that she was once again going to serve her master.

Only, she wasn't. Instead, she was going to help destroy him.

XXXXX

**June 13th, 1998**

The night before the trial, Harry drank the potion that Molly Weasley had provided him. And he waited.

It seemed to take a long time. But suddenly he felt a power clawing at his mind. The Taboo had become active, and it was searching for the soul of Lord Voldemort.

But Voldemort's actual soul was damaged. And within Harry was the very outline of that soul, written on his mind. An outline that the potion he had just swallowed had brought to the forefront.

The Taboo bonded with Harry, and suddenly he was bound to the sound of the word "Voldemort." Harry controlled the Taboo. Which meant that if any person uttered the name "Voldemort," all protections around them would temporarily fall and Harry would be alerted to their location.

"Tell Blaise to take his mother to Hogwarts," said Harry. Hermione nodded. The students at school had all left that very day. Everything was now ready. All his pieces were set.

Tomorrow would decide the fate of Magical Britain.

**Author's Note:** I don't think I ever established it, but I do actually have a ranking of the combat abilities of the various characters. Hermione is the most powerful, while Harry is the most skilled at fighting. Ginny is more skilled at fighting than Hermione but is substantially less powerful than her. Next you have Blaise, who is in his own tier between the Triumvirate and everyone else. He's more than capable of taking down multiple enemies at once. Then you have a tier that includes Seamus, Ron and Tracey. They are all very skilled, but maybe not who you want fighting multiple enemies at once. Then you have a tier with Daphne, Luna and Justin. Skilled at magic, but not really any better than average at fighting.

Some of you may be asking, "Why didn't Ginny just kill Umbridge?" If Ginny had killed Umbridge there are even odds that Rufus Scrimgoeur would try to take control of the Ministry. Amelia doesn't want an open battle for the Ministry. She wants to handle them quietly and bloodlessly.

Next Time: Ginny's trial and the Battle for Hogwarts.


	57. The Day of Battle

**Chapter 57: The Day of Battle**

**June 14th, 1998**

Blaise Zabini marched back into Hogwarts Castle at 3am, one of several holding a wand to his mother. Hagrid had let the task force inside the gates, where McGonagall, Flitwick, Sirius, Molly, and Bill were all waiting for them. Aside from Blaise came Seamus, all the mercenaries (including a disgruntled looking Krum), as well as Dumbledore and all the remaining members of the Order which had been called together for one last time (aside from Kingsley, who would be needed in the Ministry today).

"We will place Madam Zabini in my office," said McGonagall.

Blaise and Seamus both nodded and followed, leading Clarise along. Everyone else remained downstairs where Flitwick began to brief people on their positions during the upcoming fight. It didn't take long for Blaise and Seamus to reach McGonagall's office, and once there McGonagall pulled out a chair and placed it in the center of the room.

Blaise forced his mother into the chair and began casting spells that bound her there. He made a great show of casting spells all over the chair. He stepped back after he was finished.

"So you'll stay here, safe and sound, while we trounce your Death Eaters," said Blaise.

"Is this all you have?" asked Clarise, "Where are the rest of Potter's people? It seems to me if these people and Potter's Army are all you have, you don't have enough people."

Blaise couldn't quite hide his smile. "Let's just say we'll be getting some reinforcements before the day's out. But you better hope they don't get to you. I've cast spells on this chair that will kill you if any marked Death Eater other than yourself gets within ten metres of this chair."

Clarise's eyes bulged, but behind her McGonagall stifled a laugh. She clearly knew what was up.

"Well, bye!" said Blaise as he turned and headed out of the office.

"You didn't really put lethal spells on her chair?" asked Seamus.

"Of course not," said Blaise, "That would require knowledge of Runes, which I don't have. But Mum knows even less about Runes than I do (thank you Hermione), so she won't know better. Her screams to tell any Death Eaters to stay away might slow them down though."

It had taken some convincing to get McGonagall to let them use Hogwarts for their trap, but not as much as Harry had initially feared. McGonagall still felt she owed Harry a debt. The way Blaise saw it, she'd done plenty to help Harry, more than any other teacher, but he knew that she didn't share that opinion.

Returning to ground level, Blaise saw that Dumbledore was leading the teachers of the school in creating a massive Protego shield around the entire school. Once the spell encompassed the entirety of the wards it would be a formidable obstacle to anyone entering the grounds.

The Order of the Phoenix had returned to help Dumbledore willingly, if a bit cautiously. He'd been put in charge here by default, as he was the most experienced and respected person here. And his expertise with the school was coming in handy! Dumbledore probably should have been attending the Wizengamot meeting today, but he didn't want to take part in what was going to happen today. In any case, he couldn't very well stay Chief Warlock if he helped overthrow the Wizengamot. Umbridge probably thought his absence was fortuitous, though she had to know he would be defending Hogwarts.

"Are you still planning to… you know," said Seamus.

"Yeah," said Blaise, "And you still want to come with?"

"Yeah," said Seamus.

And impulsively, Blaise kissed Seamus. It wasn't something he normally liked to do in public; many wizards still weren't very comfortable with that sort of thing, but he fully understood the sacrifice Seamus was making and it deserved an immediate reward.

By the time they had finished kissing, the teachers were done with the shield. Bill walked by and gave them a very much not subtle wink.

"And how are you doing, Bill?" asked Blaise conversationally.

"As well as can be expected I suppose," said Bill.

"Well, stay safe out there today," said Blaise, "Your sister is a good friend of mine, and I have plans for after the battle. Those plans do not include having to console Ginny. So please, don't make it so I have to."

Bill nodded. He knew Blaise had lost his father to this war. He knew what Blaise was trying to tell him. "I'll be careful," he said.

Blaise sat down on a stone bench and watched the others still at work. The waiting game was on.

XXXXX

Amelia watched as Wizengamot members and security personnel all scrambled into Courtroom 10. Amelia had four of her people assigned to the courtroom, while Umbridge had eight. It wasn't going to matter. There were others there now, but they were setting up the finishing touches to the wards that would 'protect' the courtroom while the meeting was going on. The wards were regenerating, which meant they would go back up after a few minutes if someone breached them.

It was all going well. Umbridge had agreed to every proposal Amelia had made. She seemed to be bending over backwards to keep Amelia happy. It made sense. Until Umbridge was confirmed as Minister, she would be extremely vulnerable. It must seem to Umbridge as if everything had come together for her, especially the fact that Dumbledore wouldn't be here.

Amelia knew better. The moment Umbridge sealed those doors, events would be set in motion. Events that even Amelia wouldn't be able to stop, not that she wanted to.

She briefly entertained the annoyance that she had held for some time about this moment. It really should be her taking the reins of the Ministry. But she understood Harry's logic. They couldn't be encouraging future coups now could they? And Amelia had to admit, she didn't really want to be Minister. But it would have been nice to be asked.

She shook her head. That wasn't a thought for today. Today she had more important work to do.

Kingsley was giving the thumbs up to the wards, as was Scrimgeour. Umbridge's people began bringing in the witnesses, and last of all Ginny Weasley. Meanwhile all of Amelia's extra people began to leave. Kingsley stayed on for a few moments, but then Cedric came in and they left with Scrimgeour. Amelia knew Percy was just outside as well.

She wished them luck. "Ready Minister?" she asked as Kingsley shut the door.

"Ready Amelia," said Umbridge.

Amelia thrust her wand into the ward that had been drawn on the inside of the door. It lit up brightly, and then so did all the other wards. Courtroom 10 was sealed off from the world.

There was no going back.

XXXXX

Scrimgeour led everyone into the prison area near the courtroom. Percy noted that one of the cells had been converted into an office for Scrimgeour. There were a few other converted cells as well. But aside from Percy, Cedric and Kingsley, as well as the six aurors who had been checking wards in the courtroom, there were only four people in the courtroom cells. Including Scrimgeour.

Scrimgeour waved them into his office. It was small, with a desk and a cabinet behind the desk chair. There were only seats for him and Kingsley. Percy didn't mind standing though. He wasn't going to be here long.

"I hope there are no hard feelings that I took your old job," said Kingsley.

"Not your fault," said Scrimgeour, "In retrospect, I can't even blame Amelia. I put her in an impossible position. Still, everything will work out after the trial."

"Yes, I suppose so," said Kingsley.

Percy glanced behind him nervously as Scrimgeour turned to get something out of his cabinet. He knew they had just arrived, but he was already getting anxious. Suddenly he heard a sharp whistle. That was the signal.

"What was that?" said Scrimgeour as he turned around to see the wands in Kingsley, Cedric and Percy's hands. Before he could say anything he was stunned.

"Let's get going," said Kingsley as Cedric bound Scrimgeour with magical ropes, "we have an hour _tops_ to secure the Ministry."

Not that there would be any serious resistance. The only two people who could command the Magical Security Force were Scrimgeour and Umbridge. By taking out Scrimgeour they had ensured no one could organize the remaining members of his Magical Security Force into an effective force, and everyone would be expecting auror patrols today.

No, an hour would be plenty of time.

XXXXX

The last of the Wizengamot members had taken their seats. Umbridge gave Amelia a nod, and the head of the DMLE stood up, causing the room to quiet. She looked down, making sure her foot was firmly on the rune she had drawn there, then checked the ward cluster on her desk.

"Before we begin, I have a security announcement," said Amelia, "As some of you have no doubt noticed, we have sealed this courtroom. This has been done for two reasons."

Amelia looked around. Most of the members of the Wizengamot were sitting back, not paying a lot of attention. Bryant was paying attention, but he knew what was coming. Amelia noticed that he was holding his wand loosely. Not a bad idea, though he didn't know that this was futile.

"The first reason is simple, so that no outsiders who have no business here can interfere," continued Amelia, "The importance of this will be obvious shortly. The second reason is so that a certain dangerous individual cannot escape this room."

All true, though of course she was actually referring to Umbridge instead of Ginny. Umbridge merely smiled, oblivious.

"I would like to caution the members of the Wizengamot that the barrier can be breached if treated carelessly," she said seriously, "as a certain Taboo was reactivated last night."

For the first time Umbridge began to stir as she realized that something she hadn't anticipated was going on. Amelia made double sure she was standing on her rune.

"Whatever you do," said Amelia, "Do not say the name of Voldemort."

And then Amelia jammed her wand into the ward cluster written on the face of the desk that had been provided to her.

It took a moment for everyone to realize what Amelia had done. But suddenly every wand in the room was flying to a point directly over the ward cluster Amelia had just activated. Every wand except the wands of Amelia and her people, who were all standing on identical runes. Runes which rendered them immune to the spell.

Members of the Wizengamot surged to their feet. But it was too late. Hooded figures in grey robes began to apparate in. The Army of the Triumvirate had arrived.

XXXXX

Harry emerged from his apparition behind the chair in which Ginny was being held. She was flanked by two guards, both of whom Amelia had assured him would be Umbridge's men. He stunned one, while Hermione, who had emerged beside him, had stunned the other. Both Hermione and Harry were wearing their silver robes, while everyone else was wearing their gray robes.

And it was pretty much the entire Army that had apparated into the courtroom. Even Fred, George, Angelina and Cho had returned for this one. The only major member who wasn't here was Cedric, who was working with the DMLE forces.

The rest of Umbridge's men had been captured, and Umbridge herself was under Amelia's wand. She seemed utterly shocked. This had all turned around on her so quickly.

Harry walked up to Ginny, shackled in the chair. Hermione conjured a shroud of smoke while Harry freed Ginny, handing her the Elder Wand and her silver robes. The smoke created a screen between Ginny and the rest of the room, and she immediately began to change into her robes. Harry turned his head politely.

Once she was done, Ginny turned to stand side by side with Harry and Hermione. Hermione dispelled the smoke she had conjured. And suddenly, the Wizengamot was faced by the Triumvirate, all dressed in their robes.

The members of the Wizengamot all stared as they realized what they were seeing. For only a moment though. Then Harry stepped forward and dropped his hood, revealing his face. The rest of the Army followed suit.

"I am Harry Potter, First of the Triumvirate," said Harry.

"I am Hermione Granger, Second of the Triumvirate," said Hermione.

"I am Ginevra Weasley, Third of the Triumvirate," said Ginny.

"We're here because Dolores Umbridge is working for the Death Eaters," said Harry, "and she, as well as the majority of this body, are complicit in Treason and Murder."

The members of the Wizengamot stirred slightly. They knew they were caught in Harry's trap. Most of them looked outraged. Not Bryant of course. And Augusta looked angry, though not at Harry. Parkinson and Nott looked very worried.

"Now, I will be giving people back their wands," said Harry, "but first… everyone roll up your sleeves. We're doing a Dark Mark check."

And so, every member of the Wizengamot showed off their arms. And as Harry suspected, Parkinson and Nott both had Dark Marks. Umbridge did not, but that wasn't unexpected.

"Are you just going to kill Parkinson and Nott?" demanded Umbridge.

"No need," said Ginny.

"If Fudge had reacted quickly to the return of Voldemort we would never have had to kill the Death Eaters who entered the Ministry two years ago," said Harry, "They could have been arrested. As it was, we needed to force the issue."

There was a murmur of discontent at that, but no one disagreed. Fudge's initial intractability had been nearly disastrous.

The aurors had taken Parkinson and Nott down to the floor of the courtroom and conjured bindings for them. Harry nodded at their efficiency.

"Those two will take no further part in these proceedings," said Harry, "They are Death Eaters. But despite her lack of a Dark Mark, so is Umbridge."

"And we are going to prove it," said Hermione.

Ron, Neville and Daphne stepped forward. Amelia gestured to Umbridge with her wand and Umbridge slowly obeyed, walking up to the edge of the courtroom floor. Ron, Neville and Daphne marched her to the chair, where they shackled her in the same shackles that had just held Ginny.

"Daphne?" asked Harry.

Daphne nodded as Amelia handed her a small vial. Veritaserum, right from the DMLE stores. Umbridge tried to struggle, but Ron and Neville held her down and forced her mouth open. Daphne quickly administered the Veritaserum. She then waited several moments.

"Were you aware of the attack that killed the progressives in the Wizengamot beforehand?" asked Daphne once enough time had passed.

"Yes!" said Umbridge, her voice full of rage.

"Was the attack carried out solely to push you into the position of Minister?" asked Daphne, her eyes flashing.

"Yes!" Umbridge roared, trying and failing to resist the Veritaserum.

"Did you arrange for Voldemort to have access to the home of Cornelius Fudge so that he could be assassinated?" asked Daphne.

"Yes," said Umbridge, who was finally beaten. Her shoulders slumped as she realized that she was now going to spend the rest of her life in prison.

"As you can see, Dolores Umbridge is a traitor who attempted a coup to take control of the Ministry," said Daphne as she turned to face the Wizengamot, "You should probably move to revoke her status as interim Minister for Magic."

"Return their wands," said Harry. This was a risk, but a very small one. The wards should be back up by now, so no one could escape without Amelia opening the door. And the whole Wizengamot was covered by the wands of the Army of the Triumvirate. Plus, the Wizengamot wasn't going to attack them. Many of them were related to members of the Army.

As Justin, Cho, and Luna began to distribute wands, Harry idly wondered how things were going outside this room. He had to hope everything was going according to plan.

XXXXX

"There are almost a hundred of them," said Seamus, looking out at the army of Death Eaters that had just arrived. Well, Death Eaters and criminal mercenaries.

Blaise nodded. That was a lot. He wondered if the shield would hold against that many. The defenders of Hogwarts were all gathered in the main courtyard outside the school, and were watching for the attack to begin.

Sure enough, the attack began almost immediately. But it turned out that a hundred wizards and witches wasn't quite enough to bring down this shield. Not with Dumbledore's augmentations to the wards. Dumbledore clearly knew what he was doing.

"So it's a siege," said McGonagall.

"No," said Dumbledore, "Eventually they will break through. But we have bought a couple of hours, three at the most."

Everyone nodded. Blaise hoped Harry was hurrying. Because if he was late things would get rough fast.

XXXXX

"All in favour of removing Dolores Umbridge, please light your wands," said Daphne to the Wizengamot.

Every member of the Wizengamot lit their wands. There wasn't really any discussion to be had. Harry was happy that they were cooperating so far, but he realized that cooperation would be short lived once his true goal became clear.

"Madame Umbridge," said Harry, "you are no longer the interim Minister for Magic."

Umbridge just growled at him.

"What about the selection of a new Minister?" asked one of the members of the Wizengamot.

Ginny smiled as she turned to the Wizengamot. "Of course that must be this body's first priority," she said.

"Oh yes," said Umbridge, "take over the Ministry, Potter. Make yourself our king! That's what you want, isn't it? Why don't you tell them why I had Weasley on trial!"

"Gladly," said Hermione, "Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Vold… well, you know, created several horcruxes to keep himself immortal. We have destroyed most of these. In the process of destroying them, Harry, Ginny and I absorbed some of Riddle's memories. We have used that knowledge to battle him. Despite the fact that we have used this information to fight him, Dolores here intended to accuse us of being under his control."

A ripple of disbelief went through the courtroom.

"It's a ruse of course," said Harry, "and a distraction. Even now Riddle is launching a full scale attack upon Hogwarts, planning on using it as a base of operations "

This caused an even bigger ruckus.

"Luckily, we anticipated this," said Hermione, "The school is defended. Once we are finished here we will go to the school's aid and rescue everyone."

"But this does mean we have to hurry," said Ginny.

"So who do we nominate?" asked another member of the Wizengamot.

There was suddenly an awkward silence that came over the Wizengamot. This was the danger point Harry realized. If they were going to resist, it would be now.

"Let me be clear," said Harry, "this is a coup. Or more properly, a counter coup. You will be approving our candidate. And then the Wizengamot will disband."

That caused a stir. Most of the Wizengamot leapt to their feet. Even Augusta looked vaguely outraged.

"So that's it?" said someone in the back, "No courts? No legislature? Just a dictatorship?"

"The Wizengamot will be reformed after the next election, where they will be elected rather than selected," said Daphne, "In the interim, we will convene a Wizard's Council to perform any legislative and judicial functions, with juries being selected from the general population for the time being."

The mood of the Wizengamot shifted. The moderates seemed somewhat less antagonistic, but the purebloods seemed angrier. This could be it.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" shouted Bryant Greengrass angrily, "Get a hold of yourselves! We've called this upon ourselves! We have failed Magical Britain. Myself most of all. Did we remove Fudge when he tried to doubt that You-know-who had returned? Or did we sit and do nothing? Did we stand up and follow our own rules when our colleagues were murdered? Or did we align with Umbridge for political gain?"

Bryant took a deep breath. "Did we eliminate the prejudice and hate that caused the last war? Or did we let it fester in both our own ranks and the body politic? Face it. We have failed. And there is no one we have failed more than these young people. They are standing up for what they believe in. If we fight them here, win or lose, we will be fighting our sons and daughters, our nieces and nephews, our cousins and neighbors."

Bryant shook his head, "I will not do it! We came within hours of destroying the futures of these young men and women. Let us give them the chance to set what we fucked up right! Let us step aside for the next generation. A little early, perhaps. But the alternative is the worst thing I can imagine."

And then Bryant sat down. And slowly, the rest of the Wizengamot followed. Harry knew that there would be no further resistance. He had won. They could have continued without the support of the Wizengamot, but it would have been far more difficult, given enemies something to rally to. Not everyone here supported this rebellion, but they weren't going to fight it.

"I nominate Daphne Greengrass to be Minister for Magic," said Amelia.

Bryant looked up, his eyes burning with sudden interest. He hadn't expected this. He'd expected a muggleborn, or maybe Harry Potter himself. Suddenly all the purebloods on the Wizengamot seemed interested in this process, now that they knew a member of their social class was involved. Of course, Daphne would disappoint them. If anyone was a blood traitor, it was Daphne Greengrass.

"I second the motion," said Augusta.

"All in favour?" said Hermione, taking over the role Daphne had been playing earlier so that she didn't appear biased.

Most of the wands in the Wizengamot went up.

"Daphne Greengrass has been appointed to finish this term as Minister for Magic," said Harry formally.

"I will be sworn in at a later time," said Daphne, "But I need to take action now. I would ask that the Wizengamot vote to direct me to re-establish the Wizard's Council and disband itself."

This was one thing that Harry wasn't certain was legal. The act which had created the Wizengamot originally had come from the crown. As such Hermione had wondered whether this would require royal assent. Well, that was a matter for another time. If it did, they could do it later. It wasn't as if the Queen was going to object, as far as Harry knew she didn't even know the magical world.

The vote went Daphne's way, though she barely had two thirds of the Wizengamot for it. It didn't matter though. It was enough.

"Thank you for your cooperation," said Daphne, "Amelia, open the doors."

Amelia got up and went to the doors to the chamber. As soon as they opened, Percy marched in, followed by Kingsley and Cedric.

"The Ministry is ours, Minister," said Percy to Daphne.

"Just for that, you get to keep your job," said Daphne with a twinkle in her eyes. Percy smiled in response.

Harry walked over to Bryant. "Thank you for what you said," said Harry.

Bryant nodded. "It seemed the right thing to do," he said truthfully, "And now I have to find some honest work to fill my time, as I appear to be out of a job."

"Harry," said Daphne, "You need to deploy the Army to Hogwarts. I'll follow up shortly with the Ministry forces. We'll have aurors and hitwizards in position in fifteen minutes. And our allies need to be contacted as well."

Harry nodded his understanding. Suddenly he realized that the Triumvirate was no longer in charge. Daphne was. It was actually a huge weight off of his shoulders. He no longer had the weight of all those decisions on him.

"All right, let's get in position," said Harry. Now it was time for the real battle. The battle to save Magical Britain. The battle for Hogwarts.

XXXXX

Narcissa Malfoy watched as the latest barrage of spells hit the barrier outside Hogwarts. Voldemort assured her that the barrier was weakening, but she didn't see it. In a way she hoped it didn't fall, but she also realized that if Potter arrived before the barrier fell this chance to kill Nagini might be lost. So even though she knew it would mean many deaths, Narcissa had to hope that the barrier would fall.

"Again!" shouted Voldemort.

Narcissa once again cast her spell at the shield. This time when the barrage hit the barrier flickered.

She briefly thought about Draco. He was also in this army preparing to take part in the battle. She hoped he survived. Even after all he had done.

"Almost there men!" shouted Rookwood, "Two more should do it!"

"Again!" roared Voldemort. Another wave of magic hit the shield. It nearly collapsed, but just barely maintained itself.

"One last time!" roared Voldemort.

And this final barrage caused the shield to fall. Narcissa clutched her wand. She would have to look for a chance to separate Voldemort from his snake. If she could kill Nagini, this war would be one step away from being over. She just had to find her chance.

"Advance!" cried Rookwood.

The battle was on.

XXXXX

"Send them a message and then fall back to the school!" yelled out Dumbledore, "Do not get caught at the barricades when Lord Voldemort arrives."

Blaise winced, realising that Dumbledore had just probably given Harry a nasty headache. Blaise was part of the second line of defense. The mercenaries were holding up at the barricades which they had placed near the border of the forest along with Moody, Krum and Bill. Their job was to send a few spells at Voldemort as he advanced, then fall back towards the school itself. Just slow down the initial attack a little.

The surge of enemies was pretty large though. There were only a handful of mercenaries and they seemed pretty nervous. Still, they began engaging on schedule.

"All right, fall back," shouted Dumbledore.

Suddenly the return spells came in and they were intense. Moody and Bill began moving back, but Blaise suddenly realized that the rest of the mercenaries weren't. They didn't want to leave cover!

"Fall back before Voldemort blows up your cover from under you!" screamed Blaise.

Krum seemed to get the message, as did Gustav. But it was too late for many of them. One of the barricades suddenly exploded as Lord Voldemort charged into view. At this the other men started running but they were quickly cut down. Gustav turned back to help his men only to take a killing curse right in the forehead. Moody also turned around to help others retreat. But he suddenly found himself facing Voldemort.

Blaise had to do something. He ran forward and began firing blasting curses at the advancing Death Eaters. That held up most of them. And the sudden addition of several fireballs from Seamus stopped most of the rest. He nearly cast one at a woman, but redirected his fire when he saw it was Narcissa Malfoy. No, she might be on their side. With Voldemort now fighting Moody this gave the remnants of the mercenaries time to withdraw. But at a heavy cost. Voldemort gave a roar of triumph as he cut down Moody with a killing curse.

And then he turned to face Blaise.

Blaise prepared himself, knowing he couldn't fight Voldemort, but suddenly Dumbledore was there. Dumbledore and Voldemort began dueling while the rest of the defenders of Hogwarts began casting spells at the rest of the attackers. They wouldn't last for long at this rate. For one terrible moment it seemed to have all gone horribly wrong.

And that was when witches and wizards on brooms began flying in from behind Blaise, from over the top of the school. Blaise saw Tracey and Ron leaping off their brooms and joining Bill and Molly, he saw the Weasley twins landing on top of the main entrance and firing down spells from above. Luna and Neville led a group of the Hufflepuffs to attack the Death Eaters from the side while Cho and Colin led Ravenclaws and Gryffindors from the other side. And in the middle of it all was Harry who flew in and immediately began attacking Voldemort. But not directly. He still clearly didn't want to lock their shared wand cores.

And that's when the fighting started in the forest. Daphne and the Ministry had arrived. And more. Arrows and spells came from further in the forest. The centaurs and the Irish had arrived as well.

Voldemort had only one option. He was almost completely surrounded.

"Fall back to the lake!" he roared as the Death Eaters and mercenaries fled towards the lake.

Tactically, Blaise admitted it made sense. The lake would allow Voldemort to guard the rear of his force, and the lakeshore was outside the wards, so he could apparate away if necessary. But Blaise knew what was waiting for them there. It wouldn't work out for the Death Eaters at all.

XXXXX

Narcissa had to admit that the shore of the lake didn't look like a promising site for a battle. But it would at least allow them to fight all of their enemies from one direction. Nagini had stayed close to Voldemort this entire time, even when he'd led the attack on the school. However, Narcissa was beginning to suspect that this was all part of Potter's plan. This was very likely a trap.

Suddenly a voice came from the Forbidden Forest. "This is the Minister for Magic, Daphne Greengrass. You are surrounded. Surrender at once."

Narcissa's eyes widened. Minister for Magic? Daphne Greengrass? What was this?

Suddenly Voldemort began laughing. She'd never heard him laugh like this before. It was bitter and angry and half insane.

"I have to hand it to Potter," said Voldemort, "He knew I'd take too long to take Hogwarts. He lured me here! And while I was occupied he took over the Ministry."

Suddenly he lashed out, throwing a killing curse that killed one of the criminals who worked for Clarise.

"I really need to kill that boy," said Voldemort evenly.

Narcissa nodded, afraid to say anything else. She wondered why their foes weren't attacking. Suddenly the wind started to pick up. That was odd. Narcissa turned around.

And saw Hermione Granger on a broom hovering over the middle of the lake. And she was summoning a massive waterspout.

Narcissa's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen.

And that was when Hermione sent the massive tower of water towards the Death Eater position on the side of the lake.

Now the rest of Voldemort's forces had seen it. Narcissa resigned herself to getting very wet as she began to run as far from the lake as she could.

XXXXX

Harry ran up to Daphne as the two forces met on the edge of the forest.

"Well done!" said Harry.

"Looks like Hermione has done her part," said Daphne as she pointed to the massive waterspout bearing down on the Death Eaters.

The massive wall of water broke over their position, scattering the Death Eaters in all directions. Harry was sure he saw a snake swimming onto land as the water began to recede.

"I see it," said the disembodied voice of Ginny.

Harry nodded to Daphne. And Daphne turned to face her newly formed army.

"Attack!" she roared, and the entire force surged out into the open and began casting spells at the Death Eaters.

XXXXX

Narcissa spat water as she tried to regain her feet. Voldemort's forces were scattered all over the beach. But a quick look showed Narcissa that the wave had been successful in the most important way. Nagini was a natural swimmer, so she had ridden the wave to safety. Which meant she was now separated from Voldemort.

She tried to get to the snake, but her robes were soaked and slowing her down. All of a sudden a wave of spells came in towards her position. This was what Potter had been waiting for. Narcissa had to kill the snake. She had to!

Narcissa trudged on slowly getting close to the snake. The battle was swirling around her and she feared she would be killed before she finished her revenge. Suddenly Ginny Weasley appeared out of nowhere, dropping an invisibility cloak. With a single spell she held Nagini in place and she suddenly cast "_Legilimens_!" on the snake.

"They drained the horcruxes," said Narcissa, finally understanding. They had taken the knowledge and power contained in each horcrux. No wonder Potter had done so well!

But then she saw a real threat. Rookwood had seen Ginny attacking Nagini. And he advanced on her as well. He pulled back his wand to cast some deadly curse.

Narcissa didn't even think. She sent a blasting curse straight at Rookwood. He saw it coming at the last minute, and managed to put up a shield. He stared at Narcissa, not in disbelief, but in resignation. He leveled his wand at her.

And then he exploded in a haze of blood and guts. Narcissa turned to the source of the spell to see Blaise Zabini running up and standing between Ginny and the rest of the Death Eaters. Soon Ron and Justin had come to stand side by side with him.

Narcissa turned to face Voldemort's forces. And saw that _he_ had seen what she had done. As he advanced on her she cast a shield. Luckily, his first shot was so angry it missed, instead causing a nearby rock to explode. Shrapnel pummeled her. And as she fell down she thought she saw Dumbledore stepping past her, but she couldn't be sure as she slipped into unconsciousness.

XXXXX

Ginny held her ground against Nagini. Nagini had once been human! That horrible sense of loss permeated the poor creature. But Ginny couldn't let up. Still this was far more difficult than any horcrux because Nagini's will was added to that of the horcrux.

But Nagini had never done this before. Ginny had. And Ginny had one advantage no one would suspect. The Elder Wand. It gave her spell a power that no one could prepare for. Certainly a wandless Maledictus could not. And that advantage carried Ginny over the top. With a puff of black smoke, the final horcrux evaporated into the wind.

Ginny felt Nagini's despair. She had failed the last creature who had treated her as a person. She wanted nothing more than to die. But she wouldn't allow Ginny to just leave. She suddenly broke free of her bindings charging Ginny.

And then Ginny cut her in two with a cutting curse. It made her want to throw up.

And suddenly, the battlefield rang with the howl of Lord Voldemort realizing that he had become mortal.

XXXXX

As Harry rushed towards Lord Voldemort he heard the voice of Daphne once more. "Lord Voldemort is now mortal. Concentrate your attacks on Lord Voldemort," she said. He kept rushing only to find Dumbledore and Voldemort battling again. Harry charged in with a gust of wind pushing Voldemort back. The Dark wizard scowled at Harry and prepared to attack him when suddenly he dodged to the side. Hermione had landed behind him and was launching a flame whip at his head.

And then Ginny Weasley was there firing off cutting curses at Voldemort. And Blaise, and Ron and Justin were all casting at him from a distance. And in that moment, Voldemort finally realized he was outclassed. All around his men were surrendering or being cut down.

And finally, Voldemort knew this battle was over. "All forces retreat!" he yelled. And then he apparated away. A few of the Death Eaters also apparated away. Most of the mercenaries and criminals immediately surrendered.

And just like that, the Battle for Hogwarts was over. Harry and his allies had won.

**Author's Note**: Sorry about the delay, my beta reader has been busy and I have been laid off, so I have had other priorities than fanfiction. First I want to thank everyone who sent messages of support for what I posted with the last chapter. It means a lot, and I am going to try to find a way to publish fanfiction again eventually. But when I do I will need to do it in a way that allows me to do so without materially supporting someone who is doing harm to people I care about.

There isn't a lot to unpack in this chapter, it was pretty straightforward, and the writing of it was pretty straightforward. Bryant gets his redemption scene I guess, though it isn't enough to make up for his earlier shittiness. There's a lot more to discuss with the last two chapters.

Next Time: Harry, Hermione and Ginny help Daphne and the Ministry try to prevent Voldemort's escape. And Pixie has already finished sending me notes on this chapter, so it should just be a few days.


	58. Malfoy Manor

**Chapter 58: Malfoy Manor**

**June 14th, 1998**

Draco Malfoy stumbled as he apparated into the entry hall of Malfoy Manor. Once the massive wave had hit the main body of the Dark Lord's forces, Draco had tried to find a place to hide. Failing to do that and hearing calls from Greengrass to concentrate on the Dark Lord, Draco had decided to apparate away.

So he was quite surprised when he turned around to see the Dark Lord standing there. Had he _followed_ Draco? No, that was impossible, wasn't it?

And then the Dark Lord saw him. "You followed my lead with impressive speed," said the Dark Lord.

"I only wish to serve you, my Lord," said Draco. Other people were showing up now. Apparently the Dark Lord had sounded the retreat. Draco exhaled as he realized that his cowardice had not been exposed.

"If only your mother had your devotion," said the Dark Lord, "Instead, she betrayed me."

Draco winced. If his mother had betrayed the Dark Lord…

"Luckily for you, I believe that you are loyal," said the Dark Lord, "but when the day comes, you will have to prove your loyalty. You will have to kill Narcissa Malfoy."

Somehow Draco didn't think that day was going to be coming any time soon.

XXXXX

Harry was making his way back towards the school when he and Ginny ran into Blaise. Madame Pomfrey had set up a field hospital closer to the school and he was headed towards it. Hermione had stayed behind to organize moving the injured up to the field hospital. But Harry and Ginny were heading back to see how they could help.

"Ginny, Harry, I'm glad I ran into you," said Blaise, "I need to say goodbye to you."

"Where are you going?" asked Ginny, but Harry knew he wouldn't answer. He knew what Blaise was going to do. It was obvious.

So he walked over to Blaise and hugged him. "Good luck, mate," Harry said simply.

Ginny also gave Blaise a hug after Harry was finished. "So you're just going to fuck off then?" she asked.

"Something like that," said Blaise.

"Goodbye," said Harry.

"Goodbye," said Blaise. And he headed back towards the school. Harry thought he wouldn't see him again for a long time.

After a moment, Ginny spoke up. "Should we stop him?" she asked.

"I'm not going to," said Harry.

They continued on in silence.

Within moments they had reached the field hospital. And Harry realized that Madam Pomfrey needed immediate help. Injured people were everywhere, and Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were dealing with it alone.

"Can I help?" Harry asked, throwing off his robes and rolling up the sleeves of the shirt he had on underneath it.

"Yes," said Madam Pomfrey, "I need you doing triage on everyone. Then you can treat the less dangerous injuries so long as you get an assessment of everyone new who comes in. Badly injured people over here, less serious injuries over there. Hopeless cases… just make them comfortable. If someone needs emergency first aid, you should apply it of course."

"Understood," said Harry as he began to use his wand to scan various injuries. Most of the injuries were minor, but he sent two aurors, one of Harry's mercenaries, and one of Clarise's criminals over to Madam Pomfrey.

After that he began administering treatment for various broken bones and concussions. He realised that Ginny was gone at that point. Well, she could probably help better at other places.

The first patient he knew was Parvati. She was brought in by Lavender and Padma, who were careful not to touch her right arm. And Harry's examination immediately showed that she had been hit by a nasty bone breaking curse in that arm. Luckily it appeared to have been partially shielded against, so the bone hadn't completely shattered. Still she was badly bleeding internally. That was a problem that Harry could fix. With two spells he stopped the bleeding, but the damage to her bones was a bit complicated for him to fix.

"Madam Pomfrey will have to take a look at you," said Harry, "But you won't lose the arm. You'll probably have to have bones regrown though."

Parvati made a face about that. "Isn't that supposed to hurt?" she asked.

"It hurts like hell," said Harry, "but only for about twelve hours. After that it's bearable."

"That's right, you had your bones regrown," said Lavender.

"Harry!" said Ginny urgently. She had just arrived with Justin in tow and they were levitating someone. Harry realized that it was Narcissa Malfoy.

He quickly scanned her. Multiple contusions, consistent with an explosion sending shrapnel. Most were minor, but she had a significant head injury. A minor concussion. Harry cast a couple of spells on her.

"She'll be fine," said Harry, "She just got knocked out."

"Killing curse hit a big rock right next to her," said Justin.

"Then she's lucky," said Harry.

Suddenly Susan and Hannah ran in carrying a very bloody Ernie. The blood was mostly coming from his midsection. Not good.

Justin ran over alongside Harry.

"Ernie, please tell me you're all right!" said Justin.

Harry scanned Ernie. And he inhaled sharply. Massive damage to internal organs including the liver, stomach, intestines, and lower lungs. "I will be right back," said Harry.

He ran over to Madam Pomfrey. She was working on one of the Aurors. He was clearly badly injured and required immediate care. "When are more healers getting here? They should be here by now!"

"Some Umbridge loyalist was messing with the Floo Network back at the Ministry," said McGonagall, who was returning with Molly, carrying satchels full of potions, "They'll be here in fifteen minutes."

"That's too late!" snapped Harry angrily. He took a moment to calm himself.

"Sorry," said Harry, "I'm going to need a strong pain potion."

McGonagall and Molly both gave Harry a sad look. "Here you go Harry," said Molly, handing him the potion, "No need to be sorry. It's a tough situation."

Harry nodded his thanks and then ran back to the Hufflepuffs. Well, former Hufflepuffs he supposed. He handed the potion to Ernie.

"Drink this," said Harry.

"Will it fix that?" asked Susan dubiously.

"It will make him more comfortable," said Harry, wishing anyone but him had to do this.

"What does that mean!" snapped Hannah.

"It means I'm going to die," said Ernie right before he quaffed the potion, "That was fairly obvious."

"There's nothing you can do?" asked Justin.

"If he was at St. Mungo's, I'd say he had a fifty-fifty shot. If we had another healer here now, I'd say it was a ten percent chance. But…" Harry trailed off.

"We could take him there!" said Hannah.

"That would kill him," said Susan simply. Harry nodded curtly in agreement.

"That does feel better," said Ernie, "Thank you Harry."

Harry patted Ernie on the shoulder, then stood up. Fred and Angelina had just rushed in with George, who had one side of his head bleeding profusely. No time to waste, Harry jumped back to work.

XXXXX

Daphne walked down to the scene of the battle. Amelia hadn't let her come down here before now, she hadn't even been allowed to take part in the battle. Still, surely it was safe now.

Hermione walked over. The girl's hair was more messed up than usual. And she had a tired look on her eye.

"How bad was it?" asked Daphne

"Six or seven dead on our side down here " replied Hermione, "about twice that injured. At least fifteen dead up at the school, but less injured. Voldemort was responsible for most of that. On the other side we have twenty five dead Death Eaters and associates, plus about 44 prisoners. Most of them injured to some extent. From interrogating some of the prisoners I've managed to guess Voldemort had about 100 to 120 people. A lot of the people who fled probably jumped ship though. He has 20 people left I'd guess, 30 tops."

"Well, it could be a lot worse," admitted Daphne.

Hermione nodded in assent. "That security issue taken care of back at the Ministry?"

"Yes," said Amelia, "a lone Death Eater managed to sabotage the Floo Network. She was apparently the same woman who helped us set up the taboo."

"I should have remembered her," said Percy.

Daphne sighed. It would have been nice if he had done so, but they'd been so busy she could hardly blame him. So she just said, "Well, we'll have to do better next time. Hopefully this didn't delay the arrival of the Healers too much."

Percy nodded.

Suddenly, Daphne saw Tracey. She was sitting on a log near the edge of the forest with Ron. Daphne walked over to them.

Her entourage followed of course. That would take getting used to.

"Hey Tracey," said Daphne as she walked over and leaned down to hug her friend, "You okay?"

Tracey leaned into the hug. "I'm fine," said Tracey as the hug broke off, "Would you believe I sprained my ankle running down the hill?"

"Yes," said Daphne with a laugh.

Hermione leaned in and quickly scanned Tracey's ankle. "I can take care of that if you want," she offered.

Tracey nodded. Hermione cast a quick spell on her ankle. Tracey smiled as the spell took hold then slowly stood up.

"Much better," said Tracey.

"I know you've been through a lot Tracey," started Daphne, "I wish I had the time to help you…"

"Of course you don't right now," said Tracey, "we can catch up once Harry kills Voldemort."

Daphne gripped Tracey's shoulder for a moment then let go. It was good that they were friends again. She'd need that eventually. No time to dwell on it though. Next thing.

"Perhaps we should return to the Ministry?" Amelia suggested.

"After I visit the hospital," said Daphne in a tone that said she wasn't going to be dissuaded.

Amelia made a disapproving sound. She probably thought the field hospital was too dangerous, with all the injured Death Eaters and all. Well that was just too bad.

Daphne made her way to the field hospital. Hermione was still with them. Things were probably winding down here.

The field hospital was quiet chaos when Daphne arrived. Healers were everywhere. But Harry was sitting off to the side watching the chaos.

"Everything all right Harry?" asked Hermione. Now that she mentioned it, Daphne did think Harry looked a bit tired.

"Ernie's dead," said Harry, "So are a bunch of other people."

Daphne's heart fell. Ernie had been annoying at times, but he'd ultimately been a good friend.

"I'm sorry," said Daphne.

Suddenly Kingsley was marching into the field station.

"Clarise Zabini is gone!" shouted the Head Auror.

Harry grunted. This caused Amelia to fixate on him.

"Do you know something, Potter?" she asked.

"Blaise probably took her away," said Harry.

"Why didn't you warn us?" asked Kingsley.

"Doesn't matter," said Daphne, "If Blaise took her, rest assured, she's out of our hair, probably forever. All this means is that she is officially no longer our problem."

Kingsley looked upset at this, but Amelia seemed to understand. It would actually be better this way.

"Potter!" said a woman's voice suddenly, "I need to see Potter!"

"Is that Narcissa?" asked Daphne, recognizing the voice. Sure enough Harry and Daphne found Narcissa struggling to prevent being moved.

"Let us speak with her," said Daphne to the Healers who were taking her away. Hermione walked up behind them. Ginny, who had been fussing over her brother's injury, also came over.

"Nott and Parkinson have escape routes set up for Voldemort," said Narcissa, "I don't know what they are, but they will allow him to escape Britain. He is dangerous. Without his horcruxes, he is downright unstable."

Daphne looked at Ginny, and the start of a plan entered her head. "I can get Parkinson to talk. Ginny, will you talk to Nott Sr.?"

Ginny looked surprised, but nodded.

Daphne sighed. "Time to return to the Ministry then."

"There is something I need to ask of you, Potter…," said Narcissa as Ginny and Daphne began to walk away.

Daphne felt Amelia breathing a sigh of relief. She was going to have to do something about that. But later. Now it was time to consult with Parkinson.

XXXXX

Ginny felt a shiver go down her spine as she entered the DMLE cells. Just this morning she had been a prisoner here. Now, she was on the other side of the equation. It felt odd. Though she much preferred her role now.

Kingsley led her into the cell containing Theodore Nott Sr. He had been dressed in prison robes. Ginny knew first hand how uncomfortable they were. She didn't envy him.

Nott's eyes flashed as Ginny entered the room.

"Come to gloat?" he asked, his voice full of acid hate.

"Of course not," said Ginny, "I came because your son died trying to protect me."

Nott seemed to visibly reel at that statement, but quickly recovered. He seemed less hostile now though.

"Do you think this scores you some points with me?" asked Nott.

"No," said Ginny, "I know it doesn't. Your son had a crush on me since fourth year. He was trying to get over it, he really was. But he was also honestly attracted to me. He once told me that on the day he and the rest of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad were caught, he actually felt relieved that I had led him into a trap. He was glad I hadn't betrayed my friends. Mentally, I think that was the point when he betrayed you."

"What!?" demanded Nott, his face contorted in anger.

Ginny ignored him. "To do it he turned me into a perfect goddess on his mind," she continued, "It was weird and creepy, especially since I was still feeling very bad about killing Lucius and the other Death Eaters at the Ministry. But now I look back and realize that Nott needed to believe in someone else's perfection to break free of you. He needed a reason. But once he was committed to us, he slowly began to realize he had been wrong, that I was just another person."

"You're lying," said Nott, but he looked more scared than angry now.

"Towards the end we were friends again," Ginny continued again, "He still had a crush on me, he couldn't help that, but he made sure not to let it show. And I'll admit, I was touched by how badly he took Pansy's death, and by how he tried to free Narcissa on the day Riddle attacked the Ministry."

Nott's eyes went wide as he realized this was real.

"Narcissa didn't let it happen of course, she knew what would happen to him if he got caught," said Ginny, to the elder Nott's apparent relief, "But she did tell him all the plans from the Death Eater inner circle. Which he told us. Thanks to your son, we freed the Ministry and destroyed the forces of Tom Riddle in a single day."

"Why are you telling me this?" demanded Nott, "Do you just want me to think less of my son?"

"Your son was a hero who died trying to protect me from what he thought was a reckless mistake," said Ginny, "If I had been honest with him… if I had told him that I had Lord Voldemort's memories, he would have understood that I was in no danger. Secrets can kill. But let's be honest. We both know why I could trust a pureblood like Daphne, but not him."

"You didn't trust him because I was a Death Eater," said Nott.

"You weren't a Death Eater last time, were you?" asked Ginny.

Nott shook his head. "My father was, but it was felt that he was too old to effectively serve Voldemort now. So I took his place."

"Did he give you a choice? Or did he just expect you to do it?" asked Ginny.

Nott hesitated. "I see what you are trying to do," he said quietly.

"And?" asked Ginny.

Nott stayed silent for even longer. Finally he shook his head. "No, I was never given a choice," he said.

"There was never a muggleborn in Slytherin when you went to school, was there?" asked Ginny.

Nott shook his head.

"Well, Hermione was the best student in our year," said Ginny, "she's living proof that Pureblood Supremacism is wrong. Confronted with the proof that his father was supporting such a destructive ideology, and the fact that doing so would hurt people he cared about, I think the fact that he turned on Voldemort was very brave. And that will be the legacy of the Nott family, if you let it be."

"It was brave, wasn't it?" said Nott, his voice wistful.

Finally he sighed. "Fine, I know when I'm beaten. What do you want to know?"

And Ginny smiled. "I want to know about Voldemort's escape route," she said as she sat down on the bunk across from Nott's.

XXXXX

Draco watched as the man he had been ordered to contact was dragged away by aurors. That was a problem. He had tried to get the Dark Lord to move quickly. Hell, if the Dark Lord had been here now things might still have worked out. But he wasn't, and in moments their contact would be in the heart of the DMLE.

Meanwhile, the other contact had gone over to the other side. Parkinson's man had outright refused to help and had sicced aurors on Draco. Not a good night. Not for the first time, Draco considered just leaving. But where would he go? Daphne wasn't just going to forgive him for killing Pansy and the role he'd played in the torture and death of Potter's uncle, not to mention his role in the attacks on Diagon Alley and the Ministry.

So Draco had to return to the Dark Lord. And as he apparated into the mansion that he had once considered home, he realized that it no longer was his home. It had become a place he hated.

Marching to the Dark Lord's bedroom he knocked. The Dark Lord spent most of his time in there now. He didn't want to be around people.

"Enter," said the Dark Lord.

Draco entered. The Dark Lord was sitting on his bed, but he stood as soon as Draco entered. Just another sign of the Dark Lord losing control.

"I'm sorry, my Lord," said Draco, "Parkinson and Nott must have betrayed us. Both avenues of escape were blocked."

The Dark Lord began to pace angrily. "We cannot stay here," he said finally.

"If I may make a suggestion," said Draco, with strong reservations, "maybe we could use muggle transportation? There is a lot of Muggle transportation out of the country. Air vehicles, boats, even a tunnel beneath the channel. Though how they dug such a thing with only shovels and picks is beyond me.

The Dark Lord gave Draco a strange look, as if he was somehow stupid. "Of course they didn't use shovels! They used…" suddenly the Dark Lord cut out.

"I don't know why I'm even discussing this. I will not flee this country like a common rat," insisted the Dark Lord, "I am the rightful ruler of this nation!"

Draco had to admit this wasn't going well. He was now strongly regretting not leaving when he had the chance.

XXXXX

**June 15th, 1998**

Harry walked into the conference room in the Ministry of Magic. He had to admit that he had never been to this part of the Ministry before. Technically this room was called the War Room, but it had seldom seen use under Fudge. He'd preferred using memos to department heads over face to face meetings, or at least face to face meetings with all of his department heads at once. He hadn't wanted them ganging up on him.

Of course the only department head here today, the day after the battle, was Amelia. Kingsley was also present as head of the Aurors. Dumbledore was here in his capacity as Chief Warlock, but of the separate Wizard's Council and Wizard's Court, not the combined Wizengamot. Augusta Longbottom had been appointed the head of the Wizard's Council search committee. And Harry, Hermione and Ginny were there, mostly as advisors on Voldemort.

That was temporary of course. Daphne had offered all three of the Triumvirs a spot on the Council, but they had all turned it down. Still they had agreed to sit in on any meetings involving the war. The truth was that with Daphne in charge of the Ministry, Harry had disbanded the Army of the Triumvirate. Any one who still wanted to help had been signed on as a DMLE adjunct officer. So the Ministry was now calling all the shots in the war.

Finally Daphne entered the room, with Percy trailing behind her. She looked exhausted, but in an exasperated way. She sat down at the head of the table.

"Would you believe that my worst meeting today was with the Diagon Alley Merchant's Association?" asked Daphne with mild disbelief in her voice.

"Yes," said Amelia, Augusta and Dumbeldore at the same time.

"They're famously troublesome," said Kingsley.

"They wanted to set off a full fireworks display to celebrate the victory at Hogwarts DIRECTLY OVER Diagon Alley," said Daphne as she shook her head, "They just told me "Obliviate all the muggles. How many can there be after all?" And I told them that there were seven million people in the Greater London area. Which they refused to believe for _fifteen minutes_. We really need to make some form of muggle studies compulsory at Hogwarts."

"I agree," said Dumbledore, "I tried to do so for years. It would be easy to swap out first and second year astronomy for muggle studies."

"Oh, that is something that needs to happen," said Harry, "Unless you are doing Divination or advanced Arithmancy, Astronomy is worthless."

"Well, Lunar sequences are important," said Hermione, "but that could easily be covered separately."

"Or in a class on _muggle _astronomy," said Harry, "which is more advanced than wizarding Astronomy."

"Well, this is a bit off topic," said Amelia.

"Quite right," said Daphne, "First thing's first. Augusta, any progress on forming a Wizard's Council and Wizard Court?"

"I will be sending out notices to all magical households to reply with information for jury selection," said August, quite proudly, "I have also put together a list of 40 names for the Wizard's Council."

"Well, we'll have to narrow that down a bit," said Daphne thoughtfully. She suddenly shook her head. This wasn't the time for that.

"So, Voldemort is now contained. When do we move against him?" asked Daphne

"I am not sure there is a hurry," said Amelia.

"There is," said Kingsley, "He is a threat as long as he is alive."

"I agree with Kingsley, at least that there is a hurry," said Harry.

"Riddle's soul is probably more damaged than any other soul in human history," explained Ginny.

"Which means that his behavior is going to slowly grow more and more erratic until he loses control of his powers and kills himself by accident," expanded Hermione.

"According to Narcissa, he was already dangerously unstable when we reduced him to a single horcrux," finished Harry, "He's about to lose all control."

"But then he will probably kill many other people," said Dumbledore.

"Unless he heals his soul," said Harry.

"Is that possible?" asked Daphne.

Hermione nodded. "It is, and the process would render Riddle far less dangerous. But it probably won't happen. It would require Voldemort to show remorse for his actions."

Daphne seemed to continue that line of thought. "So it is advantageous to deal with him immediately."

"It is _necessary_ to deal with him immediately," said Harry, "As he grows more and more unstable he is more likely to do something huge and dangerous, like a public attack on muggles."

Daphne nodded wearily. That was probably her worst nightmare right now. A massive violation of the Statute of Secrecy would bring on the ire of the ICW.

"So tactics," said Daphne, more as a conversation starter than anything else, "How do we deal with Malfoy Manor?"

"It's easily surrounded," said Kingsley, "And if we put people on the hill behind it we can cast spells down on top of the manor. We'll have to walk them up the hill though. It's inside the wards."

"You sound like you know the geography of the area well," observed Daphne.

"The DMLE has had a plan for taking Malfoy Manor by storm ready since mid 1996," said Amelia sourly, "Fudge just never let us use it. He was worried about mass casualties. Well there may be mass casualties now, but it won't be on our side."

"There is a secret exit," said Harry, "Narcissa told me about it yesterday. Riddle knows about it."

"What did she want from you anyway?" asked Daphne.

"She wanted to make sure we brought in Draco alive," said Harry immediately.

Daphne nodded. She knew Harry would try. He had to. Harry knew that she wouldn't put her own people at risk though.

"Can we trust Narcissa on this?" asked Kingsley.

"Dobby confirmed that the passage existed," said Harry, "He didn't know where it comes out though. Narcissa does. Riddle will flee through that passage. There is a perfect place, an old jail, where we can ambush him."

"So we send in our people, surround the estate, start bombarding the Manor, then the Triumvirate intercepts Riddle as he tries to flee," said Amelia.

"Sounds like a plan," said Daphne.

"We'll execute it tomorrow at seven in the morning," said Amelia.

Harry nodded his approval. It would be early enough that the Death Eaters would still be tired. But not so early that preparations would have to start so early to interfere with the sleep of the Ministry forces, provided they got to bed early.

"Then it's settled," said Daphne, "Tomorrow we will take down Lord Voldemort."

Harry stood along with everyone else. He was about to go over and speak with Amelia about when he should arrive tomorrow when Dumbledore laid a hand on his shoulder.

"May I have a word?" Dumbeldore asked.

Harry nodded. He followed Dumbeldore to the opposite side of the room.

"You intend to try to spare Draco I assume," said Dumbledore simply.

"Of course," said Harry.

"And Tom?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry paused for a long time.

"I have to try," he said finally. His voice was weary, as if he knew what was going to happen was a foregone conclusion.

Dumbledore nodded warmly. "Well I am grateful that you will. It is probably hopeless. But even if it is, it is worth it to try."

Harry nodded. "We have to be the change we want to see in the world," he said, before he returned to Hermione, who was talking to Amelia. Time to get home and rest. Tomorrow would be a difficult day.

XXXXX

**June 16th, 1998**

Draco woke with a start when the explosions began going off. There was no warning, no preface, just explosions as the Ministry forces began bombarding Malfoy Manor. And he immediately knew that it was all over. And he knew the only chance that he had to escape death was not going to be found here.

He leapt out of bed and threw on a robe over his pajamas. He ran towards the stairs, but was stopped when Amycus Carrow jumped out of his room right in front of Draco. Draco stopped, and it saved his life. An explosion shredded the wall into Amycus' room sending debris flying into the man. He was thrown across the hall and his head slammed into the far wall. Draco heard a snap as Amycus' neck suddenly twisted at an unnatural angle.

"No!" screamed Alecto Carrow, running out of her room.

"No time!" shouted Draco as he sprinted down the hall. The upper floors were death traps! He had to get to ground level. He leapt over the bannister of the main staircase and cast a cushioning charm as he fell. The landing was rough, but he was unhurt.

Alecto had followed him down. She was terrified. She should be. Draco had to assume from the way the upper stories had been hit first that the attacks were coming from the hilltop. There was no possible way to defend Malfoy Manor if enemies had taken the high ground. That was why Parliamentarian forces had destroyed the original castle during the English Civil War. The Malfoys had not rebuilt at the bottom of the hill by choice.

Two men who had been patrolling rushed in the front door and closed it behind them. But it wasn't enough. The Front door exploded and the men were sent flying.

"To the kitchen!" said Draco as the Dark Lord emerged from the first floor study.

Draco led the way into the kitchen and finally all the way down to the wine cellar. Draco opened the secret passage with one hand as the Dark Lord caught up.

"We'll close the door behind you, my Lord!" said Draco to Voldemort.

The Dark Lord nodded and entered the passage. And Draco sealed it. He'd never intended to go out that way. Potter would certainly be there, given that both Dobby and Draco's mother had defected to him. Voldemort was toast, and Draco was getting out of here.

"Let's not stand right next to the secret passage our Lord went through," said Draco.

Alecto nodded, and both of them headed up towards the kitchen. Once there Draco indicated towards the front of the building.

"You defend from that direction, I'll guard the back door," said Draco.

It had to seem to Alecto that Draco was taking the more dangerous job, so she nodded gratefully. Draco didn't care. As soon as she headed off, he headed to the back door. He threw open the broom closet next to the door and pulled out his Nimbus 2001.

The Nimbus 2001 had been a huge disappointment to Draco, but it had one advantage: acceleration. It accelerated fast. And as Draco flew the broom out of the back door, he needed every bit of that acceleration.

This was something he was used to though. Forbidden from flying too high, Draco had managed to get around that prohibition by flying up through the line of trees on the side of the hill where his parents couldn't see him. And that was what he did now. Curses flew towards him as he cleared the house, but once underneath the trees no one could get a shot on him. He rocketed out of the trees on top of the hill outside of the local wards.

And then Draco apparated away, leaving his former home behind in ruins.

XXXXX

Harry stood still in the old jail beneath Malfoy Manor. The explosions had started mere minutes ago. This was it. He readied his wand. He heard sound from down the passage in front of him. Harry had cast an illusion on the passage out, a skill Luna had taught him. Given time, Riddle would see through it. But not before he came in here.

Riddle entered the jail. He stopped as he saw Harry standing in front of him, alone.

"Hello, Tom," said Harry.

Riddle narrowed his eyes at the use of his muggle name. "I should have expected this," he said.

Harry nodded. It was, after all, an obvious move.

"I don't suppose you'd care to surrender to me?" asked Harry.

"It wouldn't be my first choice, no," said Riddle dryly.

"You can't hurt me," said Harry, "our wands share cores."

"This time I will be ready," said Riddle.

"_Protego!" _shouted Riddle as Harry roared "_Expelliarmus!"_

The Disarming spell did disarm Riddle, but Riddle was shielded. The shield didn't quite work against Harry because of the shared cores, but it did a little good. Because Riddle hadn't cast a spell directly at Harry, Riddle's wand hadn't actually refused to work. The result of that complex interaction of magic was that Riddle's wand fell out of his hand, but didn't quite fly into Harry's hand. It clattered to the floor between them.

_Clever,_ thought Harry, _He shielded himself by casting Protego. He was prepared for the fact that he wouldn't be able to cast properly against me._

It didn't matter though, because at that moment Hermione and Ginny popped into existence right beside Riddle and stunned him. The shield was quite powerful and took the edge off of their spells, but there were two of them. Riddle was driven to his knees. The girls stepped back, willing to let Harry finish things.

Riddle began to laugh. "You really were my match Potter," he said finally, "Well finish it. Kill me."

"Don't you want to fix your soul?" asked Harry.

"What?" demanded Riddle, his voice suddenly wary.

"Your soul was damaged from all the destruction you wrought, including the process of creating your horcruxes," said Harry, "But it can be repaired."

"I don't understand," said the now puzzled Riddle.

"All you have to do is feel remorse, real remorse, for what you've done. For the lives taken, for the people tortured, for the souls ruined," said Harry.

"Dumbledore put you up to this," said Riddle.

"He didn't," said Harry, "This is my idea. You have this one last chance. Make the right choice Tom. You will save yourself, and begin to atone for what you have done."

"And you would let me live?" laughed an unbelieving Riddle, "What sort of soldier lets his enemy live?"

"I am not now, nor have I ever been, a soldier," said Harry quietly, "I have turned my wand to dark and bloody deeds, but that was neither a mistake nor a moment that defines me. What defines me is what I am going to become. I am becoming a healer and a counselor, a shield against foes and a balm against evil. It just took me until now to understand it. I tried to make myself something I wasn't, and I paid the price."

"I thought I needed to become a general, that I needed to be a leader," continued Harry, "But the truth was, I was bad at it. Because I was a child. I wasn't ready for that weight. This struggle continued on because of my bad decisions."

"So one way or another, you won't harm another person ever again," said Harry, "This is ending today. I used to think I didn't have a choice. That prophecy bound me to you. But the only thing that bound us is your decision to kill me. So the only question is, do you actually feel any remorse? Any at all?"

"Remorse? For what?" laughed Riddle, "You know, I've killed a lot of wizards like you, who thought they could save me."

"You have," admitted Harry, "But that's the thing..."

Riddle shook his head. Then he lunged for his wand. But there was no chance. Harry's wand was trained right at him. Whatever arrogance had driven Riddle was badly misguided.

So Harry cast a single spell. This spell was not a curse, or designed to hurt people at all. It was the blood slowing spell, which worked by slowing the heart rate. Harry had cast it so that it would reduce Riddle's heart rate to 0. The spell hit Tom Riddle in the chest and his heart stopped. Riddle fell over, dead.

"...I never actually thought you could be saved."

Harry sighed with relief as he lowered his wand. It was over. It was finally over.

The sound of explosions had stopped above. Which meant that the aurors were now inside the Manor, or what was left of it.

"You all right?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah," said Harry quietly

Harry walked over to his friend and his girlfriend. Ginny gave Harry a quick hug. He could see in her eyes the relief that Riddle was finally dead. Then Hermione hugged him, for much longer. It felt good, and Hermione was also relieved, but that relief was less intense. Well, Hermione hadn't been possessed by Voldemort before, had she?

"Why was it so important you give him that chance?" asked Ginny, "You knew he couldn't be saved."

"He killed my parents," answered Harry, "I wanted him dead. But I couldn't allow myself to kill him for revenge."

"Harry, you don't have to apologize for wanting him dead," insisted Ginny.

"You're right," agreed Harry, "I don't. Because I didn't let him break me. I finished it on my terms, not his."

Harry led the girls out of the secret passage, out of the Malfoy's wine cellar. There were no signs of fighting. When Harry left the front door of Malfoy Manor he saw around ten Death Eaters tied up, including Alecto Carrow. He didn't see Draco.

"Draco?" he asked Kinsgsley, who was writing in a book as he looked at the prisoners, probably cataloging them.

"Escaped," said Kingsley, "Flew out on a broom."

Harry nodded as Amelia and Daphne suddenly appeared at the edge of the property.

"Harry?" asked Daphne.

"He's dead," said Harry, "Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, is dead."

A cheer went up from the various people who were present (aside from the Death Eaters, who were silent).

And that was when the celebrations began.

But Harry still had work to do. He still had to hunt down Draco and Snape.

**Author's Note:** This is the second to last chapter! After the last chapter there will be a sort of Appendix that I will add on to the end in lieu of an actual epilogue. It is not essential to the story but it will be a 'where are they now' for most of the characters. I know some people prefer closure for their characters, but the end of this story was always, by design, going to involve a lot of loose ends. So for those of you who want to know what happens after the story ends I have written a short piece to explain it as best as I could. I will also do a postmortem on the fic as a whole, so if you are interested to hear what I think about my own writing, well you'll be able to.

I rewrite stuff all the time in this story, but the final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort was rewritten completely, and a lot. Harry, like in canon, starts monologuing, but it is toned down. A lot. The truth is, I got carried away initially. Still, the conversation he had with Voldemort is important. It finally allows Harry to be honest and show that he was never really comfortable being the leader of the Triumvirate.

Next Time: The final chapter. Harry and Ginny finally get some answers.


	59. The End of the Path

**Chapter 59: The End of the Path**

**June 17th, 1998**

Blaise Zabini closed the door behind him as he entered the room where his mother was being held captive. She was awake now, and had made herself a cup of tea on the small stove. The flat he had given her was small, but not for one person, and it had amenities, Despite the fact that it seemed like an ordinary flat, it was a prison. Clarise Zabini could not escape it, no matter how hard she tried.

"I haven't seen you for a while," she said as he entered the room.

"I've been getting established here myself," said Blaise, "Seamus and I have our own place."

Clarise shook her head. She still didn't like it. Well, tough for her.

"Where are we?" asked Clarise.

"Canada," said Blaise.

"Risky," said Clarise, "What if they catch me?"

"Then the Canadian Ministry will ship you back to Britain," said Blaise, "I never promised you that I would protect you from the government. I just need to figure out if you and I ever had a chance to be a mother and son."

Blaise paused. "Your constant disapproval of Seamus doesn't help your case," he said accusingly.

"Probably not," said Clarise sadly.

"Listen, I never gave you a chance when you took custody of me," admitted Blaise, "Maybe if I had you'd have understood me better, would have made different decisions. Or maybe you would have become a Death Eater anyway. I don't know. And until I do, you will stay here."

"What if I fail your test?" asked Clarise.

"Then I will give you to the Irish Underworld," said Blaise, without missing a beat.

"Oh," he said suddenly, changing the subject, "Voldemort is dead. Harry killed him yesterday "

"Oh," said Clarise. It didn't sound sad. It was just… resigned.

"Now," said Blaise, "Let's talk about me and Seamus…"

XXXXX

Daphne straightened her jacket. She was dressed in a muggle women's suit, which she had to admit had a very odd fit. But she had to look professional. She was visiting the Prime Minister.

Stepping into his office was a bit of a thrill. Daphne knew he should be alone, but should was not an area Daphne liked to test when it came to the Statute of Secrecy.

The new muggle PM (Daphne thought his name was Tony Blair) was waiting for her.

"You aren't that Umbridge woman," said Blair, his voice suspicious.

"Well, considering that she will soon be going on trial for helping to murder her predecessor, we thought she should be replaced," said Daphne lightly, "My name is Daphne Greengrass, and I am the acting Minister for Magic."

She extended her hand, and it was taken cautiously.

"Pardon me if I'm wrong, but you don't look like you are much older than 18 years old," said Blair.

"I am 18," said Daphne, "I won't mince words. Cornelius Fudge, the Minister who was elected in 1995, was assassinated late last year by a group of terrorists called the Death Eaters. The Death Eaters also assassinated most of their political enemies on the Wizengamot. Umbridge was working for the Death Eaters, and what was left of the Wizengamot allowed her to be interim Minister by virtue of a parliamentary trick that meant she couldn't be removed until the Wizengamot came back into session."

"And she didn't call it into session," finished Blair.

"Exactly," said Daphne, "I am, well I was, part of a group that was assisting the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in fighting the Death Eaters. We provided them with intelligence that showed Umbridge's allegiances clearly. The DMLE stopped cooperating with her, so she tried to form her own security force. Three days ago Umbridge called the Wizengamot into session. We stormed the session, exposed Umbridge, and then… convinced the Wizengamot to disband."

"So it was a coup," said Blair.

"A counter-coup," said Daphne.

"And your goals?" asked Blair.

"Democratic Wizengamot elections, more rights for magical creatures, equal treatment of witches and wizards from non-magical backgrounds," explained Daphne.

"And hunting down the terrorists?" reminded Blair.

"Already done," said Daphne, "They tried to come out into the open the same day we took over the Ministry. We knew this was going to happen, and we defeated their attempt that day. Most of the rest were killed or apprehended yesterday."

Blair seemed to relax a little.

"There are still two fugitives you should be wary of though," said Daphne handing over two file folders, "The first is Severus Snape. He is wanted for the murders of Theodore Nott and Fleur Delacour, as well as for various other charges. The other is Draco Malfoy, who is my age. He is wanted for the murder of Pansy Parkinson as well as Vernon Dursley, and other charges. Dursley wasn't a wizard, he was the non-magical uncle of a wizard."

Daphne was actually proud of how she had gotten through that, but her voice had cracked near the end.

"Are you all right?" asked Blair.

"Yes," said Daphne, "I knew all of the murdered people quite well, except for Dursley. His nephew is one of my closest friends though."

Blair nodded.

"Let me give you some details on how I intend to proceed," said Daphne, putting her grief out of her head. She was the Minister for Magic, and it was time to put Magical Britain back on the right course.

XXXXX

Ginny had decided that she needed a few days of quiet before she returned to the Burrow. Molly had agreed, reluctantly, that Ginny should stay at the Potter residence for the time being. Harry understood. Even though Ginny tried to put on a brave face, she was rather drained after her captivity. Staying with Harry and Hermione gave Ginny a chance to relax, without having to deal with Molly mothering her. There was still a slight chill in their relationship from the whole marriage contract thing.

This also meant it was easier for Harry and Ginny to coordinate the search for Snape and Malfoy. This was even more important because Hermione was going to leave today to retrieve her parents.

When Harry had awoken, he had found Hermione gone. So he got up and made his way down to the kitchen. There he found Dobby making breakfast, and both Ginny and Hermione chatting as they helped him.

Harry gave Hermione a quick kiss, then gave Ginny a hug. "Good morning," he said.

"Morning!" replied everyone else.

"Luna will be here any moment," said Hermione, "Then we'll be off to Heathrow."

Luna had volunteered to keep Hermione company on this trip. Harry had a hard time believing that her father was okay with her leaving the country again, but apparently he was. Well she was seventeen now, wasn't she? She could probably do as she wished.

When Luna arrived she immediately hugged Ginny. Harry realized that the two of them had barely seen each other since Ginny had been kidnapped by Snape. Well, it would be good for them to catch up, but that would have to wait.

Harry unconsciously put his arm around Hermione. "It's strange. Even though I know you'll be safe with the war over, I still feel nervous about you leaving," he admitted.

"Peace will take getting used to again," said Hermione.

"Harry," said Luna as she let go of Ginny, "take care of my roommate, do you hear? I don't want to hear that Snape dragged her away again."

"Don't worry," said Harry as he hugged Luna.

The truth was that Luna was going with Hermione for one reason. There was a slight possibility that in their isolation Hermione's parents would have turned on their daughter. Not of their own accord, but because of some lingering traces of the magic used on them. Luna was going so that Hermione would not be alone if that happened.

Hermione had already packed, so within moments she and Luna were ready to go. Harry kissed Hermione goodbye. And then they were gone.

Ginny sat down in the dining room. "Mind if I invite Justin over one of these nights?" asked Ginny.

"Of course not," said Harry, "he's always welcome. When are you going to go back to the Burrow?"

"I don't know," admitted Ginny, "I still feel a little betrayed by Mum. I know she didn't put us into that contract on purpose… but I am still upset about it. I don't feel safe at the Burrow"

"You have that right I guess," said Harry, "I hope you can find a way to forgive her though. It isn't really her fault."

"So where do we start looking for Snape?" asked Ginny.

"I have no idea," said Harry. He'd asked Narcissa, but she hadn't had any information on Snape. He supposed Draco would look for him as well, he didn't really have any other options. Wouldn't finding both of them at once be convenient?

XXXXX

Draco wasn't a big fan of Edinburgh. He wasn't a fan of any muggle city. But he didn't have a choice. He had to find the one man who could help him. He had to find Snape. The last intelligence the Death Eaters had received said he was here in Edinburgh. So here he was.

He'd tracked Snape to the harbour. Which meant that Snape was looking for a boat. And then he'd tracked Snape away from the harbour. He caught up with him just outside a small fish market.

"Severus!" he said as he saw the back of Snape's head. Snape turned around, then narrowed his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" asked Snape, testily.

"I'm looking for you," said Draco, "The Dark Lord is… well he is almost certainly dead. I need to get out of Britain, and I thought…"

Snape nodded, "You thought I might have a way. I do. I will meet with a ship captain soon. If you want to come with me, escape Britain, it might be arranged."

Snape patted his side, where his wand was. They would use the Imperius Curse to force the captain to take them obviously. Draco nodded in understanding.

"Follow me," said Snape.

So Draco followed.

XXXXX

What Draco didn't realize was that his arrival had been very poorly timed. Another moment and Snape would have seen inside the fish market. But by yelling "Severus" he had given Petunia Dursley, who was inside the market, time to hide. She took off towards the nearby flat that Harry had rented for her, intent on summoning help.

XXXXX

When the strange bell sounded, Harry frowned as if something was wrong.

"What is that?" asked Ginny.

"Phone," said Harry, "I had one installed just in case. It is low tech enough that the local magic doesn't interfere too much, so long as I use a rotary rather than a touch tone. But I only gave one person that number."

Harry walked over to a strange device that he picked up and put by his ear. "Hello?" he said.

After a moment, Harry's face lit up with surprise. "We'll be right there," he said, hanging up the phone.

"That was my aunt Petunia," said Harry, "And she just saw Snape and Draco in Edinburgh. Get dressed."

Ginny didn't need to be told twice.

XXXXX

Despite Petunia's vague directions, there was really only one place Draco and Snape could have been coming from near the harbour. So Harry and Ginny had staked the place out. Harry was dressed in muggle clothing; a button up shirt and slacks. Ginny was wearing a pantsuit that Hermione had put deep in her closet. They'd quickly resized it for Ginny.

"You know, I think Justin would like the pantsuit look on you," said Harry as he looked for Snape from the shadowed canopy of a shop overlooking the main entrance into the harbour.

"Really?" asked Ginny.

"Well he hasn't really seen you in muggle clothes a lot, has he?" said Harry, "It would be a good idea for you to take up some muggle fashions."

"That is true," said Ginny, "and I do like the fit… I'll take that under advisement, Potter."

And that was when he saw Draco. And moments later, Snape.

"There they are," said Harry.

The two of them were dressed in robes, though they were the more modern style that looked vaguely mugglish, so they didn't stick out too much. They just looked vaguely odd. Harry smiled.

Harry and Ginny quietly disillusioned themselves as they began to follow Snape and Draco. They didn't have to go far before the two of them turned onto a side street. From there they turned into a cul-de-sac.

They were meeting a man there, a muggle. But no one else was there. So Harry pulled out his wand, and casually stunned the muggle. He wouldn't even know what had happened.

Draco and Snape turned to face Harry.

"Potter," said Draco, his face turning into a rictus of rage.

Snape, on the other hand, seemed resigned. He knew he'd been caught, and clearly knew this wasn't likely to go well for him.

"How did you find me?" he asked.

"This is where I moved Petunia," said Harry, "She saw you, and overheard when Draco met up with you near the fish market."

Snape nodded. He had to be cursing his luck right now.

"You blew my cover Draco," said Snape before casting a Body Binding curse on him, then sweeping Draco directly in between Harry and himself.

And that was when Harry realized that Snape was going to do to Draco what Draco had done to Pansy. Send him at Harry and blow him up. And for a moment, Harry was tempted to let it happen. But that was when he realised that it wasn't in his hands.

"Don't do this, Severus," said Harry.

Draco's eyes were terrified as he realised what was about to happen. He fell into panic as Snape pushed him forward towards Harry. And he closed his eyes as Snape began to cast his spell.

Which was when Ginny summoned Draco away. Harry sidestepped Snape's curse, and with a single spell stunned Snape.

Draco's bindings released and he threw up his wand.

"Draco, I promised your mother that I would bring you in alive," said Harry, "Don't make that impossible."

"YOU KILLED MY FATHER!" screamed Draco.

"He didn't," said Ginny, "I did."

Draco turned to face Ginny, his face covered in shock. And that was when Harry stunned him.

"Well, that's that," said Harry, "Idiot. He didn't stand a chance."

Ginny nodded. "Let's get these fuckers to the DMLE," she said, "Though, could you take Snape? I really don't want to touch him."

Harry grinned. It was over. It was finally over.

XXXXX

Harry and Ginny sat comfortably as Amelia poured them both drinks. Ginny noted somewhat glumly that Amelia was only giving her a butterbeer, while she was pouring Harry wine. An annoyance, but Ginny found it funny rather than upsetting.

"Well done Harry, Ginny," she was saying, "That was the last major loose end. This is almost over."

"Almost?" asked Harry curiously.

"Well, we have to interrogate Snape," said Amelia, her face turning sour, "Interrogating a master Occlumens is always challenging. And I don't really have a master Legilimens to help me. Dumbledore is far too busy helping Daphne keep the ICW from marching in."

"We could help," said Ginny, "We are both quite skilled Legilimens."

Amelia seemed to consider that. "Well Harry could help," she said finally, "It would be inappropriate to have you in his mind when you are the victim of a kidnapping that we intend to prosecute."

"He's accused of two murders," said Ginny, "He's also in violation of his previous parole given at the end of the last war. Snape's going away for life. So drop the kidnapping charges. I want to see inside his brain. I need to see inside his brain."

Amelia looked at Ginny seriously for some time. Finally, she nodded her acquiescence.

"We'll start tomorrow," said Amelia.

XXXXX

Draco sat in his cell in the DMLE, staring at the wall. It was over. It was all over.

Suddenly the door opened, and his mother walked in. She walked into the cell. She didn't hug him, or offer him any sign of comfort. Did he deserve any?

"You will not be tried for terrorism charges, because you joined the Death Eaters as a minor," said Narcissa without preamble, "But you will be charged for your role in the attack on Vernon Dursley and the Ministry, as well as for the murder of Pansy Parkinson."

Draco nodded. He'd expected as much.

"The only reason you are still alive is because I begged Potter not to kill you," said Narcissa.

Draco shook his head. His mother may have betrayed Voldemort, but she didn't understand Potter like he did.

"He'd have tried to save me anyway," said Draco, "It's who he is. That's why I killed Pansy, remember?"

"Do you regret killing Pansy?" asked Narcissa.

"Potter didn't kill my father," said Draco simply, "I killed Pansy to get back at him for that, but it wasn't him! It was Weasley!"

Silence fell upon Draco's cell for a moment.

"Yes," said Draco finally, "I regret it. Even if Potter had killed my father, I'd still regret it."

Narcissa looked at her son for a long time, then finally she laid her hand on the top of his head.

But Draco was past caring. He knew the truth. He'd broken himself when he killed Pansy, and had only realised once the rage had died down.

Still, after all that he had done, it was nice to know his mother still cared. Even if killing Pansy was only the tip of the iceberg that was his many crimes. And those were just the things they were blaming him for. If they found out what he had done in Diagon Alley...

XXXXX

**June 18th, 1998**

Helen Granger had to admit, America was a far better hiding place than Australia. Australia would have been ideal if things had been planned out properly. But they hadn't been. Here they met with a man they only knew as Doug, every two weeks. He was apparently FBI, but he was also magically raised. He was hesitant to discuss magic with them. The American magical community was fairly obsessed with maintaining the statute of Secrecy. Apparently, _legally_ things were far less strict than they had been, but the culture in America was still very much against mingling with non-magicals.

Helen felt relatively safe here. They were in the Northwestern corner of Nebraska, in a small house not far from a small town. It was a place Death Eaters would struggle to find. And even if they did, Robert was armed. It was quite easy to get a gun in Nebraska, and while that was worrisome to Helen on a cultural level, it was rather convenient for her and Robert.

So when Doug showed up two days early Helen knew something was up. He'd never come early before.

"Is something wrong?" Helen asked as Doug walked onto their front porch.

Doug shrugged. "Ned wanted to meet," he said, "That's all I know."

Helen called Robert out. When he arrived, he greeted Doug in a friendly way. Robert got along with Doug better. Doug was into baseball, and Robert was somehow able to stomach watching it. Of course he _had_ played cricket in school. Cricket was the only sport that was somehow more long and laborious than baseball.

"Anything interesting going on?" Robert asked Doug.

Doug shrugged, but then seemed to remember something. "Oh yeah," he said, "Shit really hit the fan over in Britain. The Ministry got overthrown or something. Also there was a big battle at Hogwarts. Apparently the good guys won though, or so everyone's been saying. Don't really know what is going on over there."

Helen tried to keep herself calm at that news. It sounded good, but that part about the Ministry being overthrown was troubling. Unless of course…

No, that wasn't possible, was it?

And at that moment, Ned Hakes came spiraling out of the sky, his hand on an empty plastic bottle of cola. And with him was Hermione.

She looked older. That was the only way Helen could describe her. She had grown up. She was wearing a women's business suit and looked every bit a young professional.

Helen ran over and hugged her daughter, folding the young girl into her arms. Suddenly Robert was there and they were both clinging to their daughter.

They both stepped back after some time. As Helen backed off, she noticed a ring on Hermione's finger.

"You're engaged?" Helen asked excitedly.

"Yes," said Hermione, "we haven't set a date yet though. We were waiting for you to come back."

"Where is Harry," asked Robert. Helen's blood went cold. Surely he hadn't…

"He wishes he could be here, but he and Ginny are trying to track down Snape and Malfoy," said Hermione, "They… they killed a lot of people during the war. It's over now. Voldemort is dead. Daphne is the new Minister."

"You DID overthrow the Ministry, didn't you?" asked Helen.

Hermione nodded sheepishly. "We did convince the Wizengamot that they needed to step aside, after they nearly let Death Eaters take over," she said.

"So, how is everyone?" asked Helen, and Hermione began to talk about all of her friends.

After a moment, Helen realized that there was one person Hermione hadn't mentioned. "Are Bill and Fleur still together?" she asked.

Hermione went very quiet. "Fleur died," she said simply, "Snape killed her."

"Oh no!" said Helen, "are you all right?"

"I'm good now," said Hermione, "It was almost a year ago now. Bill was a mess for a while though."

"Actually," interjected Ned, "I heard Snape was brought into custody yesterday. Apparently your fiancee was busy."

"Good," said Hermione.

There was a loud meow from the house and suddenly Hermione ran over to pick up Crookshanks. "I missed you, Crookshanks!" she said as she scooped up her cat. Crookshanks began to purr contentedly.

Helen put her arms around her daughter again. She should have been there for her daughter. But it was all right now. They were going home.

XXXXX

Ginny Weasley watched as the aurors restrained Snape in the chair in the interrogation room. She had to admit, she wasn't feeling so great about this now. Snape was sedated, practically catatonic. Amelia had assured them that Snape would not be able to notice them, he was too far gone.

"Is this legal?" asked Harry.

"It shouldn't be," said Amelia, "But it is. Law on Legilimency issues is very out of date. Snape is a master Occlumens though. You'd have to take extreme measures anyway. A master Occlumens can resist Veritaserum by creating a false mind to answer the questions for him."

"So he's technically conscious," said Ginny, "But his cognition is largely shut down?"

"Precisely," said Amelia, "all of his defenses will be up, but he won't be able to construct new ones or try and redirect you or push you out."

Ginny nodded. It was still quite disturbing. Snape looked awake.

She and Harry took opposite sides of the chair Snape was strapped into. She looked at him and gave her a reassuring smile. And then they both plunged into Snape's mind.

It was odd. There was a lot in the surface level of his mind, but the recesses of it were curiously dark. Heading into those recesses brought up memories, but strange ones. As if they weren't fully there somehow.

"Clever," said Harry, "Since you can't see the memories from outside the recesses, he can plug whatever he wants there."

"Which is why they're messed up now," realised Ginny, "Random things are collecting there without Snape's will to organize them."

"It also explains why Riddle was so sure he could read Snape," said Harry, "he thought he was penetrating the defenses."

"We aren't going to get anything on the surface level," said Ginny, "Right now it's just random parts of his psyche. No actual memories at all."

Ginny began to cut away at the reality that formed in Snape's mind. It was sort of like wielding Legilimency as a knife. It felt absurdly wrong to Ginny, yet it was necessary. Finally, she seemed to break through to something. She also felt that Harry had broken through as well. Together they grabbed the edges of the surface of Snape's mind and somehow pulled it. Surprisingly, the whole thing peeled back easily, exposing the true form of Snape's mind.

"Merlin, what is this?" said Harry.

Ginny was dumbstruck. She'd been in other people's minds before. And they had been a maze of connections and bypasses holding together their memories. But this was totally different. She could see blobs that corresponded to memories. But everything here was disconnected. All of these memories were completely separated.

"He's Occlumencied his brain so much that pretty much everything is no longer connected," said Ginny.

"How can he think like this?" wondered Harry.

Ginny ventured towards one of the memories. And allowing herself to fall in, she was suddenly immersed in a memory.

"You're dead, Snape!" screamed a young man, who looked like Harry. It must be James Potter. Behind him was a massive ravenous beast. A werewolf.

"Nowhere to run!" shouted a more familiar voice. It was Sirius Black, blocking the passage from the Shrieking Shack back to Hogwarts. Snape roared in defiance as he brandished his wand…

And suddenly Ginny felt herself being pulled out of the memory.

"That didn't happen," said Harry certainly.

"Another fake memory," said Ginny, "This is all fake again. Snape _doesn't _think like this."

Ginny felt something brush by her, but she waved it off. It was nothing. Yet… maybe it wasn't. She began to look around, and then she saw it.

It was a tiny black knot. And next to it was a tiny hole. A strange path that seemed to lead towards the knot, but also seemed to lead everywhere else.

"That's where he is hiding everything," said Ginny, "and that path is how you get there. But it doesn't go directly there."

"We can break in…" started Harry.

"No," said Ginny, "I will… I will follow the narrow twisted path to its end."

And she leapt in. It was every bit as twisted as she had expected. It seemed to move past every false memory in Snape's head. As she moved past a memory, a little piece of it played in Ginny's mind. Over and over Snape must have tread this path. So often that he had seen this how often? Was this what caused him to lose touch with reality?

The path grew more twisted. Hairpin turns nearly foiled Ginny's progress on several occasions, or at least the mental equivalents. Yet Ginny didn't falter, didn't stop. She knew his true mind was here somewhere.

And suddenly she was there, in the heart of Snape's mind, his real memories stretched out before her. They were still quite disconnected, but those connections that existed were powerful.

"Well done, Ginny," said Harry, as he had followed her here.

Ginny was now certain that this was what the prophecy had referred to a those years back, and not merely being in Slytherin House. But how would she find out about Harry here? It didn't make sense.

She looked towards Snape's memories of Lily. That was where she'd find what she needed. But what she found didn't help at all. A memory of Snape and Lily before Hogwarts, it was a warm memory, full of love and hope. Snape in Slytherin, a void. Snape trying to resist the Slytherins, trying to fight their bigotry. But who was there to help him? No one. And the Gryffindors were worse, actively sabotaging his every attempt to get help. The Slytherin Machine won. The Slytherin Machine always won.

"Snape tried to resist the pureblood regime in Slytherin, but he couldn't," said Ginny, "and your father..."

"He made it impossible," said Harry, his voice thick.

A fateful moment when he called Lily a mudblood, instantly regretted, but a moment beyond taking back. Lily's rejection, hot, painful, the last connection to the non-Death Eater world snapped.

But as time went on, the pain of that rejection became a scar, not a gaping wound. Potter tried to reach out to Snape, to undo the damage he'd done. He saved Snape's life.

"Too late," said Ginny, "Your father realised what he had done to Snape, but too late."

"And Snape seemed to get over losing my mother," said Harry, "This can't be right!"

The pain of that rejection grew less. Snape became a Death Eater. He hated it. The suffering and death they were inflicting was horrendous. Snape just wanted it to end. Those seeds of love he'd had were still there, and they screamed that what he was doing was wrong. But what choice did he have?

"Snape was… is sensitive," said Harry, "an idealist. That's why he is such a good Occlumens. To protect himself. He's so fragile on the inside."

Snape hears a prophecy. A chance to end things? No! It refers to Lily. And suddenly Snape is faced with a choice. A horrible choice. But it isn't a choice at all. Because Lily was his friend. Had always been his friend. Even though he'd given up on her long ago, he couldn't let her come to harm! She had to be protected. Ginny watched his increasingly more desperate attempts to save her. And suddenly she felt pity for the man. He had known how far he had fallen, and the thought of it had filled him with shame.

He'd gone to Dumbeldore, become a double agent. And for the first time since before he'd entered Slytherin, he felt like he was doing good. He realised how monstrous Voldemort was, and had come to hate him.

And then Voldemort had killed everything he'd loved. Killed the one thing that had reminded him of what he could have been, instead of what he had become. And that is where most of the connections in his mind shattered. Only a few connections remained. All related to Harry.

"He wanted to protect you," said Ginny.

Time moved on. And his heart remained dead, aside from that tiny hope that Harry would continue Lily's legacy. And then one day he had gone to Diagon Alley, and he saw Harry holding Ginny's hand. Ginny at that age looked so much like young Lily.

And those last connections broke, that image seared into Snape's brain. An image that for all the world looked like Lily and James Potter.

"Oh no…," said Ginny, her heart suddenly feeling unbearable pity. His mind had snapped, seeing Harry look like James had been bad enough, but seeing 'James' holding 'Lily's ' hand had snapped the last remaining threads of sanity.

Or had it? One last path was there, shattered and broken, but still navigable with care. And Ginny followed it with such care. And at the heart of it she saw Harry. Harry with his friends, laughing and having fun. Becoming a leader in Slytherin. Taking down the system which had crushed Snape. And there was Hermione at his side, with Harry's love for her so evident on his young face.

And Harry's love for Ginny was evident too. He cared for her, protected her, encouraged her. He was her best friend. Here was the memory that put the lie to Snape's madness, buried in this lost forgotten corner of Snape's mind. But every once in a while, this part of his mind had surfaced. And Snape had done something to help push Harry and Hermione together, to support his friendship with Ginny. This was what Snape was when not buried in the lies that he had convinced himself of. That sensitive boy who had looked at the world in wonder still lived here.

But whenever the Occlumency had gone up, all this had been disconnected. And the lies in his mind had become real.

One last memory demanded her attention. A memory of her mother complaining about Justin getting too close to Ginny. And then Snape had installed his scrying device. Not to perv on Ginny, but to protect her from accidentally violating the marriage contract Snape had thought still bound her. _He was trying to keep me from having sex!_

"Ginny, over here," said Harry, "I… found a memory."

Ginny followed Harry's voice to another memory. Without preamble, Ginny leapt into it.

Snape was in Diagon Alley, leaving a shop where he had just stunned the store owner, wearing full Death Eater regalia. He emerged into a charnel house, with corpses everywhere. Suddenly a stream of spells came at Snape. He tried to defend, but a spell knocked off his hood. Snape looked at his attacker.

Ginny saw that it was Fleur Delacour. "Severus Snape," she spat out, almost hissing. She hurled spells at Snape, Snape deflected them. Finally he cast a single spell back.

Fleur was knocked down to her knees. "What were you thinking Fleur?" Snape said sadly, "You are no match for me."

"You killed all these people!" Fleur screamed.

"I did not," said Snape indignantly "I would not…"

"No, I did," said Draco, emerging out of Knockturn Alley.

"Draco, not her!" said Snape firmly, "The international attention…"

"She's Potter's friend," snarled Draco, "_Sectumsempra!_"

And the spell hit Fleur, severing one of her arms and digging deep into the rest of her body. Ginny nearly vomited as she pulled herself out of the memory.

And Ginny left Snape's mind. Even under all the lies, Snape had seen so clearly. Suddenly she walked over to Harry, who was just pulling out of Snape's mind. And she hugged him. She wrapped her arms around Harry and hugged him. For a long time, Harry didn't say anything.

"Draco will pay," whispered Ginny, "He will pay."

After some time, Amelia broke in. "Was it bad?" she asked.

Ginny broke off her hug with her best friend. "He is extremely mentally damaged," said Ginny, "I am not qualified to determine whether he is competent to stand trial or not. I can say this, now that we've reconnected all the parts of his mind, I think he will cooperate. But he needs a Mind Healer. Badly."

"Mind Healers are hard to come by," said Amelia.

"Trust me, every Mind Healer in the World will want to work with Snape here," said Harry, "His condition is… incredible."

"He knew that what he was doing was wrong when he killed Nott though," said Ginny, "Though that only happened because he thought Nott was stalking me."

"But he didn't kill Fleur," said Harry, his voice cracking, "That was Draco Malfoy. Malfoy killed all those people in Diagon Alley. Snape tried to rein him in, but then they encountered Fleur. And while Fleur was incapacitated from attacking Snape, Draco killed her.

Amelia nodded. That was what she needed to know.

"Let's get out of here," said Ginny, "I think I'm going to invite Justin over tonight, if that's all right."

"Of course it is," said Harry.

Ginny grinned. "After tonight, I think I'll head home," she said, "I… I realised something. From Snape's mind. Even under his insanity, he still wanted to help you. My mother, she really was trying to protect me from getting hurt, even when she was being used to try to hurt me. I can't imagine how she feels. I need to let her know that I love her."

"Sounds good," said Harry, a warm smile setting across his face.

"I also love you," said Ginny, "You're my best friend. And I have a plan. A plan you are going to love."

Try as he might, Harry had no idea what she was talking about.

XXXXX

Harry didn't quite know why he was doing it, but minutes later he found himself in front of the Wizengamot office of Albus Dumbledore. He supposed that the old man deserved this much - he deserved to know exactly how badly he'd screwed up.

"Come in Harry," said Dumbledore as the door in front of Harry opened. Harry grinned. Dumbledore still had a flair for the dramatic.

Harry walked into the office. He noted that Dumbledore had moved many items from his old office at Hogwarts here. They looked out of place here. Harry supposed that was his fault.

"What brings you to my doorstep today?" asked Dumbledore.

"I just got done helping interrogate Snape," said Harry.

"He was not in his right mind I suspect," said Dumbledore.

"Extended use of Occlumency shredded his mind," confirmed Harry, "But it was seeing me meet Ginny that really set him off. He rigged our sortings into Slytherin, so that he would have more control and access to me and her. Including so that he could easily gather bits of my hair to key potions to."

"I see," said Dumbledore, "Did you discover anything else?"

Harry shook his head. "I know you want to ask me about what he did to you," said Harry, "I know I would want to know."

"I will admit that I do want to know how culpable I am for my own actions," said Dumbledore.

"Well, you lied to me about the horcrux in second year on your own, but he did give Molly a potion that made her highly suspicious of me," said Harry, "He meant for you to drink that as well, but it didn't matter in the end."

"And yes, he drugged you for the signing of the marriage contract, along with Molly Weasley," said Harry, "That was a strong potion, but diluted in your tea. It was a big risk for Snape."

"Why did he arrange the contract?" said Dumbledore, "It doesn't make sense."

"Yes it does," said Harry, "Snape needed to 'save' Ginny from marrying me. But then it became obvious to Snape that I was interested in Hermione, not Ginny. So he had to make sure there was something to save Ginny from. He needed to do it. And that was why he forced you and Molly to arrange it. Thank you, by the way, for reporting it to the Ministry. If you hadn't, I would not have known about the contract."

"I am not sure I did so in awareness of what it would mean for you, but I am glad that my actions assisted you," admitted Dumbledore.

"You allowed me to go on vacation in France on your own, but you also allowed Crouch to enter me into the tournament on your own. Still, Snape thought we were getting too friendly at that point, so once I started suspecting Crouch was Crouch, he dosed you again, so that you would doubt everything I said. After Voldemort's resurrection he thought he had permanently lost control of you. He overdosed you that summer, which was why you refused to allow Hermione into Grimmauld Place. And you were still under the effects for our chat."

"But he stopped then, didn't he?" said Dumbledore.

"Yes," said Harry, "He was worried you were getting suspicious. You did allow Umbridge to disband the IUC, though I realise that you were trying to let me run her out."

"Yes, well you ran me out instead," said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye.

"I admit, it probably was a silly thing to do in retrospect. At the time though, it felt like you were putting us all in danger," admitted Harry.

"I know, I should have told you what I was planning," said Dumbledore, "But you should have as well."

Harry nodded. "Yes, well… we paid the price for that mistake."

"Yes we did," said Dumbledore sadly.

"Obviously Snape drugged you again along with the Grangers and Headmistress McGonagall when they kidnapped Hermione," said Harry, "But you decided not to tell me about the horcrux in my head all on your own. Snape had stopped using any potions on you at that point, as it had become too dangerous and he thought he might get caught collecting ingredients for, brewing or administering the potions. But then you got fired. And suddenly he didn't care anymore. You were under Snape's control for almost six straight months."

"Until Molly gave me the antidote," said Dumbledore.

"Yes," agreed Harry.

Dumbledore closed his eyes. "The failure that caused the Trace to break… it was my fault. And I could have done more to resist Snape."

"If you had trusted Snape less, perhaps," said Harry, "Ironically, your trust in Snape was justified, after a fashion. He really was devoted to stopping Riddle. And in his heart, he wanted to do the right thing. But he was lost. And that made things worse. Do you understand?"

"Yes," replied Dumbledore, "My inclination was to believe him, so when I was under his control I had no capability to resist him. If I had trusted him a little less, I might have brought my will to bear and broken free."

"Snape was a brilliant spy," said Harry, "He always knew how to assuage your doubts."

"So, where does this leave us?" asked Dumbledore, "Do we just part ways now, and say goodbye? It somehow feels wrong."

"I know what you mean," said Harry, "I think we'll meet again Professor. In a way, you played an important part of my life. I don't hate you. In fact, I can now say that I am very certain you only wanted the best for me. You did fail me… but I made my share of screwups as well."

"Grindelwald figured out what you intended," said Harry after a moment, "How you expected me to sacrifice myself for everyone, but still survive because Riddle used my blood in his resurrection."

"I know," said Dumbledore remorsefully, "It is unforgivable that I would not tell you that. That I would ask that of you. But I trusted that you would understand."

Harry sat for a while. "It would have worked," he admitted after a long time, "I would have sacrificed myself. If I hadn't removed the horcrux of course."

"I am glad it didn't come to that," said Dumbledore.

"Yes, well, I suppose I will see you around," said Harry.

"Harry," wondered Dumbledore, "Why didn't Snape try to use the potions on you?"

"Deep down, he didn't really want to hurt me," said Harry, "And if he had used potions on me it would have forced him to. He had that much control of himself I think. It was all the control he had."

Harry stopped. "And I think he wanted to see if I would follow in my father's footsteps on my own. I think he really wanted me to be better. It isn't rational. But Snape always was a romantic."

"Hmm," said Dumbledore.

"Goodbye for now, Professor," said Harry. This had taken longer than he had intended. Yet he finally felt as if he understood Dumbledore. He finally felt as if their relationship had turned a corner. Towards what, Harry didn't know.

XXXXX

**June 19th, 1998**

Harry woke up groggily. He had to admit, waking up alone was kind of terrible, especially when your house guest was with her boyfriend that night. Not that Harry begrudged Ginny some alone time with Justin. Indeed, he was happy that their relationship seemed to be progressing.

Justin and Ginny were already up, which was suspicious. If Hermione had just come home, he'd definitely have found an excuse to stay in bed for a bit.

"Hermione will be arriving at Heathrow at around 3pm," said Ginny, "She left a message with Luna, who flooed back this morning. Apparently Hermione's parents didn't want to take the International Floo."

"Probably a good idea," said Harry, "It isn't recommended for muggles. It can be very intense for them, since they can't control the experience at all."

"You also got a Floo call from Gringotts," said Ginny, "Brokgut wants to see you. I told him you would see him at 1pm."

Ginny was trying to get Harry out of his own house, Harry realised. She had some plan cooked up, obviously. Well Harry wasn't going to play spoiler.

"Also," said Ginny, "Justin agrees that I'm ready to move back to the Burrow. As long as he is welcome there. And by welcome there, I mean in my bed."

"Harry doesn't need to…" started Justin, But Ginny interrupted him.

"We had sex!" she said excitedly, causing Justin to cover his face in embarrassment.

Harry just shook his head, but he was smiling. Justin had become a level headed young man. And Ginny had become an incredibly brave and talented woman. He wondered if they had given any thought to marriage. Probably not yet. Either way they both had a bright future ahead of them.

XXXXX

Harry had expected to meet Brokgut at Gringotts, but he had not expected to meet Peter Davis. It was a bit strange that Tracey's father was in the room, but he suspected that something was up.

"So, we've heard that you and Miss Granger are attempting to become soul healers," said Brokgut.

"I am," said Harry, "Hermione wants to go into Mind Healing, using Psychiatry."

"Taking a full curse breaking course is a bit wasteful, isn't it?" asked Brokgut, "I mean a soul healer isn't going to have to fight a mummy, or read Egyptian hieroglyphics. What you need is practical information about how to remove curses."

"I've been talking to the curse breakers here at Gringotts," said Peter, "and we think we can create a program that will teach you Healing and all you need to know about curses, all on a schedule that is only a year longer than the normal healing course."

Harry's eyes widened. That would allow him to immediately begin trying to test out soul healing. But it went even further.

"We could use the course you set up as a framework to train more soul healers once we added our own knowledge of curses into the mix," said Harry.

"Exactly," said Brokgut.

"That would be incredible!" said Harry excitedly, "but… why is Gringotts helping me so much? It isn't what you usually do."

"Harry," said Brokgut, "you are one of our best customers. You and Hermione treat us with a respect that few wizards of means are willing to. And now you want to do something that will help many, many people? How could we not help?"

Harry gave Brokgut a smile (with no teeth showing of course) and he looked at the papers on Brokgut's desk. There was a full schedule and training plan laid out.

"Well, I'll have to talk to Hermione before I decide anything," said Harry, "But I am very interested in what you have to say."

XXXXX

Hermione laughed when she saw Harry waiting to meet her at the gate as she disembarked from the plane.

"You didn't have to come," said Hermione, "I could have managed on my own."

"I wanted to come," said Harry as he gave Hermione a hug, "And if I went back home I was afraid I'd catch Ginny and Justin doing something indelicate. I want to be sure they are gone."

Hermione laughed as Harry pulled away and gave her mother a hug, and then hugged her father. "Follow me," said Harry.

Harry led them to a back room that was only accessible by walking through a wall in a recessed alcove.

"An apparition zone," said Harry.

"That's a good idea," said Hermione.

Harry took Helen's arm and Hermione took Robert's. Then they apparated to a spot just off of Harry's property.

"Still haven't taken down the anti-apparition wards?" asked Hermione.

"Haven't had time yet," said Harry.

Harry led them to the house. Helen let out a small gasp when she saw it for the first time.

"What a cozy place," said Helen, "not at all what I would expect from a place you call Potter Hall."

"We're trying to phase out that name," said Hermione, "Though this home is disguised."

"Like the Greengrasses," said Robert.

"Exactly," said Harry as he opened the door.

Dobby was waiting for them. Ginny and Justin were gone. But Ginny had left a note.

_Keep the 31st free - G_

XXXXX

**July 31st, 1998.**

The party they held for Harry's 18th birthday was spectacular.

Ginny and Justin were there of course, along with all of the Weasleys (aside from Charlie of course). Fred and George were laughing, and even Bill was looking happy for once. Ron was with Tracey. Hermione's parents were there as well. But others were there, Sirius standing with McGonagall and Dumbledore at his side and Hagrid behind. Luna and Neville were joining in with the rest of the group, Dobby in tow. Even Daphne was there, explaining how she had managed to find time to be here. And suddenly emerging from the side room was one last person…

"Blaise!" shouted Harry as he ran to hug his friend, "what are you doing here?"

"I don't know how Ginny figured out how to contact me," said Blaise, "but I'm glad she did. No way I was missing this."

"Blaise!" shouted Daphne as she ran to hug him once Harry was done.

"Everyone better keep this quiet," said Daphne to the whole room, "You have no idea the trouble Amelia will give me if she hears I've seen Blaise. Technically, he's a fugitive."

"What is this?" asked Hermione.

"I thought that once before we all went our separate ways we should get Harry's whole family together once," said Ginny.

Hermione remembered the vision Harry had seen in the Mirror of Erised. And then an idea hit her.

"Harry," she said, "come up with me to the balcony for a moment. I just need to get something first."

Harry nodded as Hermione ran to their room. This could change everything.

XXXXX

As Harry walked up to the balcony overlooking the entry hall, he discovered that he'd been followed. Sirius, Dumbledore and McGonagall had followed him up.

"We just wanted to speak with you privately," said Sirius.

"Specifically, we wanted you to know how proud we are of you and what you've accomplished," said Dumbledore.

"I am so proud to have played an important part in your life, Potter," said McGonagall, "And I am very proud of how well you acquitted yourself as Head Boy."

"Hermione and him will be a tough act to follow," said Sirius.

"Somehow I think Miss Weasley will manage it," said McGonagall, "though do not tell her that. It isn't official… yet."

"And I'm sorry I couldn't have been more of a parental figure to you Harry," said Sirius, "but I am glad to be back in your life."

Harry put his hands on Sirius' shoulders, but just then Hermione ran out of their room. And in her hand was the Gaunt ring.

"Wait," said Harry as he realised her intention.

"It's time," said Hermione. And she took the Resurrection Stone and turned it.

And that was when two hazy figures appeared in front of him. His parents.

"Hello, Harry," said Lily Potter.

"We are so proud of you Harry," said James Potter.

"James, Lily," said Sirius, his voice choking.

"This is Hermione," said Harry, pulling Hermione close to him, "She's my fiancee." Hermione handed Harry the ring.

And suddenly he waved to the whole room including the people gathered below. "And these people, all these people are my family. I love them all."

"We are so glad Harry," said Lily Potter.

And it was in that moment that Harry realised that his one impossible yet true desire had come true.

"Not such an impossible dream after all, was it Harry," said Dumbledore as if reading his mind.

"Let's go back down," said Hermione, holding out her hand. Harry took it and as he descended the staircase with her, the ring slipped from his hand.

Harry didn't look back as it fell to the floor. He looked forward, forward towards the faces of the people he loved. And for the first time, everything really was all right.

**The End.**

**Author's Note:** So I will get this out of the way first, those of you who want to know what happens to Clarise Zabini, I don't know. Will Clarise accept Blaise and Seamus? Is that even enough for her to avoid paying for her crimes? It's an impossible decision that Blaise will ultimately have to make, and frankly I leave it up to you to come up with your own ending to that.

I know a lot of people probably want Snape and Draco to die, but as we see, Snape needs help, and deserves punishment, but he doesn't deserve death. Draco probably does deserve it. Still, I like that he finally figures out how badly he fucked up right _after_ he's been taken into custody. Oops.

The Harry and Dumbledore scene was one of the most difficult scenes to write. On the one hand, Harry has a lot frustration with Dumbledore. Dumbledore did make some questionable decisions without being forced to. At the same time, Harry made a lot of bad choices as well, and this has made him more tolerant of other people's mistakes. That being said, Harry's admission that he would have sacrificed himself (or at least tried to sacrifice himself) isn't entirely a conciliatory gesture. For all they know, that plan might not work. We know it would work from actual canon, but Harry and Dumbledore only suspect it would. Harry is admitting that Dumbledore read him correctly, but he doesn't absolve Dumbledore of his guilt.

The scene with Ginny and Harry dressing as muggles and hunting Snape gave me a mental image so fun I kind of want to write a Men in Black style one-shot where they hunt down dangerous wizards for the ICW. I have no actual plans to write this, mostly because I don't have a story idea for it. Still, a Harry/Ginny buddy cop adventure using these characterizations sounds fun.

This chapter will be the last narrative portion of The Twisted Path. The final upload, which will come soon, will include an appendix which is essentially a list of what happens to the various characters afterwards. As I said in my last update, it will also include my post-mortem of the Twisted Path. I may tease Harriet Potter and the Founders' Wars a bit as well, but I honestly am waiting for my writing to progress to actually release more content there. I think I have come to a compromise in my writing that will allow me to continue writing Harry Potter fanfics in good conscience. I will have more information in my final chapter, but you should expect a pause in my fanfic publishing regardless.

P.S. Sorry about the wait, I have been distracted recently by real life stuff.


	60. Appendix and Afterword

**Appendix**

**Amelia Bones** \- Amelia was elected as Minister for Magic along with the first fully elected Wizengamot in the year 2000. She served in that position until 2010 when she elected not to run against Daphne Greengrass. Under her guidance the Wizengamot removed the magic that modified house elf behavior, expanded the rights of magical sentients, especially the centaurs and issued strict new protections of muggle and muggleborn rights.

**Albus Dumbledore **\- Albus continued to serve as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot until 2004, when infighting in the now democratic Wizengamot forced him to step down. He spent his remaining years helping set a new alchemy standard for education as an advisor to Hogwarts, and serving as an advocate for muggleborns in legal proceedings before the Wizengamot. He died in 2011 of natural causes.

**Dobby **\- Dobby was one of the first elves to strike out independently once the magic that bound elves to be compliant to their masters was lifted. He eventually helped form an aid society for elves that helped elves making the transition from slavery to freedom. He ultimately partnered with Hermione Granger who used her Psychiatric Mind Healing to help many traumatised elves. Dobby would still cook for the Potters on special occasions, but he did so as a sign of his love and friendship, not because it was his job.

**Kreacher **\- Kreacher lived to see house elf reform, but barely. He died in 2005, just days after Magical Britain removed the loyalty spells from elves.

**Theodore Nott Sr. **\- Sentenced to ten years in Azkaban rather than life because of his cooperation. However he dies shortly after being released, from an alcohol related accident.

**Kingsley Shacklebolt **\- Current Head of the DMLE. Generally considered a reformer, and a big supporter of the Greengrass Ministry.

**Colin Creevey **\- Colin grew into a famous and important wizard, eventually running for, and winning a seat on the Wizengamot in 2010, a seat which he holds to this day. He married Astoria Greengrass in 2005.

**Astoria Greengrass **\- Upon graduation from Hogwarts, she trained as a Healer for a time, before getting a job working for Harry Potter in his new Soul Healing practise. She serves as a nurse and receptionist. Her blood curse has been entirely healed.

**Cho Chang **\- Cho ultimately moved to Germany and ran a successful wand making business there.

**Cedric Diggory** \- Joined the DMLE for real and became an auror after the war. Is currently head of the aurors.

**Susan Bones** \- Inspired by her aunt, Susan entered the DMLE. She is currently head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, a major position in the Greengrass Ministry.

**Hannah Abbot **\- Hannah purchased and ran the Leaky Cauldron after 2006. She became a very well known and popular figure in Magical Britain.

**Sue Li **\- Became a major figure in the New Arithmancy movement which sought to standardize Arithmancy predictions.

**Padma Patil **\- Is a successful businesswoman, having made a fortune reimporting various magical creatures to Britain after the war.

**Parvati Patil **\- Started a fashion line for witches with Lavender Brown. The two of them now are the most successful designers of witches attire in Europe.

**Professor Sinistra **\- Still teaches Astronomy, though she is mad it has been downgraded to an elective.

**Hagrid **\- Still teaches Care of Magical Creatures. His class has grown more organized over the years, and is now seen as a model of the subject, though it is very still a practical course, as opposed to a theoretical one.

**Professor Flitwick **\- Still Deputy Headmaster and Charms instructor. He keeps talking about retirement, but it never happens.

**Molly Weasley **\- Still Potions Master at Hogwarts. Her career has given her new focus and determination, and she stays in constant contact with her family, which now includes _many_ grandchildren, some of whom are now her students.

**Sirius Black** \- Quit as Transfiguration Professor in 2007, but came back after his replacement quit angrily in 2008. One of the most popular teachers at Hogwarts, he is constantly driving Headmistress McGonagall up a wall.

**Bill Weasley **\- Went back to work for Gringotts in 1999. Currently serves as assistant head of Gringotts cursebreakers for Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia.

**Minerva** **McGonagall **\- Still Headmistress of Hogwarts. She issued a series of educational policy changes from 2003 to 2009. As a result, Hogwarts standards are higher than ever.

**Fred and George Weasley **\- Still run their joke shop. They married Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet. No one is quite sure who is married to whom though, due to a prank at the joint wedding with Polyjuice Potion. No one is stupid enough to ask for clarification though.

**Percy Weasley** \- Served as Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic under Amelia Bones. Ran for the Wizengamot in 2010 and won. Now serves as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.

**Bryant Greengrass **\- Retired from public life after the war. Has become a philanthropist, and has given money to help house elves who are looking for work. Eventually reconciled with Daphne and Astoria in the lead up to Astoria's wedding.

**Helen and Robert Granger **\- Have a new Dental practice near Harry and Hermione's home. More or less steer clear of the magical world aside from their visits to Hermione.

**Clarise Zabini **\- Has disappeared completely. When asked about it, all Blaise will say is that he didn't kill her, and he feels no guilt over her fate.

**Brokgut **\- His alliance with Harry Potter has made him one of the wealthiest goblins in Magical Britain, due to the bonuses he has acquired.

**Narcissa Malfoy **\- Was paroled due to her role in defeating Voldemort. Lived with her sister Andromeda for a time, before moving out, largely on Sirius Black's charity. Eventually remarried, and now lives somewhere in Spain.

**Draco Malfoy **\- Was sentenced to life in Azkaban for his many murders, to which he pled guilty. He is, by all accounts, a model prisoner.

**Dolores Umbridge **\- Sentenced to life in Azkaban, she attempted to flee as she was transported there. She froze to death in the North Sea.

**Viktor Krum** \- Still an international Quidditch Star, and he even has finally won the Quidditch World Cup. Was married to Daphne Greengrass from 2003-2008. They had one child together. Is still close to Daphne, and it is rumored that they still are romantically linked.

**Millicent Bulstrode **\- Never quite forgave herself for betraying Tracey, despite Tracey's forgiveness. She is a clerk in the Department of Magical Transportation at the Ministry of Magic.

**Luna and Neville Longbottom **\- The two married in 2001. Luna runs the Quibbler and Neville has become the Herbology Professor at Hogwarts. Luna's editorship of the Quibbler has been more stable and informative than her father's, though it maintains that quintessential Quibbler charm. Neville is a thoughtful teacher, who always listens to the problems and anxieties of his students. They have 3 children, all more ridiculously named than the last.

**Tracey Davis and Ronald Weasley** \- The two married in 2002, at the height of their respective Quidditch careers. Ronald was the best Keeper for the Chudley Cannons in the last 50 years (not a difficult feat), while Tracey served as team captain for England's Quidditch World Cup team, and led it to the Quarterfinals. Now Ron is Keeper coach for the Cannons while Tracey is the Manager of Puddlemere United. They have one child, named Arthur.

**Blaise Zabini and Seamus Finnegan **\- No one is sure what these two do. They seem to provide advice to certain criminal groups, but whatever they provide it makes them a comfortable living. They got married as soon as gay marriage became legal in Britain, scandalizing the magical world. Whatever they do, they don't commit any crimes themselves, which has kept them out of trouble.

**Daphne Greengrass **\- Surrendered her position as Minister for Magic in 2000 to run for the Wizengamot. She won and served on that body for ten years. In 2004 she was made Chief Warlock after Dumbledore retired. Her leadership in the Wizengamot made most of Amelia's reforms, which had been stalled, possible. In 2010, she ran for Minister, and was elected, unopposed. Expanded most of the rights laws passed under her predecessor, and is responsible for the passage of hate crimes legislation. She is currently very popular, and is often given credit for defeating Voldemort, despite her protests. She has one daughter with Viktor Krum.

**Ginny Weasley and Justin Finch-Fletchley **\- Never married, due to Ginny's bad experiences with that institution, but have remained a couple to the present day. Ginny leads a group of mercenaries who help fight dark wizards, while Justin serves as a liaison between Gringotts and muggle financial and commercial institutions. They have one child, named Ernie. Ginny remains very close with Harry and Hermione, treating them as if they were siblings.

**Harry and Hermione Potter** \- Married in 1999, but put off a family until they were done studying. Harry became a Soul Healer, and Hermione began applying psychiatry to Mind Healing. Today, Harry has begun training other Soul Healers and there are now at least 3 others in practise throughout the world. Hermione's papers on psychiatry and it's applications for Mind Healing have made her the pre-eminent Mind Healer in the world.

They now have two children, Fleur Nymphadora and Lily Luna Potter.

**Severus Snape** \- Declared insane by the Wizengamot, he was confined to St. Mungo's for life. In 2007 he became one of Hermione Granger's first patients. Now generally considered healed, he has been moved to a special facility run by Hermione Granger where he is still confined, but able to contribute to magical society and make potions for St. Mungo's.

**Afterword**

So the first thing I want to do is thank everyone who helped me finish this story. First, thanks to Nobody Knows PJ like Me and Pixiepuff13 for betaing this story. I am extremely grateful for all of your hard work and assistance. Thanks to everyone who left a review, especially those of you who did so early! I got a lot of useful feedback from all of you. This story was far, far more successful than I ever had hoped, and I am glad I was able to share it with you.

Some quick replies to reviews first. Someone asked about the prophecy that Ginny heard. The last line actually has a double meaning, so the Twisted Path refers to both Ginny's journey through Slytherin _as well as_ Snape's twisted mind.

Another person took issue with whether Snape deserved to die or not. Snape didn't deliberately murder Nott because he thought Nott was a stalker. However if Snape hadn't thought Nott was a stalker, he would have found some other way to deal with Nott other than killing him. This isn't said to exonerate Snape though. He still is guilty, but not of premeditated murder. In any event, he ends up confined to mental institutions for the rest of his life.

I guess to explain this, the way I see Snape as a character (in general, not in this story specifically) is as a character who is not a very nice person generally, but who comes to be motivated by relatively noble intentions. He is both selfish and selfless at various times, and his reformation is only complete once he fails to save Lily.

So, now for my post mortem. The first thing, I have to admit, is that I made one huge mistake, something I initially considered a strength. But a lot of the reviews and such confirmed that while the mistake I made itself was crowd pleasing, the results of that mistake were very much not. The mistake was, I didn't kill Sirius in third year.

At the time, it made sense. But the ripples it sent through the plot eventually became a problem, and I didn't see what the problem was until well after I was committed to that decision. It was only when I was doing rewrites that I realized what I had done, and by then it was too late to fix, I had integrated Sirius into the story.

Basically, If Sirius Black had died at the end of third year, the main focus of fourth year would have been Harry's rage. Originally Harry was supposed to put Crouch's plot together, but essentially let his rage prevent him from taking any effective action against it. This also would have affected most of fourth year's subplots. There would have been less Harry fooling about, though the double date scene still would have been there, though it would not have ended with Harry groping Daphne.

A lot of later moments get robbed of their power because of this too. When in fifth year, Harry decides to take down Dumbledore instead of Fudge, think of what that must mean to Harry if Fudge is responsible for Sirius' death. Think of what Harry must be thinking as he's forced to fall in line behind Fudge for most of sixth year.

So why did I do it? Well I like Sirius. If you want to know more there will be a section at the end that reveals the full logic. Marked by giant spoiler tags.

Another problem is Harry's passivity in this story. He has a tendency to sit back and wait for the plot to happen to him. Part of this is a weakness of following canon so closely for so long. But even after I left canon, I let canon dictate my schedule as far as how Harry was reacting to things. There _were_ reasons for this, but once Harry turned 17 I could have hurried things up a bit.

So getting into the nitty gritty of my writing, I think there are some things I need to improve on. Descriptions are an issue, I have a tendency to gloss over them, especially when I get into an action scene. When I do include them they generally are good, but I will admit, I don't like writing lots of descriptive text.

My grammar is acceptable, but not great. I have a natural tendency to phrase things in the passive voice, which is sometimes what I want my characters to be doing. But not all the time or even most of the time. I should use more colons, semicolons, and dashes.

Sometimes I make my characters do logical leaps that are just on the edge of sense. I know that can be off-putting for some people, and I am trying to work on it. This honestly probably goes back to my problem with descriptive text: it's easier to have Harry logic his way through something rather than showing it, but that's not good writing.

So what did I do well? Plotting. My mistake with Sirius aside, I am actually really proud about how I balanced all the various plot threads throughout this story. There was a lot going on, and some of it wasn't outlined very well at first. It took a lot of work to keep the story running, and it was really fun work. Getting to a later point in the story and letting some tiny thing you set up almost 20, 30, or at times 59 chapters ago pay off is just a great feeling.

Speaking of plotting, I think I handled my plot twists well. For one thing, with the exception of Ginny absorbing the Diary horcrux, (which is supposed to be shocking) I set up good foundations for my plot twists. I lampshaded marriage contracts early on, I constantly have Hermione worrying what would happen if her parents discovered she was sharing a room with Harry, and pretty much everyone seems to have quickly caught on that destroying the horcrux in Harry and not telling Dumbledore about the prophecy meant Arthur was a goner. And this is not to mention the way I set up Snape and his insanity from the very first chapter.

The other thing I think I do well is dialogue. Which is not to say that all of my dialogue is well written. What I am trying to say is that the flow and structure of my dialogue is generally good. I'm good at writing characters quipping back and forth. I am not as good at writing big speeches or actual profound statements. I don't think I'm bad at that, but I'm not especially good at it either.

This whole thing has been really fun, as I haven't really written a full work of fiction before. And that more than anything is why I did it, writing fanfiction is the writing equivalent of playing with Legos. You can take the pieces you are given and scramble them up how you want them.

All told I would give what I have written around a C/B-, on my fanfiction scale. I certainly enjoyed writing it and I hope to write more. This brings me to my next point.

I have given a _lot_ of thought to how I am going to respond to JK Rowling' comments on trans people, but trans women in particular. And of course, she goes and makes it harder to comment the day I am going to post this, so I had to put this off until I could process her latest pettiness. My initial comments, made earlier in the story, still apply. But I am loathe to concede the field on this issue. If she is going to continue to attack trans people using her writing, then I will stand with them in my own. And using her own universe to do so is, in my opinion, appropriate. I am not going to resume publishing Harriet Potter immediately, but I am still writing it and once I have made sufficient progress I will resume publishing at that point, this time with a story and characters that reflect my determination.

So as I have stayed, I am still writing Harriet Potter and the Guardians of Atlantis. I have a decent edited version of part 3: Harriet Potter and the Founders' Wars complete, as well as a rough draft of part 4: Harriet Potter and the Dementors' Harvest completed. For those who haven't read it, it's a story that revolves around a female Harry who ends up getting a reincarnated Morgana le Fay as her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. There's way, way more to it, of course. Sirius never went to Azkaban in this universe and Barty Crouch Sr. is the Minister for Magic. While I haven't announced a pairing in story yet it is going to be a Harriet/Hermione story. The story is going to have 10 parts total. Part 1 is pre-Hogwarts, parts 2-7 are during Hogwarts and 8-10 are post Hogwarts. Harriet is a lot more of an active protagonist than Twisted Path Harry, and she is also a lot more volatile. A lot of people criticized Harry never getting mad in Twisted Path. That is not one of Harriet's problems!

The big difference is that Harriet Potter follows canon far more loosely than Twisted Path. Canon elements are there, but I use them to set up completely new scenarios. For example, the Chamber of Secrets is a part of the plot of Part 3: Harrier Potter and the Founders' Wars. But it serves more as a prelude to Part 3's main plot than as the main plot itself. The main villains of Part 3 aren't Tom Riddle's diary and a Basilisk, they are Barty Crouch Jr. and Dolores Umbridge.

As I said, I am not going to publish more Harriet Potter right away though. I am going to do a full readthrough and edit of Twisted Path soon, and I will probably publish Twisted Path on AO3 at that point, sans authors notes. So there is still a lot for me to do. I am also still writing more Harriet Potter. I will probably resume publishing that story once I finish writing Part 6.

No ETA's on Avatars and Archons, which I do have an outline for. That story will be Harry/Luna with a brother/sister relationship between Harry and Hermione. Same lack of ETA for Killing Hermione, which is going to be… complicated in regards to the pairings. Because time travel. Harry ends up with Luna though. Eventually.

That's all I have to say! Thank you for reading the Twisted Path! Scroll down for the spoilers I mentioned.

***Spoilers below!***

I didn't kill Sirius in Twisted Path because I am going to kill him off in both Avatars and Archons and Harriet Potter. I wanted him to live at least once!


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